Now that the weather is warming in northern part of the United States, it’s much more common to see people walking and hiking through neighborhoods and on local trails. Walking might be one of the most convenient and healthiest forms of exercise. In fact, when the number of steps people take per day is measured, those taking less than 5,000 steps are considered sedentary and at a higher risk for health consequences. Those who take 10,000 steps are considered active and have lower body weight, body fat and better health. While walking alone doesn't necessarily contribute to weight loss, there are benefits to be derived from taking daily walks. 

WALKING AND WEIGHT LOSS
Walking by itself is not a major contributor to weight loss. However, for those who struggle with their weight, it can be beneficial. Over a 15-year period, women who were among the heaviest at the beginning of the study and walked four hours per week gained less weight — an average of 17 pounds less — than those who didn’t walk during that timeframe.[i] 

Other studies on walking with pedometers have shown dramatic results. People with goals of 2000 steps per day, or about a mile of walking, lost just 2.8 pounds over four months time.[ii] In these studies, diet was not incorporated into the program. Minimal weight loss from exercise alone is consistent with other studies on exercise and weight loss.

In fact, an additional study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed those who did see weight loss following walking programs did so by modifying their diet, not just relying on exercise. For the strict purpose of weight loss, walking may not create enough of a calorie expenditure to make a significant difference. There are other benefits to walking which may indirectly affect weight management more than the calories burned from the activity. 

WALKING IS A GREAT FIRST STEP TOWARD A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE
Whether it’s outside or on a treadmill, walking is a low-intensity, convenient way to get started on an exercise program. Starting any exercise program, even if it is simply walking each day, is a conscious decision to improve one’s health. Committing to healthier activity is often motivation to make healthier dietary choices as well. Of course, the better one’s diet becomes, the faster weight can come off or the easier it is to keep the weight off. Some people assume they’re burning significant amounts of calories from their walking and may “treat” themselves with high-calorie unhealthy foods. In that case, the health benefits of walking can be easily offset by poor dietary choices.

WALKING IS A GREAT STRESS-REDUCER
Stress can lead to adrenal fatigue which disrupts metabolism, negatively affects sleep quality and quantity, which can result in unwanted weight gain and is associated with increased risk of degenerative diseases. Walking can play an important role in stress reduction. Walking alone can provide some needed quiet time for meditation and decompression. The solitude of a private walk can help you clear your head and find some peace for a short period of time during the day.

WALKING IS A FAT-BURNING EXERCISE
Low-intensity exercise burns a high percentage of fat as fuel. It doesn’t burn a significant amount of calories, but exercise isn’t just about burning calories. Exercise is a stimulus to help your body change. Low-intensity activities, like walking, train the body to use fat as a preferred energy source over carbohydrate. This can be especially important for those with insulin resistance, where blood-sugar management and fat burning are disrupted. In addition, because walking is a lower-intensity activity, it can be used to help balance out an exercise program which also includes high-intensity strength or cardiovascular training. 

GETTING STARTED
The best part about walking is it only requires a pair of decent shoes to get started. That being the case, don’t be misled into the latest gadget-like toning shoes. Our feet are designed to help us walk with minimal cover on them and under them. How much time should you commit to a walking regimen? As much as you can. Walking, is a low-intensity activity that your body can handle doing frequently.

Walking isn’t just for beginners, experienced exercisers and athletes can benefit from introducing walking into their program as well. Add music, an audio book or take your walk outside and enjoy the sounds of nature — whatever you need to get started, just start walking.

[i] Gordon-Larsen P, Hou N, Sidney S, et al. Fifteen-year longitudinal trends in walking patterns and their impact on weight change. AJCN. 2009;89(1):19-26

[ii] Richardson CR, Lewton TL, Abraham JJ, et al. A Meta-Analysis of Pedometer-Based Walking Interventions and Weight Loss. Annals of Family Medicine. 2008;6:69-77

This article was written by: Tom Nikkola – Life Time Fitness, Director of Nutrition & Weight Management and Vanessa Romero. 

It is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.  

Have you made the commitment to working out but just aren't seeing the results you desire? You could be making a few mistakes in your workouts that are sabotaging your own progress. Whether you are new to strength training or have been lifting weights for years, with a little tweaking to your workouts you can get back on track and onto achieving your fitness goals.

Mistake #1:  Using the same amount of weight and number of repetitions each workout.

SOLUTION: When you are new to strength training you will realize strength gains relatively quickly. Eventually, you are able to lift the same amount of weight for the same number of reps with less effort. If you want to get stronger, healthier and leaner, you need to continually overload your muscles. Overload can mean doing one more rep, adding more weight, or resting less between sets. There are a variety of ways to increase the level of intensity in an exercise. The point is, intensity levels must increase over time if you hope to continue seeing improvement.

Mistake #2:  Not writing down your workouts.

SOLUTION: Without recording your workout, you won't remember the number of reps you did or the weight you used in your previous workout. Recording workouts is important for ensuring you push yourself each week. There are days when we all don’t feel like pushing ourselves, but by looking back at a previous workout, it gives you a target for weight, reps or rest periods you know you must beat.

Mistake #3: Picking a row of muscle-specific exercise machines and doing a set on every machine in that row.

SOLUTION: The weight machines in many fitness centers are laid out by body part, however it doesn't mean you should use each machine in that row. Many of the machines do the same thing, they're just made by different manufacturers. Rather than hopping from machine to machine, you'll find more benefit by picking one machine per body part and doing three to four sets.

Mistake #4: Women focus on the thighs, while men focus on the abs.

SOLUTION: If this article was titled, “Three exercises to slim your thighs!” or “The ab fat attack workout!” it might get a lot more views. Everyone is looking for an easy solution to lose fat from their trouble areas. Performing hundreds of crunches isn't going to reduce belly fat just like doing the adductor/abductor machine isn't going to slim your thighs. The number one tip for blasting fat is a solid nutrition plan. For the one-two punch, base your workout around multi-joint movements like squats, pushups and pullups. Although these movements won't directly target stubborn body fat, they will have a greater impact on your metabolism. 

Mistake #5: Sticking with high reps and low weight to “tone”.

SOLUTION: This is a mistake that gets perpetuated by celebrities and fitness magazines. The idea that high reps and light weight burns more fat and tones the muscle is simply wrong. If tone, that lean defined look, is what you are after, then you are going to have to shed some body fat and lift heavier weights. A properly designed fitness program uses a variety of rep ranges. No matter what rep range you work in, always choose a weight where you can do only the amount of reps desired. 

Mistake #6: Focusing on intensity before learning proper form.

SOLUTION: The benefits of strength training comes from putting muscles under an increasing level of stress and resistance. Unfortunately, much of this is lost when you focus on doing more before you focus on doing it right. Building a strong foundation is of utmost importance in strength training. Not only can incorrect form lead to injury it will prevent you from making progress. If you are going to be investing time in your workouts it pays to seek out professional advice up front to ensure you achieve the desired benefits.

To read about the benefits of strength training check out this article: Strength Training: Lose Weight, Live Longer

This article was written by: Tom Nikkola – Life Time Fitness, Director of Nutrition & Weight Management and Vanessa Romero. 

It is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.

Written by: Tom Nikkola – Life Time Fitness, Director of Nutrition & Weight Management

Many of the articles on the Life Time Weightloss site, and information in our weight management programs, clearly show why controlling weight is not just about counting calories or moving more. A new article published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (EJCN) provides further support to this position. Even though the article is published in a prestigious journal, you shouldn’t expect it to make many headlines. If the authors’ perspectives were acknowledged publicly, it would mean changing public health recommendations and would go against much of the advertising found in the food industry.

The research review is titled Obesity and energy balance: is the tail wagging the dog?[i]  One of the major themes in the review is the point that rather than looking at lack of activity (sloth) or overeating (gluttony) as causes of obesity, it’s quite possible these may be results of something going awry with our metabolisms. In other words, we don’t get fat just by eating more and moving less. What’s making us fat, also gives us an insatiable appetite and makes us lethargic.

The premise behind the calorie balance equation is that if the calories we burn each day are less than the calories we eat, we gain weight. Yet, when people consciously decrease calorie intake, weight loss is frequently less than would be predicted — cutting back on calories does not result in expected weight loss.

In addition, when people move more, by adding structured exercise programs or engaging in other regular activity, they technically burn more calories. Yet, research shows this rarely impacts weight loss with any significance. However, studies do show people who eat lower-carbohydrate diets lose more weight, even without counting calories. The impact can even be greater when these individuals add exercise to their program. If weight loss occurs by lowering carbohydrate intake without reducing total calories, there’s more than calorie counts affecting weight loss or gain.

As long as we continue focusing on controlling calories, foods often containing processed carbohydrates and artificial ingredients will be viewed as appropriate for weight loss nutrition programs. But the evidence doesn’t support this. Instead, these low-calorie, low-nutrient food products could be one of several reasons we’re gaining weight.

Insulin
So if it isn’t just excess calories that are causing the obesity problem around the country, and the world for that matter, what is it? One obvious answer the EJCN experts referenced is constantly high insulin levels. It’s only been in the past few generations as humans that we’ve had access to granola bars, processed breakfast cereals, crackers, and other pre-made, processed junk food.

In fact, when was the last time you saw an advertisement for fresh vegetables or fruit? It’s probably been a while, yet fruit juice is advertised everywhere, making people think it is a sufficient replacement for whole foods.

These modern foods drive up our blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar causes high insulin. In fact, some people can disrupt their hormones so that their insulin levels will be elevated even if they haven’t eaten much carbohydrate in a while. They may also secrete much more insulin than necessary. Aside from leading to a lot of other health problems, elevated insulin shuts down the body’s ability to burn fat. Even on a low-calorie diet, if insulin is too high, fat won’t be burned efficiently. Instead, the body may use its muscle tissue for energy. Translation: Someone can lose some scale weight, yet their body fat remains at unhealthy levels. Even people who appear thin in street clothes may have a very high percentage of body fat.

Leptin
Another possible suspect in the battle against body fat could be the hormone leptin. Leptin is a hormone that signals us that we’re full. When leptin levels are elevated following a meal, we should get the sense to stop eating. Studies show leptin is elevated in many obese individuals, which means they may become leptin resistant the way they become resistant to insulin. The body keeps secreting the hormone to say, “Hey, you don’t need to eat anymore.” Yet, the brain doesn’t get the signal. There are many theories around this phenomenon, including the idea that processed foods may block leptin signaling.

Healthy Bacteria
The balance of good and bad bacteria may influence not only the nutrients we extract from our diet, but they may also influence the amount of caloric energy we derive from our foods. There is emerging evidence that certain bacteria can increase the caloric value we receive. Simply having more of the right bacteria may allow us to limit the calories we get from the foods we eat. Probiotics may become one of the most recommended nutritional supplements in the near future, as additional research begins supporting their use.

Fructose
Looking specifically at our diets, the authors discussed a couple likely factors in weight gain. The first is the fructose content in a diet. While the total sugar consumed by the average American is outrageous, fructose is a sugar that’s metabolized quite differently than other sugars.  The body’s ability to properly manage blood sugar becomes more disrupted from this sugar than others. If this causes elevated insulin, again the body becomes limited it its ability to burn fat.

In addition, because of how fructose is metabolized, it doesn’t give the body the same sense to stop eating either. As a result, people may consume far more calories from fructose-containing foods than they would from other sugars. High-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose (often labeled as “natural sugar”), agave nectar and many other “natural” sugars have a significant amount of fructose. Even if the label suggests the product is “natural” or seemingly healthy, be sure to check the ingredient list.

Macronutrients
The authors also acknowledged the importance of where daily calories come from. The majority of support in this area is for higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate, higher-fiber diets. However, this is not what you find in the majority of foods at the grocery store. Instead, high-carb, low-fat, low-protein foods are generally the types of food found in ready-to-eat packaging.

At some point in the near future, public health professionals and the food industry are going to have to admit that convenience foods dominate grocery store shelves — and that no matter how they’re fortified or modified, they do not support health or weight management.

Sleep
Finally, the EJCN review covered sleep and its effect on weight gain. Studies show those who don’t get enough sleep tend to gain more weight. Again, if weight management was about calorie-burning, you’d think that being awake would burn more calories and help with weight loss — but that’s not the case at all. Missing out on sleep actually disrupts the metabolism in many ways and it’s one of the first things we address with clients. Getting enough sleep also helps in stress management, another factor in a healthy metabolism.

Summary
I’m glad I paid for the full access to this journal article as it was a thorough review of many of the areas we must address if we’ll hope for success in reversing the obesity epidemic. Seven out of 10 people weigh too much. The answer is not to count total calories and move a little more!

Based on the research in the EJCN review, and many other studies, the answers actually seem quite simple:

• Get a regular lab assessment on your body’s metabolic chemistry to see if any issues need to be addressed.
  
• Eat real food: plenty of vegetables and other plants which provide a ton of nutrients.
  
• Eat enough protein with each meal, each day.
  
• Stop looking at fat as bad.
  
• Get enough sleep every night and manage stress.
  

Simply revising your diet to high-quality food and lowering carbohydrates can reduce or eliminate extra sugar, improve the balance of good bacteria in the gut, support better sleep and stress levels and help control insulin. Maybe it’s time we stop the madness of looking at weight loss as simply eating less food and start eating better food.

We also have to admit that some people have metabolic dysfunctions that must be addressed before they start focusing on their diet. As we always say, weight management is more than just calories in, calories out.

This article is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.

[i] Wells JCK, Siervo M. Obesity and energy balance: is the tail wagging the dog? EJCN. 2011 July. Advance online publication. Doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.132

Filed Under: Articles, Weight Loss, Exercise

A new study states exercising 15 minutes a day can add 3 years to your life. My handsome husband Tom, weighs in on this! Enjoy the video!

Written by: Tom Nikkola – Life Time Fitness, Director of Nutrition & Weight Management

Television commercials and advertisements use fit and healthy looking models, in running apparel, to sell you everything from cereal to shoes. People are led to believe running equates to being healthy and fit. Unfortunately, the importance of strength training is often overlooked. When was the last time you saw a healthy, fit, middle-aged woman doing a barbell squat, or pulling 150 pounds off the floor, doing a deadlift, in an ad or commerical? Those images are quite rare. However, these and other resistance training movements can have a dramatically positive effect on how we look, perform, and even in how our muscles age.

Training with Weights
Weight training has a certain stigma attached to it. During my years as a personal trainer, most of the women I spoke to initially felt training with weights was intended more for men — men who wanted to get big and bulky. Nothing could be further from the truth. Weight training involves more than simply grabbing five-pound dumbbells. In order to benefit from strength or resistance training, each workout should build on the prior workout. We’ll talk about designing a program and a process called periodization in a future article.

Benefits of Strength Training

Reduced risk of diabetes and prediabetes: Prediabetes is the beginning sign of a loss of blood sugar control. Type 2 diabetes may take years, even decades, to develop. Often, the difference between prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes is a small difference in fasting blood sugar measurements. Though regular exercise won’t make up for a diet full of poor quality, high-carb, processed food, it can certainly help. A new study revealed those who had more muscle mass displayed a reduced chance of having prediabetes.[i] Likewise, when blood-sugar control is lost, it’s more difficult for the body to burn fat —making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it.

Though Type 2 diabetes is occurring now in younger people than it has historically, it is still diagnosed most often in those who are in middle and later adulthood. It’s also common for people this age to be less active and have a lot less muscle mass than in their younger years. Making weight training a regular part of one’s lifestyle can help reduce age-related muscle loss.

Reduced rate of, or reversed, aging of muscle tissue: No matter what your age is today, if you’re not currently following a good resistance training program, you can get started and actually build younger muscles! Take a look in the mirror and flex your muscles. Are they still fairly tight and full, or are they becoming soft, stringy or skinny? For those who are sedentary, it’s common to lose size in the areas where we have the most muscle, and gain size in the areas where we best store fat. You have control over that. Weight training sets up a physiological process where your body will make new, younger acting muscle tissue.[ii] It’s never too late to start.

Better maintenance of lost weight: People lose weight all the time. Unfortunately, most gain it back as well. Resistance training has been shown to play an important role in avoiding weight regain. Whether it’s directly a result of exercise itself, or because those who follow a regular resistance training program make other good lifestyle decisions as well is unclear. Nevertheless, a solid weight training program should play a foundational role in any weight loss program, as well as a weight maintenance program.[iii]

Sustained levels of testosterone with aging: A long-held belief is that testosterone levels fall as we age, especially in men. Research presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting questions the theory.[iv] It suggests the fall in testosterone levels may be a result of a loss of muscle tissue as a result of having no regular strength training. It may also be a result of stress and other conditions, but training with weights is an easy way to help reduce the loss of testosterone with aging.

Improved function: Squatting, lunging, lifting and pressing are movements we make every day, or at least we should be able to. Often, these basic movements are avoided in a fitness program for fear of injury. As we start to avoid them in everyday life, we become less functional. As we become less functional, we become less active. I’ve seen people in their 80s still doing squats with a bar on their shoulders, in perfect form. I’ve also seen people in their 40s who have a hard time doing a squat with just their body weight. Unless you have an injury, these movements should be done on a regular basis. If you do have an injury, don’t let it become an excuse to avoid them. Instead, speak with a fitness professional who can help you work around it.

Reduced risk of injury: Do you know someone who gained weight after an injury? Have you? There’s no doubt that a back surgery, knee replacement, or even a torn Achilles’ tendon can force someone off their feet for a while. A good strength training program (along with avoiding poor-quality food) should reduce the need for these injuries or surgeries. That said, if you were injured several years ago and are hanging onto the injury as a reason you can’t get back in shape, stop making excuses. While some injuries are enough to severely limit our movement, most injuries can be overcome. Get some help and get yourself back on the road to recovery.

Summary
There are a variety of other benefits of training with weights beyond what’s been mentioned here. The real point is, weight training is not an “optional” part of a fitness program. It should be a core part of your fitness regimen in any given week. Depending on your current level of conditioning and your goals, a weight training program design can vary quite a bit from one person to the next. In an upcoming article, we’ll look at what types of resistance training to do based on what your goals are.

If training with weights is not part of your program today, get started. If you’re not sure where to start, ask for help from a qualified fitness professional. Consultations should be complimentary at most fitness centers. Talk with an expert and get the guidance you need.  

This article is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.

[i] The Endocrine Society. Increased muscle mass may lower risk of pre-diabetes: Study shows building muscle can lower person's risk of insulin resistance. ScienceDaily, 28 Jul. 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2011.

[ii] Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA, Beckman K, Felkey K, Hubbard A. Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle. PLoS ONE 2007;2(5):e465. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000465  

[iii] University of Missouri-Columbia. Putting on the pounds after weight loss? Hit the gym to maintain health gains. ScienceDaily, 23 Sep. 2010. Web. 7 Aug. 2011.

[iv] The Endocrince Society. Older age does not cause testosterone levels to decline in healthy men.EurekAlert! 7 Jun 2011. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/tes-oad060711.php