valshealthblog.com

Hi,

If you stop exercising how long will it take before you lose muscle power?

You might have heard statistics that range from a few hours to a few weeks. 

But, there was actually a study done to determine this.  In was done in Sweden and was designed to measure muscle loss on bed ridden patients.

It was a very small study – only 8 men – and they had to stay in bed with no movement for 1 leg.

The results showed that at the three day period muscle loss accelerated in the stationary leg. 

Hopefully, you will never be on bed rest, but if you are then ask your doctor how to limit your muscle loss while in your bed rest position.

This is very important for any kind of rehab.  It takes a lot of work to build muscle.  If you can lose it in just three days, then you want to keep moving as much as possible.

But, what about if you don’t use your muscles in your normal life?

Well, that is just about impossible.  Anytime you move some of your muscles are activated.

Problem is just doing simple everday things are not enough.

As you do your daily routine, your muscles adapt to that level of output.  If you aren’t “working them” then there is no reason for them to adapt and to grow bigger and stronger.

Smaller and weaker muscles will burn hardly any body fat.  without this fat burning property of muscle being activated the odds are you will get heavier and fatter as you age.

Just a little extra use of your muscles goes a long way.  This does not mean 45-60 minutes of exercise a day. 

Most people don’t have the time or won’t make the time to exercise. 

Walking, jogging and other types of aerobic exercise are good for you and should be a regular part of any exercise routine.

I think that some resistance training (like weight lifting) is a necessary component also. 

Start with your body weight when you are starting any exercise program.  As you get stronger you can start adding weights.

This will help you shape your body and your muscles so that you look better.  Combine this with your aerobics and a good nutrition plan and you won’t ever have to worry about how long it will take before you lose muscle power.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Related Blogs

• Royal Navy Mine Countermeasures Flotilla Sails for Exercise in the Gulf | Navy News at DefenseTalk
• Build Muscle | zeeol.com – another news portal
• How Can I Insert <a Href= Into Php? – syntax – Href> – Insert – Into – Windows Pie
• SBI MF’s 35% div on its Umbrella-Contra Fund
• Modern Meditation Exercise
• No Joke: University of Florida Class Called ’21st Century Skills in Starcraft’
• University Class Teaches Starcraft?
• Structural defects precede functional decline in heart muscle | Science Blog

Hi,

This post continues our saga about fasting for weight loss.

We have found that you can lose weight on a fast, just as

you can lose weight on a diet.  The problem with both is

our metabolisms.

With both fasting and dieting your metabolism will slow

down.  Eventually you will stop losing weight and start

regaining it.  This is your body’s natural defense and

survival mechanisms kicking in.

At this point in time and to my knowledge there are no

studies showing exactly where this weight loss comes from. 

Is it from fat loss, muscle loss, chemical loss or even

bone loss?  No one knows. 

But, we can make some educated guesses. 

My guess, based upon past research and my own experiences

is that it comes from muscle loss. 

Almost every physiologist will tell you that weight loss on

a diet comes from fat and muscle loss. 

That is why exercise is always recommended by scientists as

part of an overall weight loss program. 

Just dieting, and fasting, will make you smaller not more

muscular.

Yes, you will lose weight and you saw in the last post that

a fast one time per week could help extend the weight loss

time period. 

But, it can’t work forever.  Just like a diet can’t work

forever.

My own experience with a fasting and exercise protocol are

in line with this.

This program had me fasting every 5 days and exercising

every day, including weights and high intensity aerobics. 

And I did lose weight.  I lost 5 pounds and I got smaller. 

My chest, thigh and biceps all got smaller.  My waist

stayed the same. 

These were not the kind of results I was looking for. 

Especially since the program stated that it was a body fat

loss program.  For the last little bit around the waist.

I do not have a six pack.  I do have a four pack and

sometimes you can barely see the outlines of a six pack. 

So I figured I would give this program a try.  At the end,

my muscles were smaller, I still didn’t have a six pack and

worst of all I had absolutely no energy. 

That was not fun.  And actually that wasn’t the worst of

all.  When I went back to my normal non fasting eating

patterns all the weight went to my waist. 

I was still exercising and doing intense cardio, but it

took almost 3 months for me to get back to my pre “fat 

burning exercise – fasting” regimen. 

I will say though that I was surprised that the first

couple of weeks I did not feel a drop in energy on the

fasting days.  But, as it continued, it did take its toll.

So do I recommend fasting?

I do, but with certain guidelines.  First off, if you have

any kind of medical conditions see your doctor.  If you are

a diabetic or prone to it, do not fast without your

doctor’s guidelines. 

Your blood sugar could drop quite a bit on your fast days. 

If you are pregnant, do not fast period.  You and your baby

need all the nutrients it can get and extra calories. 

If you want to try it, start out slow.  Try fasting for

short periods of time.

Now, almost all of us fast for 8-12 hours a day already. 

This is when you sleep.

You can increase this time, by making sure you don’t eat

anything 2-3 hours before you go to bed. 

Even though I believe in eating a full breakfast, if you

are not used to doing that, then skip eating when you get

up to add a couple of extra hours before you eat anything. 

I would not try to fast more than 1 time per week.  And I

would start with skipping a meal.  You might skip dinner or

a lunch 1 time per week. 

If that seems to be okay then try skipping both a lunch and

dinner 1 time per week. 

And you do have to exercise.  That includes a strength

building portion and a cardio portion.  I have written

about these in previous posts. 

You want to reduce the fat and keep the muscle.  You can

not do that just by dieting or fasting. 

Bottom line is that fasting for weight loss is okay to try

within the guidelines mentioned. 

 Thanks,

Mike Val

Related Blogs

• The Return of London Fashion Week | Starting Out London
• This Week in Review: Patch’s local news play, Facebook takes location mainstream, and the undead web » Nieman Journalism Lab
• Centering an img in a div both horizontally and vertically | The Largest Forum Archive
• Fitness Tips Presented by Muscle Milk: Chest « Transworld Motocross
• More HOPE Week pictures | The Lohud Yankees Blog
• The Growing Detachment of the Political Class | RedState
• MySQL cache class – PHP Classes

Hi,

Last post we talked about how to increase your metabolism with the foods you eat. 

This post will talk about increasing it with exercise.

But, exercise is what?   If someone tells you that they are going to go exercise, what are they actually doing.

Are they running, biking, weight lifting, doing yoga or what?  It could be all of those things.

Any exercise program you go on should incorporate two things.  One is enhancing your strength and the other your cardio fitness. 

If you do one over the other you are not being as efficient as you can be in raising your metabolism.

Muscle uses more calories than anything else in your body.  Now we all have the same number of muscles, so to use more calories you need bigger and stronger muscles.

They don’t have to be much bigger, but the more you move and use your muscles the more calories you will burn every day.

Estimates of the extra number of calories you will burn in a day range from 40 to 100 calories.  While that might not seem like a whole lot, these calories will be burning 24/7/365. 

Even if it is only 40 extra calories a day, that equals just over 4 pounds a year.  And those pounds will be almost all from body fat. 

And that is by doing nothing extra.  Just having stonger muscles does it. 

The second part of your exercise should be some kind of cardio training.  But, not your normal cardio.

If you really want to up your metabolism then try some high intensity cardio.  This involves high intensity cardio mixed with lower intensity cardio.

For example you could run, walk, bike or swim as fast as you can for a period of time.  Then slow down to a leisurely pace for a period of time.

When first starting you might want to try 10 seconds of fast and 30 seconds of slow.  This depends upon your current fitness levels.

As you get better try to get to more time spent in the fast phase and less time spent in the slower phase. 

Doing cardio this way will do one thing that normal cardio (30-60 minutes at the same intensity levels) can’t do.

And that is to burn calories after the exercise session is done.  Regular cardio – if done long enough – will burn calories and fat while the cardio session is being done. 

But, once the session ends, then the burning stops. 

The alternating intensity – if you reach a high enough intensity – will also burn calories during the session.  And it will also burn extra calories and fat after the session is done.  

Part of this is because the regular cardio does not affect your fat burning hormones.  That way they never get stimulated for the after burn effect. 

The higher intenstity training does affect your fat burning hormones.  They go into action and your fat burning after effect is ignited. 

The same holds true with your strength training.  If you do an exercise and then rest for 2-3 or more minutes, you will not get an after burn effect.  Especially if the exercise did not tax you. 

An intense bout of strength training with minimal rest will definitely get your fat burning hormones lined up.

This after burn effect can last up to 48 hours after the exercise session is over.

So, it increase your metabolism, use strength training and higher intensity cardio sessions.   Then your body will be a fat burning machine.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Related Blogs

• Business English: Communications (Education) – iApper
• Yahoo Gets Rights For Online English Premier League Highlights
• Global Voices in English » Morocco: English as the Second Language

Hi,

I saw a headline in Health World a while back that caught my eye.  It said you could double the calories you burn when you exercise. 

As with most claims in the exercise and fitness worlds it doesn’t give you the whole truth. 

The article went on to mention that it was possible to double the amount of calories you burn when you exercise by adding aerobic exercise to your routine. 

It claimed that regular aerobic exercise will burn calories after you stop exercising by up to 8 hours afterwards. 

Somehow they interpreted that “fact” to mean that if you do aerobic exercise and burn 100 calories you will then burn an additional 100 calories after you stop doing the exercise. 

Unfortunately, they gave no proof of this.  Nor did they cite any research proving this. 

And there is a reason for this.  It just isn’t true. 

Pretty much the research shows that regular aerobic exercise does burn calories while you are doing it. 

And you will actually get into a fat burning stage after approximately 20 minutes. 

But, as soon as you stop the aerobic exercise that is pretty much it.  You get no or very little EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.   And certainly not 8 hours worth. 

You might have heard it called oxygen debt.   This is the debt that has to be repaid after intense exercise.  Note the term intense. 

That is the key.  Most people do not do intense aerobics. 

Go to any gym in the country and watch the people doing aerobics on all the different kinds of aerobic machines.  Watch people walking or jogging along the street.

That is what aerobics are for most.  A slow to medium paced workout. 

Very seldom to you see anyone doing sprints or running as hard as they can up 10 flights of stairs. 

I see people looking at me when I am on an exercise bike.  I pedal like a madman for 20, 30, 45 or even up to 75 seconds.  Then I relax and pedal slowly for 10 to 20 seconds. 

I keep doing that for 7 to 20 minutes depending on whether I have done a weight training workout prior to the “aerobics”.

But, you should see the looks I get.  It is almost funny.  I can just see their minds going, what in the hell is that guy doing. 

Well, I am burning fat. 

So in this case  adding high intensity exercise does indeed increase the after burn effect for up to 48 hours afterwards. 

Why is this?  Because low intensity to medium intensity exercise influences your hormones to burn sugars. 

High intensity exercise – even if you burn much less calories during the exercise time – influences your hormones to burn body fat. 

Big, big difference in your appearance.

So yes you can actually more than double the calories you burn over the long term.  But, you won’t be able to do it with low to moderate intensity aerobics.

We’ll talk more about hormones and how they influence your physique in coming posts.  Stay tuned. 

Thanks,

Mike Val

http://www.valshealthsite.com

Related Blogs

• Research and Webinar: Facebook Marketing Criteria for Success « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing
• Step Aerobics Weight Loss
• Interesting Aerobics Auctions | Health Online Blog
• Shintaro Ishiwatari, Kil Woo Lee Impress at SRC Asia Volume 1 | All Sports Events & News
• Exercise for Fast Weight Loss | Aardf Health
• Bad Research: A Comparison of iPad, Kindle and Book Reading Speeds | World of Psychology
• neXus » Archive » SRC Melaka, Cyber to merge
• Get Your Body Pumping With an Aerobics Workout – Digital Health Plans

Hi,

Have you regained weight after dieting for so long?  If so you are not alone. 

Check out this post – actually a couple of years ago so I don’t remember the author – that shows what one person went through.  It is from The Capessa Blog: Sharing the Wisdom of Women

Losing weight and changing one’s eating and fitness lifestyle is hard work — that’s a given — but maintaining a weight loss is even harder. There’s no longer the challenge of juggling numbers or the reward of seeing them drop, and keeping up the enthusiasm and dedication necessary to stay at the weight that you worked hard to get to doesn’t come easy.

The National Weight Registry surveys and collects data from “regular people” who have managed to maintain a weight loss of 30 pounds or more for at least one year. Based on the data that they have received from more than 7,000 people, there are certain things that almost all successful “losers” seem to do to maintain their newer and slimmer figures:

• Participate in aerobic exercise for least one hour or more each day
• Focus on watching calories
• Keep food logs
• Choose healthier and lower fat foods

I never thought I would be (nor did I want to be) one of the many people who have lost a significant amount of weight only to gain a lot of it back. But, it is high time to admit that I have gained 15 pounds since the start of the year.

Yes, that’s right. I just admitted that on the world wide web, for all to see, that I have gained back 15 of the 50 pounds I worked so hard to lose.

So what happened?

Well, I stopped doing what successful losers do to maintain a weight loss. I stopped exercising as much as I was. I started to think, “a little bit of this and a little bit of that won’t hurt.” And I stopped writing in my food log, because if I don’t write it down, it doesn’t count, right?

I lost track of calories and stopped being accountable to myself. I started to neglect myself. I stopped preparing meals and snacks ahead of time. I stopped getting up early to get to the gym because I was busy and tired. My will power began to crumble, eating special treats everyday rather than on special occasions only.

I have been watching my weight creep up these past 8 months, and instead of getting back on the beam right away, it has become a bit of a vicious cycle.

You become depressed because you know better. You get angry with yourself because you can’t believe you let yourself go. You get paranoid about what people will think—especially since you write this blog about maintaining your weight. You get emotional because getting dressed puts you in a bad mood; pants you looked awesome in a few months ago, no longer fit.

The last thing you want to do when you feel so bad about yourself is get up early the next day, go to the gym and forego the ice cream as the last days of summer arrive. I have been struggling with not throwing in the towel, not caving in and eating everything in sight, only to see the scale not budge or go up!

Now that that skeleton is out of the closet, what do I do?

Well I pick up the tools that have been so freely given to me by the successful losers that have come before me; the same tools that have helped me to be successful in the past, and I apply them again (food logs, calorie watching, exercising more). And this time I try not to think that I am ever cured from my tendency to overeat and under exercise.

In admitting my weight gain I end it there. I hold myself accountable because no one can do this for me, but me.

That pretty much sums up the problems of losing and regaining weight .  Fortunately, there has been a lot of research that shows you how to easily keep it off for as long as you want.

Stay tuned as we explore this in future posts.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Related Blogs

• Blogging Innovation » Failure = Success
• Food Symphony by Chow Pei Huan, Ho Wen Chi, and Chua Kai Ren » Yanko Design
• Exercise Rates Up, But Americans Still Obese |Weight Loss Surgery Channel
• Weight training is for women, too : Washington Blade
• Time Magazine on Health Care Promises vs. Reality | Verum Serum
• SRC: FRONT-RUNNERS TARGET “SCOTTISH” HONOURS | RallyBuzz
• Error Logger Class – PHP Classes