Successful weight loss can be frustrating and difficult for even the best of us. What foods should I eat? What foods should I not eat? And how important is exercise when I am trying to lose weight?
Successful weight loss involves two things: proper nutrition and consistent exercise. Health and fitness professional Jason Kozma has the experience to help you in both areas! As a certified sport nutritionist, Jason can help you design a nutrition program to meet your needs. Contact him to set up a consultation today.
There are many reasons why exercise is an important part of any attempt to lose weight. Most people know that exercise “burns” calories, and it is this calorie deficit that equates to weight loss over the long run. Exercise is anything that elevates heart rate and breathing rate. Exercise increases muscle contraction and requires various amounts of endurance, strength, and power. Even activities like gardening and walking can be considered exercise, but you’ll want to allocate time and effort to higher intensity activities.
These increased metabolic demands — muscle contraction, heart rate, etc — force the body to “burn” calories to provide energy for movement and activity. Currently, health experts recommend 30 minutes of activity every day of the week. To see faster weight loss results, more activity should be added to your daily routine. Exercise can be aerobic like jogging or biking, or anaerobic like weight lifting. Moderate-intensity activity, which is also recommended, can include daily activities like walking up the stairs, playing with your kids, or mowing the lawn.
Exercise has immediate and long-term weight loss impact. In the short-term, exercise boots your metabolism and helps your body continue to burn calories at a higher rate after completing the activity. In the long-term, exercise promotes muscle growth, and a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat. As your body composition changes, your metabolism will increase and you will continue to see positive results. Exercise also provides many other health benefits, including: improved bone density (and lesser risk of osteoporosis); decreased blood pressure; decreased risk of heart disease and stroke; decreased risk of diabetes.
Contact Jason today to ask your questions related to exercise and weight loss. Find some answers and get started one of our exercise programs right away!