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Fri, 26 Sep 2008

Why So Many People Fail To Keep The Weight Off After Dieting

Trying to lose weight? Here's a nice little reality check from Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine.

A new study shows that older people who diet without exercising lose huge amounts of muscle. When weight loss was combined with exercise, they did not lose muscle ( Journal of Applied Physiology. October, 2008). Loss of muscle slows metabolism even further because larger muscles burn more calories at rest.

In this study, elderly sedentary people were placed in three groups: 1) Diet only, 2) exercise only, 3) diet and exercise. Those who dieted and exercised for four months lost more fat and less muscle than those who only dieted. Most of the exercisers chose to walk on a treadmill, which is not a very vigorous endeavor.

This also explains why losing weight repeatedly through dieting shortens a person's life span. Many people go on diets and lose weight, quickly regain their lost weight and then go on a diet again. These people then become fatter at the same weight because they have lost so much muscle. Therefore at the same weight, they have fuller fat cells.

Full fat cells produce immune stimulants called cytokines that turn on a person's immunity continuously to cause inflammation, which increases risk for cancers, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and other harmful diseases.

SV Note: Looking on the bright side, exercise does make you feel more cheerful and energetic - once you can breathe again!