Why Diet and Exercise Fail
Autor: markyoung ~ 19/05/10
When it comes to treating shoulder pain most people would agree that instead of treating the shoulder itself, you might first investigate thoracic mobility, scapular stability, lower trap and serratus anterior strength, and any other root cause that might be related.
On the other hand, when it comes to excess body fat, the same trainer or coach might tell people to follow a nutrition plan and exercise to lose weight. In other words, they treat the symptom (excess body fat) with exercise and nutrition instead of addressing the possible barriers that were limiting people from doing these things in the first place.
To this end, I think it is absolutely critical that anyone who is overweight or working with anyone with body fat to lose address the real reasons the person is overweight to begin with. While a client may be able to stave their regular barriers for a short period of time (i.e., a 12 week commitment to a fad fat loss program), they will eventually have to face these issues or lose all the progress that has been made. Despite the fact that you’ve given a person your very best cutting edge training, nutrition, and supplement program, they’re bound to fail if these issues remain.
Moreover, (as an astute blog reader recently pointed out) people who have been particularly overweight since childhood will have more fat cells than the average person which might make it significantly harder for them to keep weight off so staying on target is absolutely key.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that I’m all about assessing people and knowing what these barriers are should be part of any fat loss client assessment. Below is a great chart produced by Dr. Arya Sharma demonstrating how one might assess for potential barriers for long term success. Of course, this isn’t nearly as sexy as saying “get ripped in 12 weeks” or “abs in hours”, but it is the reality and I’d be willing to bet that anyone reading this blog right now that doesn’t have the body they desire has yet to truly identify and troubleshoot each of their barriers.
Whether there is 100 pounds to be lost or 10, if you address the symptoms (like treating shoulder by taking Tylenol) you can eliminate them temporarily, but they will be back.
And by the way, never once have I come to the conclusion that a client is overweight because they haven’t purchased the latest supplement, exercise gadget, training program, or cleanse. Just sayin’.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
ARTICLE ON EATING FREQUENCY FROM PROGRADE NUTRITION
Q: I’ve heard that eating more frequently will increase my metabolism and help me lose weight? Is this true and how does this happen? I thought you had to eat less to lose weight.
A: You’ve probably heard this advice from many different places: personal trainers at your gym, online weight-loss websites, and popular diet books. Even though it has some merit, it may not be entirely correct, especially if your physical activity levels are low or non-existent.
The suggestion to increase your eating frequency, meaning going from eating three square meals a day to six smaller meals and snacks, stems from both research and anecdotal findings. Some of the benefits attributed to eating more often include reducing hunger and caloric intake, boosting your metabolic rate, and controlling hormones that increase your desire for food. For some people this is true, for others, not so much.
In the research world, scientists have shown certain benefits from eating more often compared to less:
• By eating the same amount of calories in several meals spread throughout the day there’s a suppression of free fatty acid release from adipose tissue, which enhances your ability to use glucose (from carbohydrate foods) as fuel
• The amount of insulin secreted from your pancreas to help you use the nutrients you’re eating is reduced, so there is less potential for those nutrients to be stored in fat cells. Instead, the insulin that is released sends those calories to your needy muscle cells where they’re used to provide energy for daily movement
• Your stomach is stretched less with smaller meals, which slows the rate at which food is delivered to your intestine, and in turn, your blood stream. This creates a consistent flow of energy to your body rather than one fast, large dump of nutrients
• Blood total and LDL-cholesterol levels in your body are decreased due to less cholesterol synthesis and increased cholesterol removal
Despite these findings, reviews of all the scientific investigations looking at the effect of increased eating on weight loss have not shown that eating more often reduces body weight. The recent review by Palmer and colleagues in 2009, and the ones by Bellisle and colleagues in 1997 both found this same result; eating more often does not seem to decrease body weight in every person. Explanations for this finding includes the fact that the energy density of our food has increased over the years, even though we’re evolutionarily meant to be “grazers”. Even with lower calories, eating more frequently does not help decrease the numbers on the scale by itself.
For body composition, some observations of people that eat more rather than less show that their body carries less fat. However, research investigations have not shown that just going from eating less to eating more magically lowers body fat. Those people that eat more may simply burn more calories naturally during the day, or expend more calories in movement. Then there are those people that never gain fat no matter how hard they try (not the norm nowadays though).
However, there are clear benefits to eating more often:
• You stave off hunger before it sets in and pushes you to overeat
• You give yourself more energy to exercise harder
• You prevent swings in your blood sugar levels which can make you cranky, unhappy and lethargic
As far as increasing your metabolism, eating more often can potentially increase the amount of calories you burn in a day, by a mechanism known as the “Thermic Effect of Feeding”. However, this effect is relatively small and can be made easily obsolete with poor food choices and excess caloric intake.
It is true though that when you eat more often rather than less, you’re more likely to meet your exercise goals instead of not having the energy to even begin to do anything. Then, when you exercise more, especially a combination of weight training and cardio, you can increase your muscle mass and lower your body fat, which makes your body look tighter and fit better in clothing. And who doesn’t want that?
However, eating more often doesn’t work for everyone: If you’re not exercising, eating more will definitely cause fat gain – those calories have no where else to go! And, when you eat more you still have to make good food choices and balance your intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat; eating more chocolate and soda will not help your metabolism at all. Considering that most “snack” foods are based off sugar and starchy carbohydrates (crackers, granola bars, etc), it’s really easy to over-consume carbs and miss out on important proteins and fats.
Bottom line: Eating more can help meet your body composition and weight goals if you’re selecting your nutrients wisely and using them to help you exercise consistently.
To Discover Even More About Healthy Weight Loss
Resources:
Palmer MA, Capra S, & Baines SK. Association between eating frequency, weight, and health. Review
Nutr Rev. 2009 Jul;67(7):379-90
Bellisle F, McDevitt R, Prentice A. Meal frequency and energy balance. Brit J Nutrition. 1997;77(Suppl 1):S57–S70
Jenkins D, Wolever T, Vuksan V, et al. Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:929–934
Frequent Eating Associated with Lower Lipid Concentrations. JWatch General. 2002: 3-3
Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005;81:16-24
Ruidavets JB, Bongard V, Bataille V, et al. Eating frequency and body fatness in middle-aged men International Journal of Obesity. 2002; 26: 1476-1483
A: You’ve probably heard this advice from many different places: personal trainers at your gym, online weight-loss websites, and popular diet books. Even though it has some merit, it may not be entirely correct, especially if your physical activity levels are low or non-existent.
The suggestion to increase your eating frequency, meaning going from eating three square meals a day to six smaller meals and snacks, stems from both research and anecdotal findings. Some of the benefits attributed to eating more often include reducing hunger and caloric intake, boosting your metabolic rate, and controlling hormones that increase your desire for food. For some people this is true, for others, not so much.
In the research world, scientists have shown certain benefits from eating more often compared to less:
• By eating the same amount of calories in several meals spread throughout the day there’s a suppression of free fatty acid release from adipose tissue, which enhances your ability to use glucose (from carbohydrate foods) as fuel
• The amount of insulin secreted from your pancreas to help you use the nutrients you’re eating is reduced, so there is less potential for those nutrients to be stored in fat cells. Instead, the insulin that is released sends those calories to your needy muscle cells where they’re used to provide energy for daily movement
• Your stomach is stretched less with smaller meals, which slows the rate at which food is delivered to your intestine, and in turn, your blood stream. This creates a consistent flow of energy to your body rather than one fast, large dump of nutrients
• Blood total and LDL-cholesterol levels in your body are decreased due to less cholesterol synthesis and increased cholesterol removal
Despite these findings, reviews of all the scientific investigations looking at the effect of increased eating on weight loss have not shown that eating more often reduces body weight. The recent review by Palmer and colleagues in 2009, and the ones by Bellisle and colleagues in 1997 both found this same result; eating more often does not seem to decrease body weight in every person. Explanations for this finding includes the fact that the energy density of our food has increased over the years, even though we’re evolutionarily meant to be “grazers”. Even with lower calories, eating more frequently does not help decrease the numbers on the scale by itself.
For body composition, some observations of people that eat more rather than less show that their body carries less fat. However, research investigations have not shown that just going from eating less to eating more magically lowers body fat. Those people that eat more may simply burn more calories naturally during the day, or expend more calories in movement. Then there are those people that never gain fat no matter how hard they try (not the norm nowadays though).
However, there are clear benefits to eating more often:
• You stave off hunger before it sets in and pushes you to overeat
• You give yourself more energy to exercise harder
• You prevent swings in your blood sugar levels which can make you cranky, unhappy and lethargic
As far as increasing your metabolism, eating more often can potentially increase the amount of calories you burn in a day, by a mechanism known as the “Thermic Effect of Feeding”. However, this effect is relatively small and can be made easily obsolete with poor food choices and excess caloric intake.
It is true though that when you eat more often rather than less, you’re more likely to meet your exercise goals instead of not having the energy to even begin to do anything. Then, when you exercise more, especially a combination of weight training and cardio, you can increase your muscle mass and lower your body fat, which makes your body look tighter and fit better in clothing. And who doesn’t want that?
However, eating more often doesn’t work for everyone: If you’re not exercising, eating more will definitely cause fat gain – those calories have no where else to go! And, when you eat more you still have to make good food choices and balance your intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat; eating more chocolate and soda will not help your metabolism at all. Considering that most “snack” foods are based off sugar and starchy carbohydrates (crackers, granola bars, etc), it’s really easy to over-consume carbs and miss out on important proteins and fats.
Bottom line: Eating more can help meet your body composition and weight goals if you’re selecting your nutrients wisely and using them to help you exercise consistently.
To Discover Even More About Healthy Weight Loss
Resources:
Palmer MA, Capra S, & Baines SK. Association between eating frequency, weight, and health. Review
Nutr Rev. 2009 Jul;67(7):379-90
Bellisle F, McDevitt R, Prentice A. Meal frequency and energy balance. Brit J Nutrition. 1997;77(Suppl 1):S57–S70
Jenkins D, Wolever T, Vuksan V, et al. Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:929–934
Frequent Eating Associated with Lower Lipid Concentrations. JWatch General. 2002: 3-3
Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005;81:16-24
Ruidavets JB, Bongard V, Bataille V, et al. Eating frequency and body fatness in middle-aged men International Journal of Obesity. 2002; 26: 1476-1483
Monday, May 10, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
