Do You Exercise And Not Lose Weight or Fat?

Do You Have Time For The Truth?

A crazy story in TIME magazine stated exercise won't help you lose weight. In the article, a professor from Louisiana State University says, "for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless."

If you've read my blog you may already recognize the ignorance of this professor's statement. What he does not understand is it depends on what type of exercise.

My rebuttal to this ignorant statement will take a few paragraphs, but bear with me, this is important for you to understand.

I agree, the conventional exercises, like aerobics, jogging, marathon running, exercising on a tred mill or elliptical for 30 - 40 minutes do not work for weight loss. That type of exertion actually trains your body to make and store more fat.

When you exercise for long periods at a time, like most people do when they go to the gym, you push your body into its so called "fat burning zone." Most fitness gurus tell you to get into your fat burning zone and stay there for as long as you can take it... but that's a problem. You don't want to burn fat during exercise.

Burning fat during exercise tells your body it needed the fat. This trains your body to make more fat for the next time you exercise.

But that doesn't mean you can't use exercise to lose fat. In fact, it's one of the most effective tools you can use to hit and maintain your ideal weight. I use it myself and I recommend it to my clients.

However, if you want to burn fat and keep it off, exercise in short bursts of high intensity. This is the basis of the doctor directed weight loss exercise program.

How does it work? It has to do with what your body uses for fuel during exercise. For the first two or three minutes of a workout you burn ATP, your body's cellular energy source. Then you start burning carbs from muscle tissue. After about 15 minutes you switch to fat.

Exercising for short periods will use these carbs during exercise. Then you start to burn fat after your workout - while you replenish the carbs.

This is known as your "After Burn."

Researchers at Laval University in Quebec divided participants into two groups: long-duration and repeated short-duration exercisers. They had the long-duration group cycle 45 minutes without interruption. The short-term interval group cycled in numerous short bursts of 15 to 90 seconds, while resting in between.

The long duration group burned twice as many calories, so you would assume they would burn more fat. However, when the researchers recorded their body composition measurements, the interval group showed significantly more fat loss.

In fact, the interval group lost 9 times more fat than the endurance group for every calorie burned. You can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks.

This illustrates that exercise continues to affect your metabolism after you stop. The short bursts stimulated a greater "After Burn".

You might think burning fat during exercise makes sense. But your body will adapt to any routine you give it, including exercise. And if you burn fat during a workout and you do that workout consistently, your body will make sure you have new fat to burn each time you go to the gym.

After a while your body becomes efficient at building and preserving fat necessary for long aerobic sessions in preparation for the next endurance workout. In doing so, it sacrifices muscle and preserves fat. Long duration exercise cause loss of water weight and unfortunately muscle weight, Not fat.

Don't bother trying to use this strategy to lose body fat. Your body will fight you in the effort and you can only do it by sacrificing lean tissue like muscle and internal organs.

Long Duration exercise tells your body to build fat. That's how your body adapts to this kind of activity. Then, if you stop your cardio routine, you'll put on even more fat very rapidly. This is common as your body gets into the routine of making the extra fat.

It's an endless cycle. And eventually, everyone stops doing cardio. Many just get bored. But many find they have to stop cardio because this unnatural activity causes joint pain and degeneration of joints.

If you persist through middle age with cardio it may accelerate some very negative effects of aging. It lowers testosterone and growth hormone, boosts destructive cortisol levels and robs you of muscle, bone and internal organ mass and strength, along with speeding the degeneration of the spine, knees, ankles, hips.

On the other hand short-duration exercise - like described in the Doctor Directed Weight Loss Program - actually increases your levels of growth hormone.

Researchers from Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England tested growth hormone levels in sprinters and endurance athletes. On average, the sprinters had 3 times as much growth hormone as the endurance runners.

You must understand, the most important changes from exercise occur after, not during, the exercise period. The way you exercise affects your metabolism for several days. The important changes begin after you stop exercising.

This means all you have to do during your exercise is arouse the adaptive reaction you need - like reducing your need for fat or building reserve capacity in your heart. Your body will continue making the important changes afterwards - for the rest of the day, even while you sleep.

You don't need to go to the gym to get started. Even if you're out of shape you can start with a challenge that's within your reach.

Walking as an example. This is the easiest way to get started if you're not in good condition or facing a physical challenge.

Here's how: When you're walking, you should start at a comfortable pace for 30 - 60 seconds to get joints in motion. Then speed up intensely walking as fast as you can, you can even bring hand weights if you wish.

Maintain this pace for 30 seconds - 90 seconds, you should feel winded.(To the point where you can't carry on a conversation, even panting for your breath). Now stop and catch your breath. Take a 30 - 60 seconds to recover and focus on your breathing; in through your nose and out through your mouth until you're breathing normally. This was your first "set." Do this for 3 - 4 sets. Now you have reached "After Burn", enjoy your results. :-)

Wear comfortable pair of walking shoes with good support and some loose-fitting clothes. You start off on the sidewalk or on a quiet street. You could also go to the gym and work on a treadmill.

It doesn't matter how quickly you can walk. Even if your top exertion speed is just above your normal walking speed, you can give yourself enough of a challenge to expand your lung volume and build reserve capacity in your heart.

This gradual build up in cardio-pulmonary power will get you to higher levels and extend your endurance. Little by little, you'll become more and more conditioned and better able to handle more intense challenges.

Swimming is helpful if you have a disability, as the water's buoyancy will take the strain off your joints and make it easier to move. Biking is also very effective for beginners and you have the option of doing it outside or in the gym.

Like walking, take it slow and evaluate your exertion level. Don't strain yourself. Take small, deliberate steps and stay with your program. Within the first week, you'll start to see progress.

All we request is 7 - 12 minutes per day and you will be losing all the fat you want.

Dr David Alan retired from private practice after logging over 220,000 patient visits in 20+ years in practice. He then developed a team of health experts to uncover the truth regarding weight loss. This turned into an 8 year quest and now together they are releasing the antidote to FAT with the Doctor Directed 14day Weight Loss Program. You can find it at http://www.DoctorWeightLossProgram.com and the blog you can find at www.drdavidalan.com