With all of the info around at the moment, I thought I would give you a brief explanation of why it is that we do certain things if we want to lose weight.

I hope with this understanding, you will be able to make better choices and not follow fads or be sucked in by headlines in magazines.

What is the most effective weight loss mechanism? Our metabolism! The calories that are burnt while our body carries out it’s own internal functions.

Why do we train at all then? We want to burn more calories. calories are a unit of energy that we receive when we eat food or drink beverages other than water. If that energy is not used, it will be stored as fat.

Why do we train aerobically? Aerobic training increases fitness levels, helps our health and most importantly for a lot of people, it burns calories. It burns calories at the time of training and during the recovery hours after the training. With the chronic changes that effect our blood and organs, we will speed our metabolism.

Why do we train weights? Weight lifting gives us more muscle tone and being stronger helps us in everyday life. We burn calories during a weights workout and in the recovery time after the workout, but the most important reason is that more lean muscle mass createsa faster metabolism by needing to use more energy to support the newly created muscle mass.

Why do we walk? Most of us don’t move enough! We wake up, drive to work, sit at our desk and then drive home to have dinner and go to bed. We NEED more movement in our lives! Don’t you wonder why we are a population that is getting bigger and bigger?

Why do we eat regularly? When we eat regularly, our bodies need to process the food, thus speeding our metabolism. If we leave large gaps in between meals, our body may think it is starving and it will hold onto the food we put in, not knowing when the next meal may come. By adding food regularly, we eliminate this problem.

Why do we eat more protein and less carbohydrates? Protein is the building block of the body, our growth and repair rely on the amino acids that are found in protein. 

Carbohydrates give us energy. If you consume too much energy without burning it away, it will be stored as fat. High glyceamic carbohydrates will spike your blood sugar levels causing insulin to be released into your blood supply which will immobilise your fat cells. Putting it simply, don’t expect to use any fat as energy for the couple of hours after eating high glyceamic carbohydrates.

Most of the population eat far too little protein and far too much bad carbohydrates!

Why do we train our abdominals? Our abdominal wall gives support to our spine. If you can strengthen your abdominals, you will have less chance of back injury.

If you are very lean, training your external abdominals will give you a six pack look.

Why do we stretch? Tight muscles can cause injuries not only to the muscle itself, but to the joint that the muscle crosses and/or affects.

Why do we rest? Our bodies need rest to avoid over-training. With too much exercise, our body may start to panic and go into survival mode and hold onto fat as an insurance for itself as it doesn’t know how much more exercise is around the corner.

Our muscles need rest to recover from the workout that we have put them through, so that they can repair themselves and grow stronger to accomodate the overload that we put them through with each workout.

Troy Shipsey

Centennial Park Group Fitness Trainer