Exercise Resources for Managing Obesity

Eating right without exercise offers little hope for success in fighting fat. Exercise has to be part of any body-reshaping effort, and for best results, a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises should be performed, Aerobics bum body fat and lower the body’s set point, or weight-regulating mechanism, making weight loss easier. Anaerobics help to build lean body mass. The main reason that the burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program has grown in popularity is due to the fact that it is an individualized program and does not fit in the category of “one size fits all”.

A person’s set point will work against a weight-loss effort, which is why exercise has to be brought to bear in that effort. If you are used to being 150 pounds, for example, and then drop to 145, the brain creates signals in the form of hunger until your original weight is restored. But if you exercise and make intelligent food choices when you’re hungry, this will help the body get comfortable with a lower set point.

The type of exercise you do is not as important as consistency. The idea is to enjoy the exercise enough to make it part of a routine. A half hour of walking each day is a beneficial exercise that most anyone can engage in. The pace should be comfortable, not too hard. But dancing, swimming, and even gardening are other good choices.

One word of caution: Before beginning an exercise program, it is important to get a complete physical from a doctor to rule out any underlying cardiac or pulmonary problems that may preclude exertion.

BREATHING EXERCISES

When Pam Grout, author of Jump Start Your Metabolism with the Power of Breath, began doing breathing exercises for energy, she found, to her surprise, that she was able to lose 10 pounds without trying. Grout subsequently learned that shallow breathing accompanies being overweight, and that deep diaphragmatic breathing improves metabolism, and, secondarily, appearance. Proper breathing contributes to weight loss because it sends more oxygen to the cells, which then allows cells to rapidly burn up and eliminate wastes. When we clean out the cells with each breath, fats do not get the chance to deposit them selves there. We have a lot more energy, and far better health.
These are some of the breathing exercises Grout recommends:
Lie on the floor, relaxed, with hands down at the sides and palms up. Place a slightly heavy book on your stomach. With each inhalation, allow the book to raise up as high as possible, without straining. Bring the book back down with each exhalation. This is a good exercise for learning to pay attention to breathing.

Inhale through your nose to a comfortable count. Hold the breath for four times as long as the inhalation. This allows the body’s cells to get lots of oxygen. Then exhale for twice as long as you breathed in. The ratio, then, is 1:4:2. So, if you count to five to inhale, you hold the air in to a count of 20, and then you exhale through your mouth to a count of 10. As you exhale, your tummy flattens and you get all the carbon dioxide out. For optimal benefit, this exercise should be performed for 10 rounds, three times a day