Phase 1 - Fitness pg1

Fitness page -1

Any Exercise?
Most overweight people get little to no exercise.   Surveys have shown that overweight people who start a lifestyle of exercise are far more likely to keep the weight off than those who do little or no exercise. They also lose weight quicker than diet alone and eliminate more health problems. You must combine diet and exercise for efficient weight loss and improved health.

The National Weight Control Registry tracks over 10,000 people who have lost significant weight and kept if off for extensive periods of time. They have found that 98% of the people altered their eating lifestyles to lose weight and 94% have increased their physical activity.

Order of priority:
As stated before, what you eat has a much greater effect on weight loss or gain than exercise. If your diet is poor and you are eating too much high calorie food, exercise cannot burn off enough calories to help you lose weight. After all, eating a 1200 calorie burger and fries is easy but burning off those 1200 calories will take a lot of exercise.

Just remember to stay balanced and use both diet and exercise hand in hand for weight loss. People who restrict their food intake without exercise can lose a lot less weight but end up with flabby bodies, muscle loss, and often retain certain health problems that only exercise can help eliminate. So keep in mind, focus on your nutrition first and then exercise.

Fat loss and size:
A 300 pound person walking 1 mile will burn off twice the calories than a person weighing 150 pounds walking the same distance and pace.   Thus, as you lose weight, you must exercise more to burn off the same number of calories. However, on the good side, your body will be able to do much more exercise with a lot less stress on your body.

The larger a person is, the more calories their body needs to maintain their weight. For example, a 30 year old man, whose height is 5'8" and weighs 300 pounds, needs approx. 3114 calories a day to maintain the same weight. On the other hand, the same man weighing 150 pounds needs approx. 1992 calories a day to stay the same weight (a 1122 calorie difference). The reason for this is that an overweight person must have more calories to provide energy for all the extra fat they carry.

Considering the above, a large person eating low calorie foods on a balanced diet doing moderate exercise can burn a lot of calories fast. On the other hand, the slimmer you get, you need to eat less and exercise more to get the same weight loss. That is the main reason why very large people can drop weight fast at first and as they get smaller, the pounds come off much harder.

Phase 2 of the diet plan is for people who have mastered phase 1 principals and are now having a difficult time losing any more weight.

Next: Fitness pg2