Here to help

M

myfitnesstrain

New member
Hi All,

My name is Annette, and I am a fitness trainer. My specialty is fat loss. My new year's resolution is to help as many people as possible to achieve permanent fat loss this year.

Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.
 
Annetee first off let me say it is great to have professional personal trainer here on the boards to discuss weight loss, fitness, etc. I would be interested in your take as a personal trainer, in something I just read yesterday in one of my books The Paleo Diet and another book Primal Body Primal Mind, and now just found an article on the web for:

i.e. the notion that 'exercising less is better for long term weight loss and keeping weight off'. Not more exercise, but less. This goes against what most of us are brought up to believe and against what we see with hard core personal trainers like on certain TV shows for weight loss, but yet what are the scientific studies showing like at the link above.

From that article:
"In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," says Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher. Many recent studies have found that exercise isn't as important in helping people lose weight as you hear so regularly in gym advertisements or on shows like The Biggest Loser...​

When I google about 'exercise not good for weight loss' i am seeing plenty of articles on this notion. I am undecided on this, curious what you and others think. I have been doing some moderate exercise (200-300 cals a day), and calorie reduction, and eating lean meat, veggies, fruit, berries, yogurt, just a little bread; it is working for me so far, but I am thinking maybe I should keep my exercise intensity and length at a very modest level in light of what I am reading. Thoughts?
randall
 
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Lots of questions

Hey Annette,
You offered a wonderful opportunity to ask fitness questions.

I'm looking to drop about 25 pounds. I currently work out about 3 times a week, usually just doing some fitness videos. I have a 45 min walking tape - it is fairly fast and some total body workout videos which I most of time just opt for the fast version - about 25 min (it uses some weights). This week I started jogging/walking - about every other day for about 40 min but this all the exercise I did.

What is the right combination of cardio and strenght? Do I get enough strenght exercise by doing a total body workout that uses weights?

Thanks
Silke
 
Hi Annette!

I will definitely utilize your advice once I think of something to ask. I'm pretty much just gusting on the wind at the moment, but since I need to lose about 170 pounds (more that half of my weight... ugh...) I know I need to find some kind of routine... And I need to find it soon!

Glad to have you here! :biggrinjester:
 
Thank you for the warm welcome!

Best wishes to you, PlumpHope. I know you can do it. When you choose your exercise and nutrition program, avoid extremes. Most "diets" just hurt your metabolism and make weight even more of of problem long term. A better plan is to cut your calories, eat healthy foods, and exercise. My plan involves focusing on high-fiber foods because most people don't get enough fiber. Also, fiber is calorie-free, and it makes foods more filling. There are many other reasons to love fiber. I'll tell you about them if you're interested.

Most of all, I recommend counting calories. It takes effort, but it works better than any other technique. I'll tell you more about that if you're interested, too.

Silke, it sounds like you're getting a lot of exercise. That's great! The one thing I would say is that you'd want to get more strength training in, especially if your video is fast moving. The best strength training moves at a slow pace and you feel a burn as your muscles slowly flex and then relax. You can find two new strength exercises every day on my site. I don't think I am supposed to name my site, but it's free and you can probably find it if you look up my name online or check my profile here. There are other places you can find free strength training exercises, too. You can just type "do at home strength training exercises" into your search engine. I'd recommend two strength training exercises per day, at least 3 days a week. They only need to take about 15 minutes to do. You should feel a burn, and you should barely be able to repeat the exercise 10-12 repetitions before your muscle fatigues and quits. There are many strength training exercises you can do at home. Some of the best are: squats (go as if you're going to sit on a chair, but never fully sit down and rest. Repeat.) lunges, push ups, and pull ups. There are ways to do "cheating" push ups and pull ups if they're too hard.

I'd recommend buying just an exercise ball and a stretch band, and then you'll have a home gym. You can buy them on Amazon.

Other than that, your exercise routine is great, Silke. It sounds like you're exercising very consistently, which is really good for you. Consistency is key.

Randall, are you somehow connected with the book you quoted? Anyway, I do agree that diet has more power than exercise to cause fast weight loss, but even more powerful is to do both. Besides, if you cut too many calories and don't exercise, you're at danger for muscle loss, which will hurt your metabolism and put you at risk for gaining the weight back.
 
Randall,

Read this thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-media/33636-why-exercise-wont-make-you-thin.html

This is also a good rebuttal article:
Why Time Magazine Owes the Fitness Industry a Big Fat Apology: Burn The Fat Blog

The whole article as published by Time is a load of hooey. The author shows himself to be completely uninformed and uses the excuse that exercising "makes" him overeat and make bad food choices afterward - which is just a copout for his own bad choices and lack of control.
 
hi Annette..... My name is Mia and am 18 yrs old.. am 220lb and am 5.5, my goal weight is 150 am really depressed because of my weight...i become this broing person... I sign up at this gym near by... and am wondering what excerise should i be doing to lost weight quicky ,because am try to lose 5lb before newyears... and should i work out in the morning or evening?
 
Mia21 said:
hi Annette..... My name is Mia and am 18 yrs old.. am 220lb and am 5.5, my goal weight is 150 am really depressed because of my weight...i become this broing person... I sign up at this gym near by... and am wondering what excerise should i be doing to lost weight quicky ,because am try to lose 5lb before newyears... and should i work out in the morning or evening?
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5 lbs in a weeks is extremely unhealthy, Mia. If you lose more than 1-2 lbs a week, you're more than likely losing muscle tissue as well. Don't get frustrated, but this is a lifestyle change not a quick fix.

I would suggest reading this post by Steve, one of the gurus here at the forum. Also, take to heart what Annette already said. Count your calories. There are 3500 calories to a lb of fat or body weight. A GREAT place to start if you have no idea where to go is the Abs Diet. You can find it cheap on Amazon. There are great recipes, as well as a great starting point and foundation.

The most important part is to try not to be depressed. Exercise will help this, but you need to cheer up to make this lifestyle change stick. Feel free to PM me for any support. I will gladly give you mu email address or aim chat so I can do my best to cheer you up, or help you along the way however I can.

Go Gators!
 
Mia21 said:
hi Annette..... My name is Mia and am 18 yrs old.. am 220lb and am 5.5, my goal weight is 150 am really depressed because of my weight...i become this broing person... I sign up at this gym near by... and am wondering what excerise should i be doing to lost weight quicky ,because am try to lose 5lb before newyears... and should i work out in the morning or evening?
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Mia,

Gator is right, 5lbs. in just a few days is extremely difficult (and not very safe) at any weight. A nice rate of loss is about 1% of your weight per week, so for you about 2.2lbs/week would be a healthy, realistic, and reasonable goal that you will be able to maintain long-term. I weigh 100lbs. more than you and I don't even think that I could lose 5lbs. in just a few days. Your best bet to get rid of as much weight as possible in that time is to make sure that you're getting the appropriate amount of water. A good rule to follow is 1oz. for every 2lbs. of weight -- for you that's about 110oz. of water per day.

As for when to work out, it doesn't matter weight-loss wise. Whatever is convenient for you and easier for you to maintain long-term is what the best solution will be for you. I like to work out in the mornings so I don't have to worry about it after a long day at work, plus it gives me more energy during the day if I start my day off with exercise. It works for some people but not for others, best to try things yourself and see what you like/what works for you through trial and error ... at least when it comes to what time of day is best for you.
 
Wow, there are some smart people on this forum. I agree with Addiecakes and I'd add that although you can work out whenever you like best, a major advantage of morning workouts is that if something gets in the way of your workout you still have all day to find another time to get it in.

That said, I'm a morning workout person and my husband is an evening lifter. It's just what works best for each of us.

Harold- thanks for the welcome!

Mia, some of the best exercises for weight loss are those that are toughest to do. Generally, the more effort it takes, the more calories it burns. You can tell by how heated up you get. That's because burning calories lets off heat. Some classics are the squat, lunge, push ups, chest press, lat pulldown, and pull ups. Any of these burn a lot of calories. So do fast paced cardio routines like exercise classes (Zumba is great!) and elliptical.

Also, swimming is excellent exercise and very easy on the joints. Because it doesn't hurt the joints, it usually seems easier, but it still burns tons of calories. I love water aerobics.
 
Hi Annette, good to see you on this forum.

Here's a bit of a curveball question, but it might be beneficial to the group:

As a fitness trainer specializing in weight loss, what in your experience are some of people's common points of failure when it comes to weight loss, and what can we do to prevent it from happening?
 
Hi Big D,

That's a great question. I'd say these are the top mistakes people make when trying to lose weight:

1. Not planning on a permanent lifestyle change.

2. Using a fad diet or an unhealthy weight loss plan.

3. Thinking they can eat whatever they want if they exercise enough.

If you make sure to avoid these three mistakes, you'll succeed for sure.
 
Thanks, read both,. Losing weight by not exercising,or exercising in moderation, does go contrary to what we are often told by ads, infomercials, trainers, gym teachers, et al. What I want to do is take a look at some scientific studies, see what the controlled studies show. I fully believe (1)exercise leads to weight loss, and (2)exercise and caloric restriction leads to weight loss, but the real question, the heart of the matter, is (3)does caloric restriction without exercise lead to weight loss just as well as caloric restriction with exercise? Neither the other thread or the rebuttal article really did a metastudy (review) of controlled scientific studies to see what the real scoop is, once we get past defensive raised hairs from those on both sides of belief. I am open to whatever the truth is, because bottom line I want to lose weight, I need to lose weight-- so I want to discover the truth. I will do some digging in the literature, come back with some fact no matter what they say. :beerchug:


KaraCooks said:
Randall, Read this thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-media/33636-why-exercise-wont-make-you-thin.html

This is also a good rebuttal article:
Why Time Magazine Owes the Fitness Industry a Big Fat Apology: Burn The Fat Blog

The whole article as published by Time is a load of hooey. The author shows himself to be completely uninformed and uses the excuse that exercising "makes" him overeat and make bad food choices afterward - which is just a copout for his own bad choices and lack of control.
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I believe that is HUGE. For example, I am doing a Paleo diet, which calls for no dairy, no starches, lean meat/seafood, veggies, fruit, berries, nuts in moderation. But I can't live that way, not without yogurt and low cal bread for sprout hummus tomato mushroom sandwiches, and a little old fashioned oatmeal sometimes for breakfast. My modified quasi-Paleo diet is working for me, down 12 lbs day 16. But of course as yesterday I joined up on the cavemanforum.com the strict adherents to the Paleo (caveman) diet are all over one's arse about no dairy, no oatmeal, no yogurt, becase cave people did not eat that stuff. To fellow cave people-- okay okay, I get that; but even with such cheating as I am doing my quasi-Paleo diet is extremely healthy, and by cheating it is a way of eating I can live with. I remember trhing the Atkins years ago, sure you can lose some weight that but who the hell can live with a way of eating like that for their entire lives. Finding a way of eating that is healthy and allows weight loss and weight maintenance and is tasty so that one can live with it long term is key, something that can be "a permanent lifestyle change."

myfitnesstrain said:
...I'd say these are the top mistakes people make when trying to lose weight:

1. Not planning on a permanent lifestyle change.
....
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Randall said:
Thanks, read both,. Losing weight by not exercising,or exercising in moderation, does go contrary to what we are often told by ads, infomercials, trainers, gym teachers, et al.
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Read both of these two and I see where he is coming from, but his research is flawed, I believe. Some of this links back to my journal article on BSing yourself, but also for him looks like it reflects a bad base diet as well.

Here's what I understand of it, regular exercise actually doesn't directly help you lose weight outside of the small calorie burn. It helps you lose weight by increasing your metabolism, causing damage to the body that it has to spend energy on repairing, as well as repleting its glycogen stores and so on, but.. what it also does, is increase the body's insulin sensitivity so they can get more available glucose stores and burn them before they get stores as glycogen in the liver and after that storage is full, into fat tissue.

Without that knowledge, one could see and logically reason how the calories burned vs eaten don't match up, even in the long run. The thinking is flawed due to incomplete research, but it is still there. The problem here is, people will believe the guy simply because they're seeing it in print, they'll also see the rebuttal just because it is in print, especially if there's a bunch of citations at the end that no one will ever look at, read or even bother to verify.

Am I anywhere on track here with this?
 
Big D said:
Here's what I understand of it, regular exercise actually doesn't directly help you lose weight outside of the small calorie burn. It helps you lose weight by increasing your metabolism, causing damage to the body that it has to spend energy on repairing, as well as repleting its glycogen stores and so on, but.. what it also does, is increase the body's insulin sensitivity so they can get more available glucose stores and burn them before they get stores as glycogen in the liver and after that storage is full, into fat tissue.
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For me it is kind of a moot point. Exercise is a good thing whether it helps you lose weight or not. It helps your HDL cholesterol, it helps your insulin sensitivity, and a lot of other benefits. Just go ahead and do it, but you have to limit your calories too.

Randall said:
I am doing a Paleo diet
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Not so sure I buy into the theory behind the paleo diet. Humans have been raising grains and domesticated animals for a pretty long time, long enough that those species hardly resemble their wild ancestors. And if the domesticated species could change that much genetically, so could the humans who were living off them adapt to that kind of diet.
 
I was at the coffee shop this morning and did a bit of literature searching (sorry, the bookmarks are on my laptop not this PC I am typing on). I have to say I was finding quite a few controlled scientific studies supporting the claim that weight loss can be just as successful doing calorie restriction without exercising as doing calorie restriction accompanied with exercise. That is good news for those wanting to lose weight but unable or unwilling or without the time to exercise. But I do believe exercise has other benefits, and the studies to point to exercise as important for long term weight loss (likely through building muscle mass which burns calories at rest, whereas fat tissue does much less of that). I exercise a bit daily myself, but based on the studies I am not going to worry so much about getting to the gym and working my arse off as necessary to lose weight. :)

I will post links tomorrow from my laptop at the coffee shop, to those scientific studies.
 
The consensus among the literature is that starchy and sugary foods-- not part of the Paleo diet-- but which are part of diets since 10,000 BC and certainly today-- are responsible for insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, Type II diabetes, vasculitis, and cardiovascular disease. I can't do a strict Paleo diet myself, I incorporate some bread and some yogurt, occasional oatmeal for breakfast. But if you look at the studies on the Paleo diet (see Wikipedia) it is quite convincing. I also found a study comparing diets that were typical carb diets (including grains and cereals as with modern diets and diets since 10,0000 BC when agriculture began) with high protein diets (like Paleo diet) and the high protein diet greatly surpassed other diets for weight loss.

I am exhausted debating the Paleo diet this past week with my best friend who is vegan, so I will have to pass on a debate here on that; not trying to convince anybody to switch to Paleo. It is working for me (down 12 lbs and this is day 16) but it is not for everybody. Gotta do what works for you.


Harold14370 said:
...Not so sure I buy into the theory behind the paleo diet. Humans have been raising grains and domesticated animals for a pretty long time, long enough that those species hardly resemble their wild ancestors. And if the domesticated species could change that much genetically, so could the humans who were living off them adapt to that kind of diet.
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12 pounds in 16 days?

I just have to ask, you think you are going to keep that off? It isn't the type of diet you will be eating 5 years from now. Isn't it more likely that once you get off the 'diet' that you will regain it? I guess I am of the mind that if you balance your diet and keep in moderation that you will lose weight.
 
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