By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
You’re walking every day yet the number on the scale won’t budge.
What gives?
It’s likely that you’re not causing a calorie deficit, when your body is burning more calories than you’re eating, which forces it to burn stored energy (i.e. the jiggle around your tummy and love handles).
To get into a calorie deficit, you need to eat right and move more. The type of exercise chosen makes a difference.
Many people wanting to lose weight enjoy walking. Joe Fox, personal trainer, certified functional strength training coach and owner of TrainSMART Personal Training in Buffalo, lauds walking for its benefits to joint mobility and low back health. However, “walking is in the category of exercise that are least efficient for burning fat,” Fox said. “Walking is fabulous but not the best way to lose fat and build muscle.”
Taking leisurely stroll around the block helps manage stress and is certainly better than doing nothing. However, it’s no calorie torch. Most smartphones come equipped with a fitness app that can help determine calories burned by activity based upon your weight.
“The way you maximize fat burning is by building muscle, building bone and even changing the shape of bone,” Fox said. “The five most important things to do are: lifting really heavy weights; being very explosive; having high time under tension; taking short rest periods between sets; and really high intensity.
“The problem with that is those five things are also most highly correlated with risk of injury. That’s why it’s so important for somebody to make sure that they have the proper form, biomechanics or technique so they stay safe and not injure themselves as they build muscle bone and change the shape of bone.”
Activities like lifting free weights or kettle bells and high intensity interval training burn calories efficiently. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly to maintain the same weight, including resistance exercise. To lose weight, one will need to move more and decrease caloric intake.
“Relying on exercise alone for losing weight is futile unless they’re doing 60 minutes of hard exercise five days a week,” said Mary Jo Parker, registered dietitian in private practice in Williamsville. “It’s a lot of work to do it with exercise alone. It’s working harder than a person would have to. The truth is, from the studies that have been done, diet trumps exercise when it comes to weight loss. It’s not hard to chip away with extra calories if they look at how they can save calories.”
Consuming a post-workout shake, protein bar or sports drink? If all you’re doing is a light workout, you need none of these — just water. If your body has worked out hard, Parker recommends consuming a serving of fiber-rich carbohydrate, such as a piece of whole fruit, a whole grain food or even a treat, plus a lean protein serving.
“Greek yogurt afterwards can work well,” Parker said. “We talk about chocolate milk as a great recovery drink because of its sugar and protein.”