Stop Wasting your time! Make your workouts count!

Want to really change your body and save your time?  Rethink your entire workout!  Gone are the days of the "fat burning zone" and maintaining it for 50-60 minutes.  And gone are the days of doing a set of strength exercises and then resting for several minutes and doing another set.  STOP WASTING YOUR TIME!

During a steady-state aerobic workout (meaning you move at the same pace for period of time), your body will burn a higher percentage of calories from fat.  This is where the "myth" comes into play.  There are several problems with this picture.  

First- you are burning a higher percentage of a smaller amount of calories.  Then your body will adapt quickly and you will burn fewer total calories. 

Secondly- the body actually becomes a more efficient "fat storing" machine.  Think of it as a fuel efficient car.  As your body becomes more efficient, you will burn less fat.  This is not the situation we are looking for.  Imagine the body of a marathon runner (endurance athlete) and then a sprinter (track and field athlete).  The sprinter is very lean with sculpted muscles and very little body fat.

When doing strength training, focusing on the old body building format is also very inefficient.  You are working one muscle group at a time and resting in between.  It is a time waste and not effective for burning fat and calories.  

I have found that using a total body resistance training program with shorter rest periods along with two or three cardio interval training sessions a week is most effective to lose body fat.  

Ally’s story!  For years I ran, at least five times a week for at least 50 minutes.  For those of you who know me, I do not have a runner’s body.  I am very short, with short legs and very muscular.  So running did not come easy but I grew to love it and believed it was the best way for me to burn fat.  I also believed if I did not have at least 50 minutes to exercise, it was a waste of my time.  

After years of this type of training, I developed plantar fasciitis.  Plantar fasciitis is the thickening and inflation of the tissue on the bottom of the foot.  It is extremely painful.  I had to completely quit running.  I was wondering what I was going to do and was very concerned that I would gain weight.  I did research and found some circuit training weight workouts I could do at home.  At that time, I could do NO cardio at all because I did not have a bike and I could not walk or run at all.   I could not even walk my dog (he was very sad).   

The research stated that the total body workouts would put more load on the muscles that the traditional upper body, lower body split because you work the entire body three days per week.  This type of training was also showing signs of burning more fat and elevating resting metabolism for days after the workout.

After one month of working out with weights three times a week, doing total body workouts for about 45 minutes each time, I actually dropped a pant size.  I was spending 3 hours less per week exercising and getting much better results-- I was so excited!  I began doing research and learned that metabolic resistance training and/or cardio interval training increases your metabolism for 24 to 72 hours after the actual workout.  

If your goal is to look good, be fit, and not spend your life exercising, be sure to do total body resistance workouts at least three days a week and get a couple of interval  training cardio sessions in.  Free up your time and slim up your body!!!

Tips to make the most of you cardio session and burn more FAT - and spend less time doing it!

1. Keep it short but intense.  If you can maintain the pace for more than 30 minutes, you are not working intensely enough.  In the past we all believed longer was better when it came to burning fat.  New research debunks that (thank goodness!) 
2.  Show up, train hard and get on with your day! If you are reading a book while doing cardio, you probably aren’t working hard enough.  After a warm up, perform cardio at a pace you can maintain for only 1 to 2 minutes, and then recover at an easier pace for the same amount of time.  Repeat this for a total of 20 to 30 minutes before cooling down. 
3. Mix it up. Cardio usually has us moving forward – try some side shuffles, skaters or side lunges to get into a different plan. 
4.  Choose multiple modes. Running or biking only can lead to overuse injuries.  By changing up the modes, you keep it fun and minimize the risk of injury.\
5.  Think long term and big picture – it isn’t the number of calories burned during the session, but the AFTER BURN – the EPOC – that makes the difference.  Short intense cardio sessions increase the calories burned for 24 to 48 hours after the session. 

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What is up with Weight Gain and Menopause?

Hot flashes and mood changes aren't the only symptoms of menopause. Many women also say it becomes harder to control their weight around this time. And take if from me - IT"S TRUE!  

With menopause and peri-menopause, estrogen levels fluctuate wildly leading to irregular periods, temperature intolerance and mood disturbances.  With menopause there is an increase in visceral fat, which is the deep abdominal fat that increases the risk for health problems like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Research shows that up to 90% of women gain weight during and after menopause. Sop what is a Girl to do?  

Fact:  Lack of Estrogen makes it harder to control weight

Estrogen plays a role in regulating body weight. Women who take hormone replacement therapy experience fewer problems with weight gain increased tummy fat.  There are many benefits to hormone replacement therapy, but there are also risks that need to be considered when making these decisions.

Loss of estrogen has a metabolism-slowing effect. In the absence of estrogen, you burn as many as 80 fewer calories a day. Estrogen also regulates two hormones called lipoprotein lipase and hormone-sensitive lipase that directly affect fat storage. When hormone-sensitive lipase is active, fat is oxidized to be used as energy. Estrogen puts the brakes on fat storage by activating hormone-sensitive lipase and inhibiting lipoprotein lipase. Once estrogen levels decline, the body shifts more to the fat storage mode. (I know, this is a bummer!)

As you can see, the decline in estrogen that happens at menopause makes it harder to control your weight in a number of ways – by making it easier for your body to store fat, and by decreasing metabolic.  So what can you do about it?

So What’s a Girl to Do?

One of the best things you can do to prevent weight gain during menopause is exercise. Research consistently shows that women who are physically active either avoid menopausal weight gain or significantly reduce it.

What type of exercise is best? You guys hear me say this all the time!  More intense exercise creates a metabolic environment for fat burning. So do not decrease your exercise intensity as you age.  And remember you can add intensitywithout adding impact!  High-intensity interval training and metabolic workouts are better than steady-state aerobics for reducing body fat and increasing metabolism.  If you are walker – add hills to add intensity.  If you bike, get out there and climb!  

As estrogen levels decline, loss of lean body mass accelerates so it is important to include strength and resistance training. Resistance training helps to preserve lean body mass while giving to help keep your metabolic rate increase. It also improves bone density. If there’s one thing every woman going through menopause needs to do it’s workout with enough resistance to build muscle.

Nutrition – the essential link

Limiting processed foods and rapidly absorbed carbohydrates helps to improve insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity declines with age and is a risk factor for weight gain and other health problems. It’s important to get enough protein and fiber to boost satiety as well. Choose more whole foods and fiber-rich vegetables along with monounsaturated fats in nuts, olive oil and avocados along with omega-3s from fatty fish.

 What Else can you do to minimize weight gain?

Make sure you’re getting eat least 7 hours of sleep per night.  Also, taking control of stress is a key factor.  What relieves your stress?  A nice walk outside and getting back to nature?  Reading a good book?  Prayer, meditation?  Whatever works to lower your stress - do IT and do it about three times a week. Stress and lack of sleep increase cortisol levels and further add to the problem of visceral abdominal fat. 

References:

Medscape.com. “Exercise, Weight Gain and Menopause”

Menopause International, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 100–104, 2010.

Exp Biol Med December 2004 vol. 229 no. 11 1127-1135.

Southwestern Medical Center. “Study shows estrogen works in the brain to keep weight in check”

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