Dear Friends of Roscoe Chiropractic,
Have you ever heard the phrase "No pain, no gain" in regards to a fitness regime? Well I'm going to dispel this and some other common fitness myths today. This information comes from the August issue of To Your Health we have in the office.
1. The longer you exercise the better your results.
The thought behind this is that the longer you exercise the more weight you'll lose. This would be great except the more you stimulate your body to burn fat the more it produces a hormone called cortisol which causes your body to store more fat as fuel for the long workouts. So it sort of defeats the purpose when all is said and done. The key to optimizing weight loss is to exercise for about 45 minutes per session. You can work out more in one day (who is that ambitious??) but break the sessions up into 45 minute increments.
2. Eat less food and you'll lose more weight.
This is true in general over time, but the idea that if you basically quit eating full meals during the day you'll lose weight is incorrect. The body senses a lack of food and will slow down digestion and tell the body to hold onto fat. Its the hibernation concept, which is not exactly what you're going for in a diet. If you want to lose weight by altering your food intake, just slim down your portion sizes and eat many small meals a day. This optimizes your metabolism so your body will burn more fat even when you're not exercising. A good indicator of a proper portion size, the size of your fist, or eating meals that could fit on a teacup saucer.
3. No pain, no gain
This really depends upon the type of pain you're experiencing. If you have pain that is sharp, stabbing or causes numbness you should talk to a doctor. If you have pain that lasts longer than two days and is dull and aching you should talk to a doctor. With those guidelines in mind any other pain can usually be controlled while you exercise. If you keep the pain level below 50% of what you consider the worst pain possible, you are probably not hurting yourself. This is important, because inactivity won't help you get better either. Chronic conditions are made worse by inactivity because there is no stimulation of circulation to the area. So here is a better phrase "If you don't use it, you'll lose it".
4. Diet pills are effective
If it sounds too good to be true it generally is. Let me explain why diet pills alone rarely work as well as they claim. The basic elements to burn fat are a body temperature of 101 degrees internally, lots of oxygen and various chemicals to allow the process to occur. Heat and oxygen don't come from a pill. It's important to have all these elements present for proper fat burning. Otherwise the chemicals in the pill break down what little they can and then are simply purged from the body through waste. So the key here is that you need the exercise and the sweat in order to benefit fully from the diet pill. If you exercise and take the pills as directed there is a miniscule impact on overall weight loss. There was a study done where some individuals exercised and took a diet pill and the others exercised and used coffee as a stimulant. At the end of the trial there was only a 1% difference in total weight loss after 6 weeks. So I guess depending on where you get your coffee, it might be the cheaper alternative.
There are several more myths outlined in the article if you're interested in finding out more please stop in for a visit! October is National Chiropractic Month and we are featuring a new topic every week for your education. Please share us with a friend this month as new patients will receive a free exam and x-rays! All specials exclude medicare, A/A and W/C.
Take care and have a blessed and healthy week!
Karla H.
Roscoe Chiropractic Centre
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