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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Kavian S. Milani, MD
Calories, Exercise, and Weight A Practical Approach
Virginia Family Medicine
. http://www.virginiafamilymed.com/

Calories, Exercise, and Weight A Practical Approach

There is no topic that is discussed on the internet or health blogs as intensely as diet and exercise. The real good news is that everyone who wants to lose weight can do so with some help. Amazing tools are available now in terms of applications, exercise programs and medically managed diet plans that have a strong track record in both safety and success.

Let's start with the example of a 150 pound 35 year old female who prefers, for health purposes, to be near 130 pounds. The math here is pretty simple. For every one pound of weight loss, one has to burn (spend) or not eat (diet) 3,500 calories. Both the burning of calories and the not eating of calories requires significant focus, drive and commitment. Every one mile jogged burns 100 calories. So to burn off one pound of weight, one can walk fast or jog 35 miles.

That may seem like a long distance but it is very practical to walk or run far during two weeks by committing to about 35 minutes of activity per day. So with an expenditure of minimal time and cost it is possible to trim down two pounds per month.

In Northern Virginia the number one barrier to exercise is other distractions and lack of prioritizing exercise. The time before one is distracted and sinks into the couch to watch TV is about 12 seconds. Place the exercise on your schedule and hide the remote control. Keep the walking shoes close to you and near the door.

The other element is calorie restriction. The diet part may seem more difficult but it is actually much easier than you may think. There is a significant amount of help out there. In general, any medically managed program should provide an additional 4-5 pounds of weight loss per month.

Commercial programs have also been studied and they are effective too. The pitfall here is not the first 10 pounds, but how to sustain the weight management over the next 12 months, and how to avoid a “yo-yo” diet.

After the first successful period of weight loss the body reacts in a number of ways and metabolism actually slows down. This slow down puts the weight back on rather quickly and is very disappointing. The way to tackle this is to help the body reset its own internal controls for weight and this is where the medical management has a better success rate than just general guidelines like “exercise more” or “avoid bread and rice.”

In my next article I will get into the details of weight management including newer exercise modalities like High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and looking at mechanisms to sustain the incremental weight reduction course by a study of the body's physiologic hormone response.

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