Friday, August 14, 2009
Counting calories and exercise are keys to good health
You’ve decided you want to lose some weight. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you can shed those pounds.
Just keep in mind that just about everything you eat or drink, except water, contains calories. And everything you do, from intense exercise to sleep, burns them.
There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. So if you burn as little as 500 calories more a day then you consume, you can lose one pound a week.
If you attempt vigorous exercise, it may actually backfire. According to the August 2009 issue of Time magazine, exercise can stimulate hunger.
The more intense the exercise, the more we may want to eat. If we consume more calories than we just lost by exercise, any weight loss would be negated. So avoid that temptation of rewarding yourself by eating an ice cream or other calorie-ridden foods after exercising
According to a study in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the "American Dietetic Association," people who practiced yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity. They hypothesized that a skill, learned either directly or indirectly through yoga – could affect eating behavior.
Of course, exercise has other health benefits such as lowering the risk of heart and other diseases.
There are many tools available on the Internet to help you lose weight and promote good health.
Your ideal body weight can be determined using a BMI (body mass index) calculator, many of which can be found online by searching for “BMI calculator.”
The caloric content of many foods is available on their nutrition labels and on the Internet.
The calories burned for exercises can be determined by using an exercise calorie calculator found on sites such as webmd.com.
The more you weigh, the more calories you will burn with a given exercise. If you’re having trouble losing weight, you may wish to contact your doctor so he or she can check for diseases that can inhibit weight loss.
Dr. Paul H. Deutsch is board-certified in Internal Medicine, a member of The William W. Backus Hospital Medical Staff and in private practice in Norwich. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. If you want to comment on this column or others, go to the Healthy Living blog at backushospital.org or E-mail Deutsch or any of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org.
Just keep in mind that just about everything you eat or drink, except water, contains calories. And everything you do, from intense exercise to sleep, burns them.
There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. So if you burn as little as 500 calories more a day then you consume, you can lose one pound a week.
If you attempt vigorous exercise, it may actually backfire. According to the August 2009 issue of Time magazine, exercise can stimulate hunger.
The more intense the exercise, the more we may want to eat. If we consume more calories than we just lost by exercise, any weight loss would be negated. So avoid that temptation of rewarding yourself by eating an ice cream or other calorie-ridden foods after exercising
According to a study in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the "American Dietetic Association," people who practiced yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity. They hypothesized that a skill, learned either directly or indirectly through yoga – could affect eating behavior.
Of course, exercise has other health benefits such as lowering the risk of heart and other diseases.
There are many tools available on the Internet to help you lose weight and promote good health.
Your ideal body weight can be determined using a BMI (body mass index) calculator, many of which can be found online by searching for “BMI calculator.”
The caloric content of many foods is available on their nutrition labels and on the Internet.
The calories burned for exercises can be determined by using an exercise calorie calculator found on sites such as webmd.com.
The more you weigh, the more calories you will burn with a given exercise. If you’re having trouble losing weight, you may wish to contact your doctor so he or she can check for diseases that can inhibit weight loss.
Dr. Paul H. Deutsch is board-certified in Internal Medicine, a member of The William W. Backus Hospital Medical Staff and in private practice in Norwich. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. If you want to comment on this column or others, go to the Healthy Living blog at backushospital.org or E-mail Deutsch or any of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org.
# posted by ----------------- @ 12:28 PM 
