Love/Hate Handles - Page 2

The Diet. The most popular and straightforward way to produce a negative calorie balance is to diet. Eating 500 fewer calories per day results in a pound of fat loss per week. Still, even though dieting works reasonably well as a weight loss strategy, it has serious drawbacks.
For example, when we reduce our calorie consumption most of the additional energy comes from stored fat, however, some of the additional energy comes from protein stores which results in muscle loss. Very low calorie diets (600-900 calories per day) may produce almost as much muscle loss as fat loss, which generates an additional problem. The reduction in muscle mass causes a corresponding decrease in metabolic rate, making further fat loss even more difficult.

The Cardio. A better approach to weight loss is via aerobic exercise, that is, exercise which uses continuous large muscle groups in activities like running, cycling, and swimming. Take cycling, for example. Depending on the level of intensity, 500 calories could be consumed by a rider on a thirty to fifty minute ride. In addition to burning calories, aerobic exercise stimulates a variety of beneficial cardiovascular adaptations: the heart becomes a stronger pump, the circulatory network becomes more efficient, and the blood becomes a better transporter.

Unlike dieting, which often leaves us feeling deprived of the foods we love, aerobic exercise adds something positive to our lives – physical activity. An unlike dieting, aerobic exercise need not be a short-term cycle. When combined into our regular routine, aerobic exercise actually lets us eat a little more so we can meet the extra energy needed to do cardio.

The Weights. One of the biggest mistakes people do when they're trying to lose weight is dropping their weight training as they think doing weights will keep them looking big and stop them from losing weight. But in fact doing weights is one of the best ways to control weight because it causes a double reducing effect. First, resistance training is vigorous physical activity: a significant number of calories are burned during exercise. Second, the additional muscle tissue produced by resistance training increases resting metabolism: calories are burned at a higher rate all day long – regardless of activity or inactivity.

In the absence of regular resistance training, our muscle fibers simply become smaller and weaker at a slow but consistent rate. It’s a phenomenon called disuse atrophy – essentially the same thing that occurs to an arm that has been immobilized in a cast. And aerobic exercise, even though it’s extremely beneficial for our cardiovascular system, does not prevent disuse atrophy in muscles. Only regular resistance training can maintain (or increase) muscle mass.

This has important weight loss and dieting implications because muscle mass directly affects metabolic rate. A very active tissue, muscle utilizes energy continually for protein synthesis, maintenance, and rebuilding processes. Even when we sleep our skeletal muscles are responsible for over 25 percent of our total energy expenditure. In fact, exercise physiologists believe that every pound of muscle we add or lose as an adult is worth about 350 calories per week.

Summary
The best way to get rid of your Love handles is to combine a balanced diet with a good training and aerobic regime. To decrease the size of some of your 35 billion fat cells, you should do at least 3 days weight training - which could be an overall body workout combined with 4 x 30min cardio on a stationary bike or traeadmill. But to make things more interesting, and keep you moitvated, is to walk outside with a friend so you can whine about your love/hate handles together!