Home > Fat Loss Lies > Why exercise doesn't work like it used to
Remember when you were young and you could eat just about anything you liked? A little bit of exercise would keep you in shape. Fast forward 10 years and you notice your waistline has expanded. You think about doing some exercise to get yourself back in shape but you are too busy. Before you know it you’re in your 40’s and you have grown way out of proportion. You say to yourself “It’s time to get fit and lose some of this weight”. Maybe you don’t like the gym or you simply don’t have the time so you decide to do your own thing. Jogging is out of the question because you are too heavy and unfit so you start walking instead. Let’s just say you make it through the first 3 weeks without getting injured. You have lost some weight initially but now it’s not coming off anymore so you decide to walk further and pick up the pace a little bit. You have just fallen for 2 weight loss lies.
Lie #1 Cardio exercise makes you lose weight.
Lie #2 Harder is better or no pain no gain (more on that later)
Why cardio exercise doesn’t work when we get older
It’s all about hormones. When you are young your hormones are nicely balanced. As we age testosterone levels drop off and estrogen levels rise. The older you get the more out of balance your hormones are and the less effective exercise becomes for fat loss. In short, exercise won’t work for you like it used to. The weight issue isn’t a lack of exercise it’s a dietary problem. Exercise will improve your hormone balance but the problem is your joints don’t like it when you do Cardio exercise in an overweight condition. Another problem is that exercise tends to make you hungry. That’s why some people gain weight when they exercise. I hear this all the time. “I just don’t understand it Marty…I’ve been exercising for months now but the weight’s just not coming off” Clearly, it’s time to try something different. That’s when I point out the obvious. “You can’t out exercise a bad diet” It’s also an appropriate time to show them how to get the benefits of exercise in an easier and less stressful way. More on that soon.
What is cardio exercise and why did we think it would make us lose weight?
Low-intensity exercise such as walking and cycling has been termed "cardio exercise." When you exercise, your heart rate goes up according to the intensity, therefore you are training your heart (cardio). One day some scientists decided to do a study. They got some athletes together and they tested their blood samples at different intensities of exercise. They found that the low intensity (walking) group used more fat than sugar for fuel. The high-intensity group (sprinting/weights) used more sugar than fat for fuel.
From this study, an assumption was made. “To lose fat we should train at low intensity because that's the 'zone' where you burn fat” Others got hold of the idea and called it the "fat burning zone." In no time at all treadmills, stationary cycles, rowing machines and all manner of "cardio" equipment had heart rate monitors on them so you could exercise at low intensity for hours on end in "the fat burning zone." Unfortunately, the number of calories burned in the “cardio zone” is so low that you would need to do about 30 hours of “cardio” each week to burn enough calories for weight loss. Who’s got that much time on their hands?
Thankfully there is a much easier way to lose weight and get all benefits of exercise at the same time. At Body Buzz, we use the new Fit-x Whole Body Vibration Training System. Easy 12-minute workouts to suit your age and fitness level combined with “Correct Nutrition” have been very successful and enjoyable. Not only that, you reap the benefits that you are supposed to get with regular exercises such as fitness, strength, bone density, circulation, hormonal balance and lymphatic draining.