Weight Loss Requires Exercise - Myth Part 2

From my first article Weight Loss Requires Exercise - Myth Part 1, we established that exercise is not mandatory for weight Loss. Exercise will speed up the weight loss process, and exercise does maximise the amount you lose as fat rather than tissue.

Let us be clear here, I am not against exercise! Exercise has many, many benefits. The myth that has been created since the 1950s is that exercise is necessary to achieve weight loss. The problem of using exercise as a method of losing weight is that you require a huge amount of it to actually make a difference.
Dr Susan Jebb, head of nutrition and health research at Britain's Medical Research Council says "In theory, of course, it's possible that you can burn more calories than you eat, but you have to do a lot more exercise than most people realise. To burn off an extra 500 calories is typically an extra 2 hours of cycling. And that's about two doughnuts."

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In my last article I mentioned that the amount of fat consumed can have a huge effect on your weight. I started to examine the root cause of my own weight problem after exercise failed to produce any weight loss. I found that my calorie intake per day was LESS than the recommended daily requirement. This despite most weight loss programs focusing on calorie counting as the saviour for weight loss. So how was I going to lose weight?
For me, the answer lay in the amount of fat I was consuming daily.

Let's get to some specifics. How many grams of fat should you be eating each day? I'll bet 99% of the people reading this article don't know. Here are the important facts;

• 30-50 grams for most women and children
• 40-60 grams for most men
• 70 grams for teenagers and highly active adults
• 80-100 grams for people involved in heavy physical work or athletes

Knowing this information is fundamental to achieving weight loss. The second part of the equation is to know how much fat you are actually consuming each day. If the amount going in is greater than it should be, then that fat will end up on your waistline. The body naturally regulates the amount of fat it takes in. That is, the fat it actually recognises as fat. These days most of our processed foods have fat in them, disguised with loads of sugar. The body doesn't recognise the fact that fat has entered the body, so doesn't regulate the amount being consumed.

What does this all mean?

WE have to regulate the amount of fat the goes into our mouths by counting not calories, but grams of fat we are eating. As I write this article I am reading the fat content printed on the packet of the plain cookie I have just eaten. I thought it was about 2 grams. The cookie actually contained 4.5 grams. That is over 10% of my allowable fat intake for the day in ONE COOKIE. That brand of cookie won't be bought again.

It only takes subtle changes to your diet to make a huge difference. All I needed to do to reduce my body fat between 32% and 50% (depending on which body fat calculation is used), was to eliminate high fat content snacks, change to lite varieties of dairy products, and stay away from cake. Too simple? Yes, weight loss is that simple! Unfortunately those trying to sell you weight loss programs, gym equipment and surgery don't want you to know that.

Start counting people, it could save your life.