Better Bodies In Training

Fitness Program vs. Weight loss Program- What is the difference?

Pick up any health related magazine and you will see products and programs espousing the virtues of being fit, about being thin, about losing weight, etc....As a trainer and blogger, I am always asked to explain the difference between a fitness program and a weight loss program; or I get participants in our bootcamps and 1-on-1 training programs focusing only on weight loss with very little concern for their level of fitness.

In any fitness program it is possible not to lose any weight because the primary purpose of a fitness program is to achieve a higher level of physical fitness; weight loss may occur but it is consequence rather than an objective. On the contrary, with a weight loss program, the objective is weight reduction which can be achieved with or without the aid of a fitness program. For example, there are plenty of surgerical procedures on the market that can drastically reduce a person’s weight, (lap band, liposuction, gastric sleeve, bmi weight loss surgery, etc…) without improving his or her level of fitness. The same can be said of a lot of nutrition/diet programs that emphasizes caloric restriction, portion sizing, caloric nutrients proportioning as the only tool for effecting weight loss.

So, because of this general confusion and general lack of understanding, I wanted to take this time to briefly explain the difference from a practical standpoint as well as the vantage point of our programs.

What is fitness?

Fitness is a quality that describes our physical state. When we are physically fit we perform everyday tasks effortlessly. Or as a personal training colleague told me years ago, when we are physically fit, we are at our full potential in performing vigorous physical activities. We have better cardiovascular endurance, stronger muscles, increase range of motion in the joints, and greater muscular endurance.

What are the benefits of being fit?

The benefits of being fit are substantial. They include:

1. Feeling better emotionally;
2. Having more energy for work and leisure;
3. Burning more calories, even when at rest;
4. Letting you do more physical activity;
5. Being able to exercise harder without as much work;
6. Helping you manage weight;
7. Improving heart and lungs functioning;
8. Strengthening bones, and joints;
9. Lowering your risk for heart attack, diabetes, and high blood pressure;
10. Helping you sleep better;
11. Handling stress better;
12. Keeping your mind sharp;
13. Improving overall health;

What does a fitness program consist of?

Most general fitness programs will include flexibility training, endurance training and strength training. Other programs that emphasis optimum fitness training will also include body composition, agility, coordination, balance training as well.

What is weight loss?

In our previous posting “How to Understand the Weight Loss Process” we defined weight loss; spoke about the benefits, the goal and the various methods used to achieve weight loss. For brevity sake we will not restate that entire posting. Instead we will simply summary by saying the goal of weight loss is to assist in losing the excessive weight and maintaining a desirable weight…

Methods of Weight Loss?

This weight reduction aim can be achieve via a nutritional program, via exercise, via medication or supplementation, or even surgery. Again, depending upon the method or combination of methods choosen, a successful reduction in weight will not also mean a corresponding increase in fitness levels.  Tthe person, however, may be healthier than before, just not fitter.

Our Programs?

So, regardless of what your objective is (being fitter or losing weigh), we offer both a fitness program and well as a weight loss program. The major distinction being that our Weight Loss Program is exercise based. That is in addition to having a fitness program component, it is coupled with a nutrition program (caloric restriction, nutrient proportioned, etc..) and a support program, geared towards achieving both an increase level of fitness as well as weight loss. For those participants who are not concerned about any weight loss, then a strict nutritional plan is not apart of the training regime.

Final Thoughts?

So, I now trust that you have a better understand of the differences between a fitness program and a weight loss program. More specifically, I hope that you have a clearer picture of just how a fitness program fits into an overall weight loss program that includes not just weight reduction but also an increase level of physical fitness. If you are interested in participating in either our Fitness Program or Weight Loss Program, feel free to register online or contact us directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Also, we would love to hear what your thoughts and personal experiences are regarding the points addressed in the posting. After all, we believe in the dynamic interacting of thoughts and ideas that help us grow as individuals. So, do share!

Source: http://www.teachnet.ie

What is metabolism?

According to Wikipedia, metabolism "is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to maintain life.… Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter; anabolism, uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids”.

The process of metabolism determines the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest (Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate), in motion or during exercise (PAEE). Whether you are sleeping, sitting, reading, eating, working, exercising, the body and its bodily functions are constantly moving; these movements require fuel; some moments require more fuel than others. Nonetheless, these body and bodily functions use  of energy is called caloric burn.

What is my metabolism affected by?

It is generally accepted that metabolism is affected by both controllable and uncontrollable factors. The uncontrollable factors include:

1. Sex (men tend to burn calories at a higher rate than women);
2. Age: (metabolism naturally slows 5% per decade after age 40);
3. Hereditary.

The controllable factors include:

1. Amount of lean body mass;
2. Whether you exercise;
3. What you eat;
4. How often you eat;
5. Stress levels;

How to Increase my metabolism?

In weight management (weight loss or weight maintenace,) our concern with metabolsim is how to increase metabolic rate so that you burn not just calories while exercise but also the calories while resting (resting metabolic rate). There are many theories about just how to do this. Very few, it seems have been proven to effectively work for the long term. What has been shown to work for both the short and long run is the following 7 Steps.

1. Don’t skip meals; slows your metabolism causing your body to slow down and burn less fat (fat is the primary fuel source for metabolic activities and other bodily functions, when the body is not exercising).
2. Eat smaller meals; the body makes better use of the nutrients in smaller quantities than in large quanties, after all, anything in excess is either stored, primarily as fat, or excreted like water soluble vitamins.
3. Include a snack between each meal; this reduces the chances you will overeat at your next meal.
4. Eat often: if you eat more often, but in smaller quantities, you will be priming your metabolism to work at an optimum level; also, when there is too many hours between meals, your metabolism actualy slows down to compensate.
5. Increase your physical activity level; the total amount of calories you burn includes your resting metabolic rate and the calories expended in exercise. The more active you are, the more calorics you burn.
6. Include cardio in your exercise program; the fast pace and constant motion of cardio tends to burn more calories than weight training or any other anaerobic exercise.
7. Include Weight training; even though it does not burn as much calories as cardio while working out, you are building muscles which burn more calories throughtout the entire day.

Final Thoughts?

If you follow these 7 steps, I can guarantee that you will see amazing results in the total amount of calorics burn; which will result in losing that unwanted weight. So what are your thoughts? Do you now have a better understanding of nutrition and the two major components: diet and metabolism? What has been your experience with dieting? Do you find that you have a slow metabolism? What, if anything, have you done to increase its efficiency? Your thoughts, suggestions and questions are welcomed.

Source: http://www.mypyramid.gov/

What is nutrition?

Nutrition is defined as the science that studies the process by which living organisms acquire all the things that are necessary for them to live and grow. Nutrition deals with both diet (ingestion) and metabolism. To help understand these concepts, asks yourself these questions. What do I eat? How much do I eat? And How often do I eat? In this posting, I will touch a little on the diet component, which deals with the questions of what and how much do I eat?

My Diet?

Your diet is what you eat and drink, the solids and fluids your intake to satifsy the body’s nutritents requirment. In the fundamental sense of weight management, gaining control of your diet entails understanding what you consume or intake, but also how much you consume. To lose, maintain or gain weight, you need to pay attention to both factors. For example, if you eat all the right foods but in too large of portions, you will gain weight. If you eat the right amount of foods (total calories) but only eat a limited number of food types, then you will be lacking essential nutrients that the body needs.

What should you be eating?

The Federal USDA, has long established that individal need to be intaking foods from the 6 major foods grous. http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html. Depending on your age, weight, sex and other factors, the actual amounts will vary; but as a general rule, the following should be considered for:

1. grains vary from 3-11 ounces;
2. vegetables vary from 1-6 cups;
3. fruits varies from 1-4 cups;
4. milk and other dairy products vary from 2 – 4 ounces;
5. meats and beans vary from 2 – 8 ounces;
6. oils vary from 3-6 teaspoons;

Now, the actual caloric amount is another question.

How much should you be eating?

How much should you be eating is determined by your weight goal? If you want to lose weight, you should be reducing caloric intake; if you want to maintain weight, then you can keep your caloric intake constant; or if you want to gain weight you need to increase your caloric intake above what you are currently consuming. Whether is is decreasing, maintaining or increasing caloric intake, it is good to have an ideal of what your current caloric consumption is. At weight-loss-center.net, there is an online caloric intake calculator that estimates how many calorics you are consuming based on body stats and current exercise levels, click link to assess http://www.weight-loss-center.net/daily_calorie_calculator.html.

Once you have this number, you can either increase, decrease or maintain depending again on your weight goal. The general though is that if you are wanting to lose at least 1 pound a week via dieting alone, then you should subtract, or reduce your dailiy caloric intake by 500 calories a day. The reverse is the case if you want to put on a pound in a week, you need to increase you daily caloric intake 500 calories per day. You can alternatively use a few online calculators to make this detemination as well. For example:

For determining weight loss or weight maintenance

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

For determining weight loss, maintenance or gain

http://www.hpathy.com/healthtools/calories-need.asp

A very important part of this nutrition component and understanding dieting and dieting control is the frequency of caloric consumption. This factor is one of the major factors that affect your metabolism (i.e.,. what happens after you intake that food/fluids into your body). Fortunately, this will be the focus of tomorrow’s posting.

Final Thought?

We at Better Bodies in Training, strongly believe that knowledge is power. Knowledge empowes you by giving you more options and informing your decisions. Our goal will this posting is to help you better understand that nutritional component to not just our program but to any effective weight management program.

As we stated in yesterday’s posting, weight loss or weight mangement can be very difficult, some more so than others, a truly effective program will tackle the problem many fronts. Tomorrow we will discuss the particular details of the metabolism aspect to the nutritional component. In that time, what are your thoughts about the points explored in the posting? Do you understand what nutrition is? What about the two major component of nutrition, diet and metabolism? Your thoughts, suggestions and questions are welcomed.

Source: http://topnews.in

What is Weight loss?

According to Wikipedia, “Weight loss,… is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat o adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue. It can occur unintentionally due to an underlying disease or can arise from a conscious effort to improve an actual or perceived overweight or obese state”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_loss. In other words it is a decrease in body weight (muscle weight and/or fat weight) resulting from either voluntary acts (diets, exercise, surgery) or involuntary (illness) circumstances.

What is the goal?

The goal in any weight loss program is to assist in losing the excessive weight and maintaining a desirable weight for a variety of reasons be they medical in nature, as the case with individuals who are clinically obese, or for more personal and esthetic reasons. The point is that most people attempt to lose weight not by sure luck or chances but because of a very important underlying reason, a reason that should serve as an inspirational force.

How to lose weight?

Losing weight via any non-surgerical procedures, is a simple equation, “Burn more calories that what you consume”. Let me repeat this,Burn more calories than what you consume”. In other words, eat less and exercise more. Again, eat less and exercise more. However, this is easier said than done for most people. Consider the fact. According to the CDC,( US Center for Disease Control) about

1. 67% of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 are overweight or obese:
2. 34% of noninstitutionalized adults ages 20 years are obese:

So, while effecting weight loss is a simple equation, a large number of people either do not want to lose weight or find it difficult to do so. For those that do not want to lose weight, this posting is not for them; but for those who are overweight and who want to lose weight, you might asked, how can I lose the unwanted weight and maintain a desirable weight?

Methods of Losing Weight?

As mentioned earlier, there are two major ways of losing weight. The first is via surgery. Now, I am not a big proponent of weight loss via surgery unless for some medical reasons like being morbidly obese which is classified as being either 100 pounds over the recommended weight for the person or having a BMI of 40 or a BMI between 35-40 with an obesity related disease. This method while being both effective and controversial is very popular with those who have the economic means to afford it. According to http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/oct/17/saving-lives-through-weight-loss-surgery/ nearly 200,000 American each year will have some type of weight loss surgery.

The other major category of weight loss methods would be to diet, exercise, and take medication or supplementation, or any combination therefore. Now, there are many programs in the market today that emphasis one element over the other. Programs like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Atkins Diets, etc..., emphasize the dieting and caloric restriction aspect. Gyms, fitness programs,  some bootcamps, etc....emphasizes the exercise component; and some medically approved and non- medically approved program emphasis the taken of some from of medication, pill or supplement, be it Xenical, Apidexin, Full Bar, Nuphedragen, to name a few.

What We Do at Better Bodies in Training?

At Better Bodies in Training we take a combination approach. That is, our weight loss program is a program that includes:

1. Dieting or caloric control;
2. Exercise;
3. Weight loss supplementation or aids that are non-medically prescribed, for some of our clients;
4. Psychological in the way of inspirational and motivational support.

We take this approach because research after research and our own experiences have proven that any effective weight loss program has to be a multi pronged approach. Because while part of the goal is getting the weight off, the other part is keeping it off and maintain a desirable weight for the long term.

Final Thoughts?

While it is true that weight loss can be very difficult, some more so than others, a truly effective program will tackle the problem many fronts. Tomorrow we will discuss the particular details of our program and explore the rationale behind them. In that time, what are your thoughts about the points explored in the posting? Do you understand the simple equation of how weight loss occurs? Do you struggle with actually getting and/or keeping the weight off? Have you consider weight loss surgery? What elements of a the weight loss program are you tackling? Or do you have a multi step approached? Your thoughts, suggestions and if questions are welcomed.