Maintaining a health weight is important for many aspects of health. There are main differing points of view on the definition of a healthy weight. One reason is that there are many ways to measure a healthy body weight. BMI is a simple measure of height vs. weight but isn't particularly valid for muscular people. Body composition is a better measure but skin fold testing is rarely done outside of personal training. Body composition can be measured by electrical current and is included in some scales, however hydration levels can create inconsistency. And some people just have a gut feeling that they are in at unhealthy weight. But that's all for another time, including the reasons for maintaining that healthy weight.
This post is about losing weight. It doesn't matter if your goals are motivated by health or vanity. You have decided to lose some amount of weight. I have a bachelor degree in kinesiology and plenty of personal experience in many types of exercise so of course I get questions about exercise and weight loss. There are many great benefits of exercise and weight loss is one of them, but, and this is a big but, it doesn't guarantee success. Many people who exercise end up eating more. Depending on your cravings, will power and an underestimation of the actual calories burned during your workout, you may actually wipe out all of the weight loss benefits of exercise. Running 1 mile will, roughly speaking, burns between 100-150 calories depending on your speed, weight and efficiency. A little more for men, a little less for women. How many calories were in that can of coke or beer you had after your workout, or even with lunch or dinner? 150-200? In my opinion it is much easier to eliminate excess empty calories than to tack on an extra mile in a workout.
Alcohol is particularly troubling because of it's effect on metabolism. Your body can burn alcohol for 7 calories per gram. More than sugar and protein at 4 calories per gram and less than fat at 9 calories per gram. Alcohol is not useful for anything other than those calories and the byproducts of metabolism cause a hangover. Your liver has to process alcohol, but your liver also works on many other metabolic pathways. Your liver is critical in many forms of sugar metabolism: fructose processing (a form of sugar naturally in fruit among other things), storage of glucose as glycogen and maintenance of blood glucose levels. Nonessential amino acids are synthesized in the liver and ammonia, a toxic byproduct of protein metabolism, is converted to urea. The liver is responsible for a large amount of fatty acid metabolism as well. Your liver has all the protein machinery present to convert alcohol into fatty acids, which then go into your blood stream and to surrounding muscle and fat cells. So not only are you taxing your liver with extra work, which may slow down the good metabolic processes, you are also giving it a lot of energy to create the fat you are trying so hard to lose.
In the ideal world you can employ all 3 strategies: Exercise, eat well and save alcohol only for special occasions. But if you can't do all 3 at once start with nutrition and reducing alcohol consumption.
Dr. Nelson
This post is about losing weight. It doesn't matter if your goals are motivated by health or vanity. You have decided to lose some amount of weight. I have a bachelor degree in kinesiology and plenty of personal experience in many types of exercise so of course I get questions about exercise and weight loss. There are many great benefits of exercise and weight loss is one of them, but, and this is a big but, it doesn't guarantee success. Many people who exercise end up eating more. Depending on your cravings, will power and an underestimation of the actual calories burned during your workout, you may actually wipe out all of the weight loss benefits of exercise. Running 1 mile will, roughly speaking, burns between 100-150 calories depending on your speed, weight and efficiency. A little more for men, a little less for women. How many calories were in that can of coke or beer you had after your workout, or even with lunch or dinner? 150-200? In my opinion it is much easier to eliminate excess empty calories than to tack on an extra mile in a workout.
Alcohol is particularly troubling because of it's effect on metabolism. Your body can burn alcohol for 7 calories per gram. More than sugar and protein at 4 calories per gram and less than fat at 9 calories per gram. Alcohol is not useful for anything other than those calories and the byproducts of metabolism cause a hangover. Your liver has to process alcohol, but your liver also works on many other metabolic pathways. Your liver is critical in many forms of sugar metabolism: fructose processing (a form of sugar naturally in fruit among other things), storage of glucose as glycogen and maintenance of blood glucose levels. Nonessential amino acids are synthesized in the liver and ammonia, a toxic byproduct of protein metabolism, is converted to urea. The liver is responsible for a large amount of fatty acid metabolism as well. Your liver has all the protein machinery present to convert alcohol into fatty acids, which then go into your blood stream and to surrounding muscle and fat cells. So not only are you taxing your liver with extra work, which may slow down the good metabolic processes, you are also giving it a lot of energy to create the fat you are trying so hard to lose.
In the ideal world you can employ all 3 strategies: Exercise, eat well and save alcohol only for special occasions. But if you can't do all 3 at once start with nutrition and reducing alcohol consumption.
Dr. Nelson
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