Weight Loss

Weight Loss Explained

Weight loss is a simple equation. Losing weight requires you to burn more kilojoules that you take in. Over a period of time, if your energy intake is less than your output, you will lose weight. Dieting alone can allow you to achieve weight loss – but it can be a pretty hard path to stick to, and even harder to maintain.

Adding regular exercise into your weight loss plan will mean burning more kilojoules – and tipping the energy balance in favour of weight loss. The danger of only dieting is that along with fat you also lose muscle. And guess what? Muscle burns more kilojoules than fat, so the more lean muscle you have, the better. But when you lose muscle through dieting, you also reduce your capacity to burn up energy. This makes maintaining your weight loss pretty difficult and is the main reason many women experience their weight yoyo.

Exercise is an essential component of effective weight loss as it helps maintain the lean muscle, and there’s no better way to get energy burning lean muscle than strength training with weights. Strength training enhances your ability to lose weight. Which is why at Fernwood, we have a healthy weight management program and a huge variety of exercise options including full strength training equipment. It’s how we deliver our members with sustainable weight loss and real changes in body shape.

It’s time to get real, but you’re confused by the weight loss lingo? Let us demystify it for you.

Energy & Metabolism

• Calories and kilojoules - are words used to describe units of energy in foods and energy expended during exercise. One calorie is equal to 4.184 kilojoules.
• Metabolism - is the rate at which your body uses energy, or burns calories or kilojoules.

Body Composition

• Lean Muscle - refers to the actual amount of muscle in your body (flex your arm like a body builder and you can feel them!) Lean muscle burns more energy than fat. Women do not end up looking like Arnie Schwarzenegger if they use weights unless they also use steroids! Our bodies are not designed to bulk up. What strength training does is enable you to burn off more energy – even when you are doing nothing.
• Fat - can refer to the deposits of stored energy your body has not been able to use – which deposits itself on different areas of your body – bottom, thighs, hips, tummy, for example. It can also refer to the ‘Fat’ in the food we eat – which comes from both animal and vegetable sources and is needed daily for our body to function properly.

Diabetes

Diabetes Mellitus is a condition that occurs when there is too much glucose in the blood. There are two types of diabetes:

• Type 1 Diabetes- This type of diabetes used to be called Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus and people with type 1 diabetes require insulin injections to control their blood glucose levels.
• Type 2 Diabetes - This type of diabetes used to be called Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus. Type 2 diabetes often responds to a healthy eating plan, appropriate exercise and weight reduction; but sometimes tablets, and then later, insulin, may be required.

The rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing dramatically and can be attributed to being overweight, poor diet and lack of exercise.

Carbohydrates (or Carbs)

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. Those carbohydrates come from the plant-based foods that you eat. You can either use carbohydrates right away for your energy needs or your body can convert them into fat to use later if you consume too much. There are three types of carbohydrates - sugars, starches and fibre. Some food examples are breads, grains, pasta, potato, corn, cakes, biscuits, lollies and fruit.

Glycemic Index (GI)

The Glycemic index is a way of classifying carbohydrate foods according to their effect on blood glucose. High GI foods are rapidly absorbed and cause a surge in energy followed by a slump. Foods that are low GI are more slowly absorbed and delay hunger.

Processed food

Highly processed foods are foods that are far removed from their original state. Generally speaking, foods closest to their original form (unprocessed) are best for you. These include vegetables, fruit, whole grains, dairy and meat.

Fats

• Low Fat – a food classified as low fat must contain less than 3% fat. Watch for the overall kilojoule content on these foods as sugar is often added to make them taste better.
• Cholesterol – a soft, waxy substance found among the fats in the bloodstream and in all your body's cells. It's an important part of a healthy body because it's used to form cell membranes, some hormones and is needed for other functions. But a high level of cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.
• Saturated fats – are found mostly in animal products and tend to increase blood cholesterol which is a risk factor in coronary heart disease.
• Mono-unsaturated fats – found in olive oil, canola oil and avocados, they tend to lower blood cholesterol.
• Polyunsaturated fats – Omega-6 are found in oils and nuts; Omega-3s are found in fish and plant sources. Both are beneficial, with Omega-6 reducing cholesterol and Omega-3s good for the heart and blood vessels. Trans fatty acids are considered to behave like saturated fats in the body because they raise bad cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. Unlike saturated fats, they also tend to lower good cholesterol, so are potentially even more damaging.

Food Labels

What to look for:

• Fat – less than 10g per 100g (NB. Less than 2g/100g for dairy)
• Carbohydrate – a higher total with less coming from sugar
• Dietary Fibre – you need 30g/day
• Sodium – less than 120mg/100g

Ingredients listed in descending order of weight or quantity i.e. First ingredient listed is present in the food in the largest amount


SOURCE: Nutrition Australia – www.nutritionaustralia.org
 

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