In a developing world, healthy lives with fit bodies have been such a big deal for everyone. You will see many people early in the morning, or later in the evening doing physical exercises for the sake of losing weight or for keeping their bodies in shape. But when they get home, they eat the double of what they lost. Others will be busy drinking a lot of water and skipping meals in order to keep their bodies’ good curves but at the very end, they replace the skipped meal with the double actual meal. This stays continuous until at the time of results you will see that instead of losing weight, you just lost your time.
According to the rule of thumb weight loss is generally 75 percent of diet and 25 percent of exercises. The analysis of more than 700 weight loss studies, people have outstanding short-term results of weight loss because they ate smart. This justifies the fact that, performing all physical exercises in the world won’t help lose weight if your nutrition is out of attention. People continuously hire trainers who can teach them movements to fulfill the workout they think is effective for losing weight. This goes the same way to those who want to gain muscles by committing themselves to a regular session of workouts they believe will magically give them successful results. But at some point, some end up giving up what they do as they are not seeing expected results after weeks or months of hard work. This is only because they didn’t pay attention to the important part of the outcomes of a healthy lifestyle: Diet.
Nutrition plays an important role in determining the effectiveness of a fitness in a weight control program. According to the 6th edition of “BASIC WEIGHT TRAINING FOR MEN AND WOMEN” Keeping off excess body fat through exercises alone is difficult. It says that workouts help build muscles but it is absolutely not a good way to burn off calories. Unless you combine it with a good nutrition, you probably are doomed to failure of fighting weight gaining. When I talk about nutrition consider water included even as the major part. Some will think nutrition is only eating less calories while this doesn’t absolutely contain the part of digestion which is very important. You might also be eating carbohydrates but those lasts need to be digested. Water is an important tool in weight loss because not only the facilitation of digestion but also water saves more space for unwanted food. Drinking water before eating occupies more space and help to eat less and still maintain a hydrated body without the aid of calories. This means that even though you have to watch the amount of calories you take, you have to take it alongside with the amount of water for effective digestion of your intake. This is not going to just come out of the blue without the individual’s attention. But we always have to remember this will be done hand in hand with exercises to keep a fit body.
Fasting which is actually about skipping meals is also important in weight loss as it have been proven according to several testimonies. Even though fasting is considered as a practice for only religious reasons, it is very helpful for someone who is dieting. This is because it stands for the reduction of calories intake. This can not only help in weight loss but also in preventing non communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Some studies also say that it prevents aging.
On the other hand, many individuals consider exercising to be most effective way of losing weight and maintaining the shape. They also think that sweating during the exercises means losing calories and they feel comfortable for the intake of more calories at the next meal. This doesn’t really make sense because one should eat less calories than burnt in order to achieve the weight loss process. And this is when you will find someone who spent 2 months exercising but at the end they realize that actually nothing has changed because they didn’t care about the nutrition. Studies showed that people who exercise without dieting lose about 6 pounds in 21 weeks while those who choose diet lose about 23 pounds in only 15 weeks of dieting. This still shows how complementary exercising and a perfect nutrition are.
However, you cannot just eat and maintain your good nutrition and expect your muscles to magically develop and obtain a divine fitness without physical exercises. This is also an important session in fitness and weight loss process because exercises helps your muscles to develop and your bones to be strong as well as the effective use of calories takes through your meal. Besides, exercises burn fats which are responsible of the risk of some cardiovascular diseases and diseases related to blood pressure. So, exercises are very efficient at promoting a healthy blood circulation which actually relates to the prevention of aging.
So, when we talk about mutualism, it is when something can’t survive without the other. Weight loss cannot be reached when there no mutualism of exercises and a good nutrition. So, we have to remember that, there is no magic in weight loss and fitness. It’s all about physical exercises also called workouts, at a perfect timing, accompanied with a well controlled nutrition. One cannot lead to effective results without another. If you want a healthy body, work for it and we all know that hard work pays off. And give the world reasons to ask you about the behind the scene of what they are seeing.
References:
1. Wiggins S, Keats S. Future diets in the developing world Questions, answers and gaps. Shap policy Dev. 2017;(September):1–20.
2. Ethan D, Basch CH, Hillyer GC, Berdnik A, Huynh M. An analysis of weight loss articles and advertisements inmainstream women’s health and fitness magazines. Heal Promot Perspect [Internet]. 2016;6(2):80–4. Available from: http://journals.tbzmed.ac.ir/HPP/Abstract/HPP_3156_20150602004437
3. olek, J, Vanheest, J, Forsythe, S. Diet and exercise for weight loss: A review of current issues. Sport Med. 2005;35(1)(1):1–9.
4. Frank E. Weight management. Aust Fam Physician. 2010;39(3):91.
5. Jéquier E, Constant F. Water as an essential nutrient: The physiological basis of hydration. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010;64(2):115–23.
6. Swift DL, Johannsen NM, Lavie CJ, Earnest CP, Church TS. The role of exercise and physical activity in weight loss and maintenance. Prog Cardiovasc Dis [Internet]. 2014;56(4):441–7. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2013.09.012
7. Kolasa KM, Collier DN, Cable K. Weight loss strategies that really work. J Fam Pract [Internet]. 2010;59(7):378–85. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20625566
Writer: Esperance KAZENEZA, Holder of a bachelor’s degree in Public Health-Environmental Health Sciences, University of Rwanda.
12 Comments
Amir Jabbar Mas
17 February 2019 18:22Harerimana theo
17 February 2019 19:03Harerimana theo
17 February 2019 19:23Titi
17 February 2019 19:28Olivier Mwizerw
17 February 2019 19:37Marthamadudu
17 February 2019 20:15Ariane
17 February 2019 22:13Ariane
17 February 2019 22:22Dr. Rissa
17 February 2019 22:28Venuste NGAYABE
20 February 2019 05:18Wellars Munyan
23 February 2019 05:49UMUHIRE NIYONKURU Vivianne
08 May 2019 22:53