[Eileen2bLean]

Please excuse the length of this but OMG I'm so excited! (LOL, it doesn't take much to make me happy apparently!)

Okay so yesterday I posted in my 3FC blog, that FOR ME, it’s the sustained exercise - the daily (or almost daily) continuation of an exercise REGIMEN that works for me. And then I thought about it. And I thought some more. And mostly what I thought was: WHY?

I felt like I was onto something. Some truth that had logic which had been eluding me somehow, but deep in my gut I knew it to be true, with or without supporting logic.

I lose weight when I exercise regularly. Even if it’s only for a little bit each day. Say, 30 minutes x 5 days. That’s 150 minutes, or two-and-a-half-hours.

I don’t lose weight when I sit on my a$$ all week and then exercise for two-and-a-half hours one day to make up for sitting on my a$$ all week.

It’s true. I know it’s true.

WHY?

So I started researching this question, and it wasn’t hard to find. Just a couple key items of information and the puzzle pieces fell into place. I even made a little graphic for today’s blog entry. Yes, I am such a dork. LOL!



What I found is this: When you exercise, and I’m talking cardio-vascular, which means moving and using large muscles and raising your heart rate for a significant period of time (20 minutes or more), your body produces elevated levels of testosterone. Yes, in both men and women too. Guys, of course, have more of it - and that’s why they can burn fat so much easier than women. (Grrrrr!!)

Anyway, so if testosterone helps us to burn more fat, then we need as much of it as we can get! I knew that weight training elevated testosterone levels for men, but I had no idea that exercise did the same for women. Silly me, not knowing that.

Anyway, exercise of course builds muscle - and muscle mass contributes to metabolism as well.

Exercise also distributes oxygen to your body’s cells. The word “aerobic” is actually defined as ” pertaining to or caused by the presence of oxygen.” Something magical happens when your cells “consume” increased levels of oxygen during aerobic exercise, directly related to the body’s metabolic and energy-generating process. Glycogen is broken down to produce glucose, which is then broken down using oxygen to generate energy and then - fat metabolism is initiated.

If that last sentence was confusing, this is what it said: Oxygen cranks up the fat-burning process!

Okay, so all this is great, but it doesn’t really explain why it would be different to do a little every day vs. a longer session once a week.

Here’s why…

The effects are sustained beyond the period of exercise. The increased testosterone and oxygen consumption levels can remain (somewhat) increased for a couple days!!!

The exercise you get today
is going to boost the effectiveness
of the exercise you get tomorrow.

In other words, the effect is cumulative!

I’m probably the last person in the world to discover this particular truth, but I needed to understand it and it really helps me to know that!!! I’m really thinking it’s going to make a huge difference in my daily motivation!

Woooohoooo!!!

[giselley]

Well, it makes sense to me. What we call "exercise" is artificial "work". Most people do not use their bodies correctly on a day to day basis. In the ol days, if you wanted to drink water, you hauled it from a stream, and if you wanted clean clothes, you worked your butt off. People worke from sun up to sun down. People in really good shape usually do something physical everyday, whether it is real work, or exersise. I think the best way to lose weight is to get a physical part time job. Lift rocks or dig ditches for 4 hours a day and you can eat anything you want. One year I was absolutly cut-- six pack and all-- after getting a summer job building trails in the mountains.

[Alana in Canada]

Thanks for that info. I knew all that, once. But I'd forgotten. I'm feeling more motivated by the "cumulative" revelation, too--so thanks for that!

[caryesings]

Thanks for sharing this info.

[SweetScrumptious]

Thanks for the info! Makes me want to be more stern with exercising at least 30 mins every day

[Serephina]

Oh my gosh Elileen! That was like a taking a mini-course in weight loss and biology! I LOVE the diagram, you are so talented to get that in there! Thank you for the information and you weren't the last one to know cuz I had NO idea! Testosterone? Time to think about some weights!

[GirlyGirlSebas]

Great information!

[Nada]

Good info and well presented. I thought the other day if I could burn as many calories through exercise as my great-grandmothers did just going about their daily lives I'd probably be doing pretty well. And hitting the track with my Ipod has got to be more pleasant than heavy housework and farmwork, right?

[belezura]

Thank you so much for that info!!! It will help me a lot when it comes to going to the gym everyday.
That will be one more reason to keep myself moving.
People like you, that shares valuable info like that, makes forums like 3FC worth to check everyday. I love to learn something new, specially when it has to do with my new healthy life style.

[starfishkitty]

Wow! I mean.. it makes sense... but it's so different to see it spelled out to you like that!

And now..... I'm off to the gym!!!

(No, really! hehe)

[TaraLee]

Hmmm...just what I needed. I have my workout DVD paused at the beginning awaiting me to get up and feel a lil more...up and about I guess. Here I go.

[LiL PiXiE]

Well..you are definetly not the last person to know that because I didn't know that...but it sure is GREAT to know. Thanks for sharing that!! So now, note to self "Think cumulative, think CUMULATIVE!!!" lol

[matafleur]

I think a lot of people get stuck on the idea that, for example, 30 minutes on the treadmill only burns 110 calories or so (I'm just making these figures up, by the way), so they think that exercise adds little value. But you are absolutely right in this post - thanks for the great info!