from the dr. mirkin newsletter

Dear Dr. Mirkin: What's the best exercise for getting rid of the fat
on my belly?

Sit-ups, crunches and other exercises can strengthen
your belly muscles, but there is no such thing as spot reduction.
Exercising a muscle does not get rid of fat over the specific
muscles that are exercised. If it did, tennis players would have
less fat in their tennis arms, but they don't.
When you take in more calories than your body burns,
you store them as fat. You store more that half the fat in your
body underneath your skin and over your muscles. Some people
store fat primarily in their hips and are at low risk for heart attacks
and diabetes, while others who store their fat primarily in their
bellies are at increased risk for heart attacks and diabetes. The
"ab" exercises can strengthen sagging belly muscles, but they
will not remove extra fat from your belly. The only way to lose fat
from the place where you store most of your fat (whether it's your
belly or your hips) is to lose weight overall.

Sad, but true.

does that mean excersise dosnt do a thing or what??

to lose weight overall means increasing your metabolism by doing cardio, weight lifting and getting your calories under control.

gen

I read somewhere (I don't remember where, but feel free to research it) that in order to burn fat you need to WALK, and not RUN...because:
Fat is a very slow burning fuel. It needs lots of oxygen to burn it. When you RUN, you get out of breath, therefore, your body is not getting enough oxygen and instead of burning fat, it will burn carbs. Whereas when you WALK, your body is getting plenty of oxygen, and you are able to burn fat.
Hope this helps!
Sam

So true. When I first started running, about 1/10th of a mile would leave me weezing. I just finished 3 miles about an hour ago. I don't gasp for air anymore and my face doesn't turn beet red. LOL I had to slow my running speed way down, even though I thought I wasn't running fast enough. Slowing it down allowed me to increase the distance. And I still finished up in 27 minutes.

When I was a kid, my mom always made me sit down if my face started getting red, because I'd undergone open heart surgery. So I was pretty much taught not to exercise. It's been hard changing that, but everytime I see a little more progress, I'm thrilled over it. So when a friend commented the other day that my face no longer gets red afterward, it made me feel good.

I wanted to do some more research on the topic - here are a few web pages that I found:

http://my.webmd.com/content/pages/1/3079_883

http://tms.ecol.net/fitness/walkpros.htm

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybui...tness_tip.html

here is a quote I found:
Running vs. walking
By most calculations, you burn more calories by running than by walking, but consider these variables when deciding which activity best suits you:

A 150-pound person who runs 6 mph for an hour uses about 720 calories. Walking at 4 mph for 90 minutes would use 486 calories. The total used, and the proportion of fat calories to carbohydrate calories used, depends on the time spent exercising, the intensity and your body's condition. Exercising at a lower intensity burns more fat; higher intensity burns more carbs.

Racewalking can be more strenuous than running, because when you racewalk you have to make an effort to stay in an "earthbound walk" and not break into a loping run. Another factor is time: If you are more likely to take a long, brisk walk than a short, fast run, you may end up ahead of the game over the weeks and months at a lower level of intensity.


But, I also learned that apparently it is pretty controversial. SOOO, I don't know for sure.

Sam

No-you can't spot "reduce" but you can spot change through strength training. A weak arm or abdominal area looks totally different than one that is strong and contoured through strength training. To improve your shape you really should do strength training of some sort-weights, ab exercises, Pilates, lower body exercises using body weight as resistance like squats and lunges, etc.

They are not saying that strength training doesn't do anything-what they are saying is-you can have the strongest and most ripped ab muscles in the world through strength training-but if you are 220 pounds-you have a large fat layer on top of them and you aren't going to be able to see it-so you need to lose the body fat as well.

You have to lose weight and body fat through diet and cardio exercise...but it is just as important to do strength training and do the weights and ab exercises-because when you get down to a smaller weight those muscles are going to start to show through.

A combination of strength exercises and cardio and diet together are what is going to do it. I do cardio 4 days a week (walking and I dance professionally) and I strength train 3 days a week pretty intensely. I started strength training from day 1 of my new lifestyle-and even though I couldn't see the strength and the contours from it when I was still very overweight-I kept with it. Now that I am getting smaller and have less body fat...I have some great contour lines in my abdominals, shoulders, and biceps.

Yeah-cardio may get rid of the body fat and help with all over weight loss-but the only way to get the ripped abs or capped shoulders and toned triceps is through strength training of some sort.

A lot of people are more attracted to cardio because it burns more calories while you are doing it-much more than strength training-so it really aids with weight loss. BUT-someone who strength trains regularly has a faster metabolism than someone who does not-because having more muscle causes your body to burn more calories just to maintain it throughout the entire day. So...cardio burns more now...strength training burns more continually. For the best benefits do BOTH.