Kenneth Gardner
Dear Mr Gardner,
I HAVE changed my diet since April and eating more green vegetables, lean meat, drinking pints of water everyday, more walking than I usually do, attend boxercise classes every Wednesday and I don't seem to be losing weight as indicated by my bathroom scale and the scale I weighed on at my local doctor. However, I noticed that my clothes are fitting me better and they are very loose around my waist and bust.
- Yvonne
Dear Yvonne,
Your letter is an excellent example of some of the intricacies involved in our quest to improve weight management. A number of formulas have been used with varying degrees of success. The observations that you have made are definitive examples of how your programme has impacted your body mass index or your body composition.
The changes that you have made to your diet are excellent adjustments so it is not surprising that you have experienced reductions in your waist and bust measurements. You have reduced your body mass index while you have maintained your weight. Many factors may limit your capacity to change your body composition.
BODY COMPOSITION
Body weight is not an accurate means of assessing body composition. It is a useful method of tracking progress in a programme to change body composition. You have reduced your fat mass and gained some muscle mass, which accounts for the retention of your body weight even though the sizes of your waist and bust have been reduced. Your body composition has changed. Genetic factors may limit your capacity to change your body composition much further.
I cannot comment on your weight as I am not aware of your height or body frame, which would help me to determine your weight profiles. An assessment of your current energy balance, that is, the calories that you use in your physical activity is important. When your weight is constant you are burning approximately the same number of calories you are taking in; this requires some adjustment in order to effect the required change to your weight.
To tip your energy balance toward weight loss, you must either consume fewer calories or burn more calories through physical exercise. You will need to create a negative energy balance each day. To lose a half to two pounds each week, you will need to create a negative energy balance of between 1,750 and 7,000 calories each week or 250 to 1,000 calories each day. However, no diet should reduce caloric intake below 1,500 a day for men and 1,200 a day for women.
To generate a negative energy balance, it is best to exercise more, rather than eating less. Dieting reduces your resting metabolic rate whereas exercise increases it. This means that you burn more calories even when you are resting after an exercise routine. If you make changes in your diet, these should be small changes that you can maintain rather than drastic ones that won't last.
INCREASE PACE
Endurance exercises burn more calories in the long run and these will help to create a negative energy balance. The box-exercise activities that you have been doing do not last long enough to bring about the weight loss that you are hoping for. You need to extend your walking sessions, as well as increase the pace at which you walk, that is, try to walk further and faster and monitor your progress to make the necessary changes as the need arises.
Firmness or improvements in your muscle tone can be achieved quite easily. This can be done by using the muscles of interest to exert force against almost any kind of resistance, such as pushing or pulling objects or doing a work out with weights. You will need to identify the specific muscles or muscle groups that you need to tone and utilise them in some form of resistance exercises.
Kenneth Gardner is an exercise physiologist at the G. C. Foster College of Physical Education: email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
