FatMatters » muscle and fat

The Desk Jockey Dilemma

Dr. Rodriguez — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:26:22 +0000

So many people have jobs that require sitting behind a desk for much of the day, they’ve come to be known as “desk jockeys.’’
And plenty of them keep on sitting after the work day is over, sitting at dinner, watching television, and sitting at a computer. As you might guess, all this sitting is contributing to obesity.
So, wouldn’t adding a regular exercise routine to a sedentary job keep a person lean and healthy? Research is suggesting that it’s not that simple.
It looks like sitting for extended periods of time is so unhealthy, you can’t make up for it just with regular exercise. This may be bad news for those trying to compensate for their inactive jobs but it can help explain why so many desk jockeys have been frustrated by attempts to control their weight through exercise.
The good news is that understanding the cause of a problem is the first step in solving it.
Some of the findings of inactivity research suggest that during extended sitting:
• The muscles’ electrical activity appears to drop severely so few calories are burned (sitting burns only about a third of the calories used when walking). If you’re sitting for most of your waking hours, that doesn’t leave much time to burn enough calories during exercise to stay lean.
• The body’s system of handling blood sugar becomes less effective, increasing the risk of diabetes.
• The body becomes less effective at breaking down “bad” fats, causing HDL cholesterol levels (the good cholesterol) to go down.
A study looking at why some people gain weight while others don’t despite eating the same number of calories, found that the “nongainers” were moving more without realizing it. The “gainers” sat two hours more per day than the “nongainers!” Apparently, lean people move their bodies more, in general, than overweight people. That supports other studies showing that if two people are sitting, the leaner person is probably moving around more in her seat — fidgeting, talking with her hands, and changing positions often. We might say both are doing the same thing — sitting — but, in reality, there are major differences in their energy burn.
Recently, I was at a Tampa Bay Rays game. Being a psychologist, I tend to watch the spectators more than the players. I was observing a man who spent the same amount of time as the rest of us engaged in the game, ate about the same amount, but in two other respects, was quite different. He was constantly moving around and he was leaner than most of the people at the game.
This man intrigued me so I watched him during the entire game. Everything about him was active — how he sat in his seat, how often he got out of his seat, how he conversed with people (even strangers). This man laughed, sang, joked, yelled, danced – he didn’t stop for one minute. By the way, he was entirely sober!
What can less-boisterous desk jockeys do to get their bodies in motion?
Here are a few tips:
• Be consistent. If you’re consistently sitting for many hours you must consistently move the rest of the time.
• Try to be more active when you have to sit (shift positions, stretch, move the legs).
• Take frequent active breaks (take the stairs up a floor to go to the bathroom, step outside for some fresh air, or walk around the building).
• If you have to meet with someone, why not do it while walking around rather than sitting in a conference room?
• Consider using a taller desk designed for working while standing.
• If you’re talking on the phone, but not using the computer, try standing during your conversations.
• Rather than calling or instant-messaging a colleague in your building, take a walk and visit them.

• Consider using a stability ball rather than a desk chair. Staying balanced on it will get you to use your muscles differently.
• Make sure to have an active lifestyle when not at work. Develop active hobbies and after-work activities.
• Do household chores yourself. Do you really have to have someone mow your lawn or clean your house?
Accept limitations but don’t give up. Let’s be realistic. Maybe you can’t look like a personal trainer whose job it is to be in the best of shape, but you can certainly aim to improve.

Previously published in the St. Petersburg Times

10 Smart Tips for Losing Weight: Weight Loss Advice That Really Works

Dr. Rodriguez — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:00:29 +0000

Being active and eating right are essential for losing weight successfully but there are also other simple things a person can do to make the job easier.
Losing weight successfully involves a lifestyle change. Getting on a diet that can’t be followed for the rest of one’s life is not only not going to do anything to change lifestyle, but because most diets fail, it wastes time that could be better used doing things that work.

There are hundreds of simple and easy things a person can do that add to weight loss success and that work at changing a person’s lifestyle to one that is fat burning.

Ten Easy Gems For a Fat-Burning Lifestyle

Make gradual changes – People who use a gradual approach to making weight and lifestyle changes tend to be more successful at making the changes permanent. Rapid weight loss as well as taking steps that are too big with other behaviors can set a person up for failure by making them feel overwhelmed.
Keep the big picture in mind - People who aim at making lifetime changes instead of just going on a “diet” have been shown to keep the weight off more permanently. Striving for a healthy way of life rather than just to lose weight insures consistent, progressive, fat-burning changes.
Don’t fall for unrealistic diet plans and aids – There are plenty of “diets” to choose from. Wise people learn to bypass those that promise things that are impossible or improbable. “Diets” that have quirky names and advertise large amounts of weight loss in short periods of time are the type of diets that are best passed up.
Make lifestyle changes a priority - People who consider their weight loss and exercise goals important and make the behaviors that will accomplish these goals a priority, achieve their goals more quickly.
Don’t take advice from yo-yo dieters, instead seek advice from experts – Taking advice from people that are frequently going on and off diets and losing and regaining weight, is not a good idea. It’s better to observe someone who has been thin and fit for many years and seek expert advice.
Strive to eat more nutritiously – Feeding the body what it needs is not only good for health but also prevents overeating.
Eat enough calories and eat frequently – Under-eating slows metabolism resulting in a body that stores fat easily. People tend to get hungry about every three hours. That’s because the body performs best when given fuel frequently throughout the day so it’s best to listen to the body. If the body is hungry it needs to be fed.
Don’t eliminate carbohydrates - The body needs carbohydrates to function effectively. Diets that eliminate carbohydrates usually end in compulsively eating the same carbohydrates that were eliminated and ultimately, regaining the lost weight.
Eat the last meal of the day at least 3-4 hours before bedtime - Metabolism slows down later in the day. By eating the last meal early more of the calories consumed are burned off.
Increase activity and exercise – The most fat-burning weight loss tool available to everyone is exercise and general movement. People who exercise on a regular basis and are active tend to be more successful with weight loss than those that don’t use exercise as part of their weight loss plan.

These are only a few of the many easy tips that help people be successful at losing weight. Since gradual progress is more effective than quick weight-loss goals, starting with the ten weight loss gems above is a good place to start. More weight loss gems follow.

Copyright Lavinia Rodriguez. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

Muscle vs. Fat: How Weighing More Can Mean Being Lean

Dr. Rodriguez — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:28:44 +0000

If given the choice between weighing more but being leaner, or weighing less and being fatter, most people would choose the former. It’s a wonder then, why so many people choose fat over muscle time and again through the choices they make in losing weight.

The TV show, The Doctors, recently reported that a person’s metabolism doesn’t slow down naturally (as many people think). Instead, it slows down because people lose muscle mass due to decreased activity through the years.

Yet, the most common weight loss strategy for most dieters is that of a crash diet minus exercise. If you want to make your body one that puts on fat easily and burns it slowly, that is the ticket for you. Keep using that method and through the years you’ll have a perfect fat storing machine due to a slower metabolism.

When you don’t eat enough calories to perform the activities that your body naturally performs (e.g. breath, walk, yawn), as well as those that you require of it (e.g. knitting, running, cooking), your body will slow down it’s metabolism so that it can continue to do its job. Ultimately, that means a general slowing down of the ability to burn fat the more one engages in drastic dieting and little exercise.

It doesn’t take much energy to maintain a nice, big storage of fat but it does take energy to maintain muscle mass. This means that it takes calories to keep the muscle mass you have. The more muscle you have, the more calories it takes to keep it and the more calories you can eat without storing fat. This is what metabolism is all about.

Fantastic quick weight loss promises may be hard to resist but resist you must if you want to have the leanest body you possibly can have. Just let others continue down the road to more fat, less muscle, and less health through crash dieting. Remember the saying, “If your friends jump off a bridge, would you jump, too?” Be an individual and use what works. It may be slower, but you’ll win in the end while they will continue on the cycle of yo-yo dieting. The tortoise usually wins over the hare. Is making the decision of muscle vs. fat becoming easier?

Becoming the least fat person you can be starts with stopping the drastic dieting and focusing on an increase in muscle. Forget about the actual weight number on the scale. It’s useless. It tells you nothing about how much of the weight is due to firm muscle or flabby fat.

A lean, fit person weighs more than it appears they weigh. That’s a good thing. All that muscle has weight – what do we expect? Do you want to be healthy and lean? Dare to weigh more- increase muscle and increase metabolism. In the contest between muscle vs. fat, muscle should always be the winner.