Guaranteed way to lose weight through exercise Expert advice

The year is moving fast! Two weeks of 2017 down, and if you are like me those new year resolutions are fast losing the resolute part… Life just has a way of getting in the way.

Trust me when I say, I am on your side! Some of us do detailed plans, but since most of us are entering this exercise and healthy lifestyle on rookie level, we shall employ the golden rule of electronics: keeping it simple stupid!

What can be said about exercise?

Rule of thumb my friend’s is to start slow. Standard 8 only comes 7 years after Standard 1 and every building with its first stone! Quite a few texts advice about 20-30 minute sessions for a minimum of two to three times per week and building up to 30 to 60-minute sessions six times per week. Whatever you decide to do, keep it light and then build up. You shall thank me for that later.

To supplement this, aim to increase your routine activity levels intentionally. Substitute walking whenever you can. For instance, using stairs instead of lifts or doing the house chores.

Another rule of thumb here is to pick something that involves using the larger muscle groups of the arms, back, and legs. In this way, you maximise the energy demand for any given time you exercise, and will best raise your heart rate. Make every bit of that second you exercise count. Again – you will thank me later.

Set realistic goals

There is a tendency people have of overinflating… I tell you its endemic! Tenderpreneurs know this principle when dealing with the government, wives know this when working out the household budget, and yes, you and I know it when serving at a buffet. We think we are hungrier than our physical stomach capacity can accommodate. Avoid this with exercise.

Again, start slow and build up. It is best to start by improving your cardio-fitness.

The heart rate can be monitored to know minimum target (220 minus age = maximum heart rate. Multiply this figure by 0.6 to get your beginner target heart rate, and by 0.85 for the novice amongst us). This will also be good as overtime, beyond noticing that you have greater energy levels, and the same routine doesn’t get you short of breath as you previously were, you shall see that your resting heart rate gradually decreases. Professional athletes usually have resting heart rates of about 60 beats per minute. Far cry from mine.

Later on you can progress to weight training. This actively builds muscle faster than cardio training. Muscle burns energy and so effectively your ability to loose weight and keep it off is in how well you are able to use energy. Think of it as upgrading from a 1.1ltr engine car to 2ltr one. The greater engine capacity and better mechanics mean you burn more fuel, more energy generated and a faster car. Muscle is your friend.

Know yourself

Knowing what interests you will help you decide on which routine is best. Will walking towards a specific destination be more of a motivation than circling the local sports field? Make exercise a habit by sticking to one time, actually marking it as a date on your calendar so that you don’t use that time for other engagements, logging your hours with mobile apps, the list is endless. Are you the type that needs company or requires demonstration or direction to follow? The options for exercise routines are numerous and will be detailed out in our next issue.

Bear in mind your limitations, and the biggest one here is to know if water sport or ground sport will work best. Pregnant women and those who struggle with excessive movement or standing for long periods at a time (ahem… if your BMI is over the 35 mark) then consider swimming. Again, this will depend if you have this facility easily available.

What can be said about Weight loss?

Simply put, if we aim to take in fewer calories, and try, did I forget to say try, to expend our years of saved up calories around our waist-lines and hips, then this is all that is needed.

Almost all foods nowadays give nutritional information. So once you have made your food journal for about 2 weeks. Sit down and detail each item according to

1. Calorie value
2. Cholesterol addition

The items that come up calorie dense foods should be the first to be struck out of your diet. Please bear with me on this one. I know it seems almost pedantic, but please, even if you only ever do it once, just do it. Or give it to a Nutritionist and they can also do it for you (of course at a fee) plus they will offer various food substitutes.

Over time, and this is where patience will be a virtue, over time, I promise you, if you have an overall energy deficit you shall loose that weight. As certain as the sun will rise.

Then important to mention, have food substitutes for the things you cannot strike out, but are still important. For example, taking water after a meal and not soda or fruit juice. Choose your oil/fats very wisely. You always want to have good fat (HDL) more than the bad fat (LDL). Run away from hard oils, butter, ghee, dairy and meat products. These are your arch enemies!! Approach and eat with caution. Easy to remember rubric for this, is the Mediterranean diet, which mostly uses olive oil, avoids red meat, and uses plenty of tree nuts.

That is all for now. See you next week!

House Call Daktari are a medical concierge service that aims to provide patients with personalised, attentive, quality medical care in a one on one patient setting.