There are several benefits of weight training. One major benefit is that it alters chemicals that control your appetite allowing you to have a better chance of succeeding in your low calorie diet. When you’re dieting or inbetween meals, your abdomen discharges a chemical known as Ghrelin.

Ghrelin triggers fat metabolism and it increases the activity of the hypothalamus, causing you to be hungery. This process activates a variety of energy control pathways in the brain in another words, it increase food intake and slows your metabolic rate.

Exercise Changes Hormones that Controls Appetite

When you exercise, your stomach discharges chemicals that stops hunger and encourages ’satisfied’ feeling. These chemicals include: glucagon-like peptide-1, pancreatic polypeptide, oxyntomodulin and peptide.

The Loughborough University in Britain did a study that proved exercise reduces Ghrelin and increases Peptide-W when you’re involved in aerobics and weight training. These hormone changes were greatest during aerobic exercises.
This is why exercise is such an important portion of weight-loss program because it changes the hormones that control the appetite.

Final Thouht
Never leave out exercise when your tring to loose weight.

Source: American Journal of Physiology (Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology), 296: R29-RS5, 2009

I know you’ve tried almost every diet in trying to lose that belly fat. Also, the number one cause of diet failure is hunger! You feel like you haven’t eaten anything the whole day but in fact you just ate,  sounds familiar?

The part of the brain that controls hunger and the feeling of fullness (satiety) are known as the hypothalamus. This portion of the brain is very sensitive to body temperature, amino acid levels, blood sugar and metabolic hormones.

Documented research from Maastricht University in the Netherlands proved that when people consume high-protein foods or diets originating from 20-30% of energy from protein actually suppressed hunger and promoted the feeling of fullness. Studies conclude that soy protein and casein protein (protein from milk) prevent hunger more effectively than any other type. Protein was considered great for weight maintenance when people were encouraged to eat a lot of high-protein food.

High Dietary Protein is Great for Maintaining Muscle Mass

High dietary protein consumption is really effective when maintaining your muscle mass while encouraging fat loss. However, over indulging high-protein diets may boost blood pressure levels in overweight diabetics or people who suffer from metabolic syndrome.

Tip of the Day

Don’t leave out soy and milk when your trying to lose weight.

(Source: Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 11: 747-751, 2008)

You might be thinking, Duhh…. I know this already. But does your diet plan includes weight training? The American Heart Association, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and even the American College of Sports Medicine encourage people to participate in aerobic exercise to help control weight and improve metabolic health. There is more and more proof that weight training is the key ingredient of a good exercise program. Regular weight training, encourages fat loss, improves metabolic health and builds strength.

Weight Training Promotes Weight Control

A study initiated by Robert Hickner through the East Carolina University researchers, proved that weight-training showed great increases in:

• Energy levels
• Metabolic rate
• Fat use in both obese and slender men and women especially the stomach area
• and more!

Final Thought
No matter what your goals are, you cant reach it without weight training.

source: Journal of Applied Physiology, in press; published online March 5, 2009

The simple fact is that you will gain weight if your body takes in more energy than you burn off; and you lose weight when you burn energy more than the energy you take in. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it may seem. If it was, there wouldn’t be so many overweight people in this world.

Research

According to researchers from University of California, in Irvine, Obesogens environmental chemicals actually change cellular sensors controlling our metabolic rate.

When our food intake disturbs our energy balance it encourages the storage of fat. People who are exposed to these chemicals during crucial growth periods may cause a person to live a life of obesity. Managing obesogens continues to be a huge public health risk.

Simply put, binge eating or non-scheduled eating encourages your body to store fat!

Take Home Lesson
Try to eat your set meals on time.
Ex: Breakfast in the morning, lunch in the after noon, and dinner in the early evening.

Source: Molecular Endocrinology, in press; published online April 16, 2009

Sure, you can starve yourself and go through stress, fatigue, mood swings and even pain for not eating and have those pounds drop. But you don’t need to be a health professional to tell that starving your self is not the best way to lose weight.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health did 18 weight loss studies by utilizing a statistical method referred to as meta-analysis. During the study, they compared the results of exercise plus diet vs. diet alone on body mass and weight loss.

Participants in the study (lasting approx. 2 years) lost around 2.5 pounds more when they combined diet and exercise as compared to just dieting without exercise. The average weight loss in the studies was very low — they only lost 15 pounds. Some of the participants regained most of the weight on both weight-loss programs. The dropout rate in many of these experiments is 65%.The good news is, in one study, participants kept a 5.6 reduction in BMI for around 6 years.

Calorie Reduction + Daily Exercise = Weight Loss

So, to be successful at losing weight, you should reduce your calories, exercise daily and reach out to people who are positive about your weight loss goals such a support groups.

Try:

• Mediterranean Diets
• AND
• Daily Exercise

It’s important to remember, weight loss is a way of life — not a solution that’s temporary.

Source: Obesity Reviews, 10: 313-323, 2009