Exercise after eating - diet tip

Exercising after eating a meal can help promote weight loss by boosting hormones that suppress appetite, say UK scientists.

Thanks to these hormones, active people feel less hungry immediately after exercise, and this carries through to their next meal, experiments suggest.

Even when their meals were bigger, sporty people gained fewer calories overall because they burned off more.

The University of Surrey and Imperial College London joint work is published in the Journal of Endocrinology.

Exercise may alter people's appetite to help them lose weight.
According to researcher Dr Denise Robertson:

Twelve volunteers were fed the same breakfast.

An hour later, half of them worked out for an hour on an exercise bike while the other half sat quietly.

Both groups were left for another hour and then allowed to eat as much as they liked.

Exercise guidelines

Unsurprisingly, people who exercised burned more calories than those who sat quietly, 492 kcal compared to 197 kcal.

And when given the chance to eat afterwards, people who had exercised tended to eat more, 913 kcal versus to 762 kcal.

However, when the amount of energy burned during exercise was taken into account, the sporty people took in fewer calories overall - 421 kcal compared to 565 kcal for the inactive group.

And levels of hormones called PYY, GLP-1 and PP, which tell the brain when the stomach is full, increased during and immediately after exercise.

Volunteers also said they felt less hungry during this time.

Researcher Dr Denise Robertson said: "In the past we have been concerned that, although exercise burns energy, people subsequently ate more after working out. This would cancel out any possible weight reduction effects of exercise.

"But our research shows that exercise may alter people's appetite to help them lose weight and prevent further weight gain as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle."

Experts recommend people do at least 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week.

'Significant contribution'

Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: "This is an interesting study. Patients often report that they feel increased hunger and eat more after exercise.

"What this study shows is that, although total calorific intake is greater, the net result, because of the exercise taken, is a reduction in the net energy balance.

"Dieting is never easy. Increased physical activity is an essential part of any weight management programme, not just to expend more calories but also, as we see here, to help control our appetite too."

Dr John McAvoy, a GP with a special interest in obesity, said the study was a "significant contribution to understanding the complex mechanisms of energy balance".

"It will be of much more interest to the pharmaceutical industry than the general public at this stage, for the simple reason that most people view exercising so soon after eating as akin to putting your fingers down your throat," he added.

"For exercise to contribute to weight control it should be sustainable over the long term and enjoyment remains a critical factor to this end."

Ref:
Effects of exercise on gut peptides, energy intake and appetite
Catia Martins, Linda M Morgan, Stephen R Bloom1 and M Denise Robertson
Journal of Endocrinology (2007) 193, 251-258 DOI: 10.1677/JOE-06-0030


Article originally posted on BBC News

How to lose your butt for 2010

Losing weight is on many people’s minds nowadays. This is because there is more information coming in to the media, that highlights the dangers of being obese and of not being vigilant when it comes to diet. In the US alone, over 40% of the population can be considered overweight. This essentially means a BMI of over 25. BMI or body mass index is the standard measure used to gauge one’s weight in relation to their height. It does not really measure, the actually measure of the quantity of fat that is in the body, but it is nevertheless accepted by many medical organizations as the standard way of measuring obesity. Obesity on the other hand is termed as a condition where the body accumulates more fat to the extent that it becomes a health risk. Obesity kills over 400,000 people in the US and costs billions of dollars in lost productivity for workers who have to miss work because of obesity-related medical visits.

There are many ways one can become obese and before we look at how you can lose your butt in 2009, let us examine a few ways in which people gain that butt in the first place. In today’s society, people find themselves so hard pressed for time that they cannot go grocery shopping or cook. Their only option now becomes eating out at a fast food restaurant. Fast food restaurants in turn have mushroomed by the hundreds to cater for this growing number of customers. While they have been trying to reduce the amount of fat they use to fry their food, fast food restaurants nevertheless continue to churn very high-calorie meals and at times the calorie level of some meals can be as high as the entire required calorie intake for the whole day! It is also not unusual nowadays to see whole families eating lunch breakfast and dinner at fast food restaurants. Coupled with a lifestyle again that is too busy to allow for time to exercise, being obese becomes the next logical step for many of these people. There are off course those who have genetic issues that prevent the body metabolism from burning enough calories and so fat is accumulated faster and if these same people live the fast food lifestyle, then they can become obese.

Having a bigger butt is direct result of being obese for most people. Today, many are trying to lose their butt and have become focused on doing so especially for this 2009. There are various ways one can do this.
One way is to exercise. There are many simple exercises and workouts that one can engage in to lose their butt. The first one is walking (yes, walking, something that quite a few of us seem to have fogotten how to do). This is sometimes hard because we live in a society where we need to drive everywhere but when it comes to short distances, walking can go a long way in ensuring that we burn enough fat in our hip, thigh and butt area. Sit ups and simple jogging exercise also help immensely. Swimming is an excellent way to burn of those carbohydrates.