Energy Balance: A Weighty Concept

Losing weight, gaining weight or maintaining your weight depends on the amount of calories you take in and use up during the day, otherwise referred to as energy balance. Learning how to balance energy intake (calories in food) with energy output (calories expended through physical activity) will help you achieve your desired weight.
Although the underlying causes and the treatments of obesity are complex, the concept of energy balance is relatively simple. If you eat more calories than your body needs to perform your day's activities, the extra calories are stored as fat. If you do not take in enough calories to meet your body's energy needs, your body will go to the stored fat to make up the difference (Exercise helps ensure that stored fat, rather than muscle tissue, is used to meet your energy needs.) If you eat just about the same amount of calories to meet your body's energy needs, your weight will stay the same.
On the average, a person consumes between 800,000 and 900,000 calories each year! An active person needs more calories than a sedentary person, as physically active people require energy above and beyond the day's basic needs. All too often, people who want to lose weight concentrate on counting calorie intake while neglecting calorie output. The most powerful formula is the combination of dietary modification with exercise. By increasing your daily physical activity and decreasing your caloric input you can lose excess weight in the most efficient and healthful way.
Counting Calories
Each pound of fat your body stores represents 3,500 calories of unused energy. In order to lose one pound, you would have to create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories by either taking in 3,500 less calories over a period of time than you need or doing 3,500 calories worth of exercise. It is recommended that no more than two pounds (7,000 calories) be lost per week for lasting weight loss.
Adding 15 minutes of moderate exercise, say walking one mile, to your daily schedule will use up 100 extra calories per day. (Your body uses approximately 100 calories of energy to walk one mile, depending on your body weight.) Maintaining this schedule would result in an extra 700 calories per week used up, or a loss of about 10 pounds in one year, assuming your food intake stays the same. To look at energy balance another way, just one extra slice of bread or one extra soft drink a day – or any other food that contains approximately 100 calories – can add up to ten extra pounds in a year if the amount of physical activity you do does not increase. lf you already have a lean figure and want to keep it you should exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet that provides enough calories to make up for the energy you expend. If you wish to gain weight you should exercise regularly and increase the number of calories you consume until you reach your desired weight. Exercise will help ensure that the weight you gain will be lean muscle mass, not extra fat.

The Diet Connection and Calories

A balanced diet should be part of any weight control plan. A diet high in complex carbohydrates and moderate in protein and fat will complement an exercise program. It should include enough calories to satisfy your daily nutrient requirements and include the proper number of servings per day from the "basic four food groups": vegetables and fruits (4 servings), breads and cereals (4 servings), milk and milk products (2 - 4 depending on age) and meats and fish (2).
Experts recommend that your daily intake not fall below 1200 calories unless you are under a doctor's supervision. Also, weekly weight loss should not exceed two pounds.
Remarkable claims have been made for a variety of "crash" diets and diet pills. And some of these very restricted diets do result in noticeable weight loss in a short time. Much of this loss is water and such a loss is quickly regained when normal food and liquid intake is resumed. These diet plans are often expensive and may be dangerous. Moreover, they do not emphasize lifestyle changes that will help you maintain your desired weight. Dieting alone will result in a loss of valuable body tissue such as muscle mass in addition to a loss in fat.
How Many Calories
The estimates for number of calories (energy) used during a physical activity are based on experiments that measure the amount of oxygen consumed during a specific bout of exercise for a certain body weight.
The energy costs of activities that require you to move your own body weight, such as walking or jogging, are greater for heavier people since they have more weight to move. For example, a person weighing 150 pounds would use more calories jogging one mile than a person jogging alongside who weighs 115 pounds. Always check to see what body weight is referred to in caloric expenditure charts you use.

Exercise and Weight Control

Just about everybody seems to be interested in weight control. Some of us weigh just the right amount, others need to gain a few pounds. Most of us "battle the bulge" at some time in our life.
Whatever our goals, we should understand and take advantage of the important role of exercise in keeping our weight under control.
Carrying around too much body fat is a major nuisance. Yet excess body fat is common in modern-day living. Few of today's occupations require vigorous physical activity, and much of our leisure time is spent in sedentary pursuits.
Recent estimates indicate that 34 million adults are considered obese (20 percent above desirable weight). Also, there has been an increase in body fat levels in children and youth over the past 20 years. After infancy and early childhood, the earlier the onset of obesity, the greater the likelihood of remaining obese.
Excess body fat has been linked to such health problems as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis and certain forms of cancer. Some evidence now exists showing that obesity has a negative effect on both health and longevity.
Exercise is associated with the loss of body fat in both obese and normal weight persons. A regular program of exercise is an important component of any plan to help individuals lose, gain or maintain their weight.

Exercise and Ease into Menopause

Someone always been thin and never struggled with weight problems...so what changed? The truth is, women's bodies do change as they get older and go through menopause, but weight gain isn't inevitable; we have more control over our bodies and how they age than we think.

What Happens During Menopause

Beginning around the mid-thirties, the ovaries decline in hormone production. This accelerates in the 40's, which makes hormones fluctuate and by the 50's, periods usually end completely. What many women don't like about this process are the symptoms and problems that come with these shifting hormones such as:

• Hot flashes
• Depression, stress and anxiety
• Sleep disorders
• Irritability
• Osteoporosis
• Cardiovascular disease

Another experience many women have is weight gain, especially around the belly and waistline. Part of this has to do with those declining hormones, though researchers aren't sure how or why. Experts at Oregon Health & Science University have found intriguiging evidence that, for some, menopause may increase appetite. By studying hormones in monkeys (which are virtually identical to humans), researchers concluded that, with decreased hormones, many monkeys increased their food intake by 67%.

Menopause isn't the only cause of middle-age spread. Other factors include:

• Reduced activity. Women often exercise less when they enter menopause, which can lead to weight gain.
• Decreased metabolism. One reason metabolism declines with age is the loss of muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so when you lose that muscle (about 1/2-lb a year if you don't preserve it with weight training/exercise), you don't burn as many calories.
• Increase in calories. As metabolism drops, many people don't adjust their calories accordingly, which often leads to weight gain.
• Genetics. Your genetic makeup and where you're predisposed to gain and store fat also plays a role in weight gain, making it more difficult to maintain your figure.

  Easing into Menopause

  There are any number of ways to manage menopause symptoms, from alternative therapies (such as acupuncture) to eating a healthy diet. However, one simple thing you can do right now is exercise. As the American Council on Exercise states: "The good news is that a regular program of physical activity can help manage many of the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause as well as the related health concerns, such as heart disease and osteoporosis."

  Other benefits of exercise include:

  • Reduced stress. Menopause can often lead to depression, anxiety and stress. Exercise is proven to help reduce stress and improve your mood.
  • Weight loss. Exercise can help create a calorie deficit, which is what you want when it comes to losing body fat.
  • Reduction of hot flashes. Some research has found that exercise increases estrogen levels, which can decrease the severity of hot flashes.
  • Increased bone mass. Strength training and impact activities (like walking or running) can help strength the bones and prevent osteoporosis.
  • Reduced risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

  The North American Menopause Society goes even further, stating that "Exercise may cause the same magnitude of change as that induced by estrogen therapy." (The Effects of Physical Activity on Menopausal Symptoms and Metabolic Changes around Menopause) If I've convinced you how much exercise can help, it's time to get moving.

  Getting Started

  Even if you've never formally exercised, it's never too late to start...nor is it too late to reap the benefits. The key is to start slowly and do things you enjoy such as:

  • Walking
  • Cycling
  • Vigorous yard work
  • Swimming
  • Cardio machines
  • Group fitness classes

  Strength training is equally important, especially if you want to increase your metabolism and lose body fat. You don't have to train like a bodybuilder to get the benefits, but you do need to use resistance (such as dumbbells, machines or resistance bands) and you do need to challenge your muscles and body. You might want to work with a personal trainer to get started or visit Workouts for Beginners to find cardio, strength training and flexibility workouts specifically for those just starting out.

  Whatever you do, make the commitment now to become more active. Move more throughout the day...get a pedometer and start tracking your steps...get your family involved and spend some quality time with them through movement. Taking control of your health is one way to make menopause a more pleasant experience.