Here is what happens to
our bodies if we don't exercise and eat
right.
There is a gradual
decrease in muscle which is closely
related to the gradual increase in
body-fat.
Although our metabolism
eventually slows down with age, this and
other degenerative processes can be
delayed and even reversed with a healthy
low fat diet, plenty of aerobic exercise
and last but not least, strength
training.
Here are a few
muscle facts to think about...
1.The more muscle
you have on your body the more calories you
will burn at rest.
2.One pound of
muscle burns approximately 50-70 calories, so
if you were to put on 5 lbs. of muscle you
would burn 250-350 more calories per
day.
3.Your basal
metabolism goes up as you get
fitter.
4. Muscle is at
the heart of your metabolism, your need for
calories and health itself.
5. Your ability
to burn fat is dependent on enzyme production.
The fitter you are the more enzymes you
produce. Fat burning enzymes break down quickly
if you don't exercise for a while. So your
ability to burn fat is closely related to how
much you exercise.
With this
increase in enzyme production your muscles
learn to burn more and more fat. They become
fat burning machines, and you become a better
fat burner.
6. Fat is
released more readily in athletes than in
overweight people. Overweight people need to
exercise persistently in order to get there fat
storage tanks to respond.
7. If you are out
of shape, you have to retrain your muscles to
burn fat, there is a flush of fatty acids that
get released into the blood stream about 20
minutes into the exercise session. This flush
occurs sooner in very fit people.
The Olympic
athlete releases fatty acids before she even
begins to run.
A
moderately active person might not release
fatty acids for 15 minutes.
the unfit person
may not release them for 30 minutes, or if that
person hasn't exercised for a while, may not
release any.
So as you can see
we have to re-train our muscles, eat a healthy
diet to support the muscle growth (more on that
next month) be persistent and eventually our
bodies will get the message.
That's pretty
amazing !!!!
