Light Exercise: Not Enough for Weight Loss

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

You’re walking every day yet the number on the scale won’t budge.

What gives?

It’s likely that you’re not causing a calorie deficit, when your body is burning more calories than you’re eating, which forces it to burn stored energy (i.e. the jiggle around your tummy and love handles).

To get into a calorie deficit, you need to eat right and move more. The type of exercise chosen makes a difference.

Many people wanting to lose weight enjoy walking. Joe Fox, personal trainer, certified functional strength training coach and owner of TrainSMART Personal Training in Buffalo, lauds walking for its benefits to joint mobility and low back health. However, “walking is in the category of exercise that are least efficient for burning fat,” Fox said. “Walking is fabulous but not the best way to lose fat and build muscle.”

Taking leisurely stroll around the block helps manage stress and is certainly better than doing nothing. However, it’s no calorie torch. Most smartphones come equipped with a fitness app that can help determine calories burned by activity based upon your weight.

“The way you maximize fat burning is by building muscle, building bone and even changing the shape of bone,” Fox said. “The five most important things to do are: lifting really heavy weights; being very explosive; having high time under tension; taking short rest periods between sets; and really high intensity.

“The problem with that is those five things are also most highly correlated with risk of injury. That’s why it’s so important for somebody to make sure that they have the proper form, biomechanics or technique so they stay safe and not injure themselves as they build muscle bone and change the shape of bone.”

Activities like lifting free weights or kettle bells and high intensity interval training burn calories efficiently. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly to maintain the same weight, including resistance exercise. To lose weight, one will need to move more and decrease caloric intake.

“Relying on exercise alone for losing weight is futile unless they’re doing 60 minutes of hard exercise

“One of the best ways to increase bone density, which includes lean muscle mass, is to walk with a weight vest,” said Joe Fox, personal trainer, certified functional strength training coach and owner of TrainSMART Personal Training in Buffalo. “It can be a pretty safe way to add bone density and lean muscle mass.

“One of the things we’re learning is that building lean muscle mass may be dramatically more important than we ever thought. I learned fairly recently that lean muscle mass acts as a sink for glucose. It literally is perhaps the single best thing you can do to get your body to not build belly fat, regulate sugar in your body, glucose and to regulate your triglycerides. It’s huge. There’s a ton of relatively new science.”

He advises wearing a vest that is weighted to 5% of body weight and gradually increasing the vest’s weight. Avoid using heavy weights on wrists and ankles, as these can cause too much stress on the joints.

It’s best to try on the devices in the store rather than purchasing them online (unless they’re returnable) to ensure a comfortable fit. Feeling wearable weights shifting during exercise is not ideal. Some wearable weights provide pockets to gradually fill as the user’s tolerance and strength increases. This can increase the usable life of wearable weights.

Fox advises selecting a vest that allows freedom of movement.

“I’m a short man and it’s often too long,” he said. “If I were going to squat with it, it fits my hip and changes the biomechanical movement pattern.” five days a week,” said Mary Jo Parker, registered dietitian in private practice in Williamsville. “It’s a lot of work to do it with exercise alone. It’s working harder than a person would have to. The truth is, from the studies that have been done, diet trumps exercise when it comes to weight loss. It’s not hard to chip away with extra calories if they look at how they can save calories.” Consuming a post-workout shake, protein bar or sports drink? If all you’re doing is a light workout, you need none of these — just water. If your body has worked out hard, Parker recommends consuming a serving of fiber-rich carbohydrate, such as a piece of whole fruit, a whole grain food or even a treat, plus a lean protein serving.

This can raise the risk of injury.

“Greek yogurt afterwards can work well,” Parker said. “We talk about chocolate milk as a great recovery drink because of its sugar and protein.”

Most Americans Don't Know What 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline Is For: Poll

Only 13% of American adults understand the purpose of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline nearly a year after its widely publicized launch, a new survey from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows.

“There is an opportunity and a need for state and local leaders to launch inclusive awareness campaigns in the months ahead,” lead researcher and Pew senior manager Tracy Velázquez said in a statement, CNN reported.

“The federal government's most recent investment into 988 shows a commitment to building a strong crisis care infrastructure in the country — one that is critically important, given the many people experiencing mental health and substance use issues,” Velázquez added.

The 988 line began last year after it was changed from 1-800-273-TALK. It was previously called the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Pew surveyed more than 5,000 adults in April, finding that once people knew about the 988 crisis line, about 7 in 10 said they were somewhat or highly likely to use it.

Respondents also had some concerns about where calling the line might lead them. About 2 in 5 of those surveyed worried that calling 988 would lead to police arriving at their home, being forced to go to the hospital, being charged for services they couldn't afford or having other people learn about the call.

Race played a part in the results: Twice as many white people as Black people were aware of the 988 line. College-educated respondents were more aware of the line than those with a high school degree or less.

Call volume has increased in the past year, with 160,000 more calls, chats and texts in April 2023 than the previous April, which were also answered more quickly than with the previous hotline.

Calls increased 52%, chats increased 90% and texts answered increased 1,022%, CNN reported.