Exercise is a must - Even if you don't have time.

Recently, my good friend gave me a 3 month free pass to use a gym. Despite not being a gym person, I thought I'd give it a try. The gym was near my office, but getting there was already a 15 minute aerobic cardio exercise from walking. This was good, since I needed to warm up before getting started. The first machine they normally put you on is a thread mill, and yes, it was the same for me too. Then after that they got a PT to guide me (or rather try to close PT training sessions sales). It kinda pissed me off a bit, since the PT was suppose to show you how to use machines but he was busy making me do 3 laps of butterfly jumps and then tell me I have bad stamina when the chick next to me can't even complete 1 lap. So in a way, I was pretty discouraged to go to the gym, since I know that they are just trying to make you buy more and more packages to sign up. Whatever, I still have my 3 months pass, so I don't really give a hoot to what they want to think or say.

Regardless, exercise is a crucial must in our daily lives. Yes you got me right, it has to be daily. But it doesn't mean you have to jog every single day. There are many types of exercises you need to understand and plan them according to target.

1. Cardiorespiratory work out

This is the most common work out everybody does because it is perceived as the most important. It can be anything from running to jogging, or brisk walking to dancing, aerobics, swimming. Regardless, most professionals agree that 30-45 minutes a day is enough and can help reduce a lot of heart related problems such as reduce risk for coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, lipid levels etc. I would normally recommend doing some cardio workout before targeted exercises as it helps to improve your blood circulation, muscles are more prepared and warmed up so it reduces injury. But if you have existing problems like back pain, obesity, joint pains - you should start with low level exercises like walking first before jogging or running. When is the best time to exercise? When you can slot a time of 30 minutes of no disturbance of the routine. An exercise is only effective if you do it continuously for at least 10 minutes at a time. 

2. Body strength and composition exercises.

One of the most interesting things I learnt during my previous anti-aging conferences was that in order to maintain weight you need to lift weights. So I decided to follow this technique and bought myself some dumbbells. And sure enough, I did notice my weight maintaining better despite my lack of running around. So I decided to read more and understand why. The main reason is that if you have a lot of muscle bulk, you burn more energy in your sleep maintaining them compared to if you didn't. The problem when you are obese or overweight, most of the muscles are mixed with too much fat, and fat is a storage organ, so you don't really burn that much calories with them. Now, when we go on a starving diet, our protein stores in our muscles are the first to go hence leading to smaller muscle mass thus why the weight doesn't go down. That is why a lot of diets nowadays preach on a higher protein consumption, more fiber and no refined carbs for a better weight loss result. Another new thing I learnt was that sudden usage of energy for example short sprinting exercises burns more energy and brown fat compared to a 60 minute cardio. So for people like me, who persistently have a V/Q mismatch or poor respiratory endurance, 5-10 minutes sprinting in between my regular jog benefits more in terms of fat loss, compared to trying to sustain 45 minutes of running that would exhaust me more. As for heart rate, although most people believe that you cannot exceed 80% or your max heart rate as it can cause problems, this is not entirely true. High velocity sprinting causes your heart rate to jump even higher than the so-called maximum heart rate level, and studies have shown that it is safe in short outbursts.

3. Flexibility exercises

When I was younger, we use to have this game where we would try to flex our body backward all the way and walk. It was so much fun then. Flexibility exercises are important to maintain the elasticity of the joints and avoid injuries especially in sudden movements. How to stretch? Basically it needs to involve the muscles in each group i.e. extensors or flexors. Still gibberish? Try Yoga or Pilates - these involve a lot of stretching exercise in the routine that is done in stages. Other simple stretch methods are the stretch exercises we use to learn in school during PE (If we did). Or when you learn martial arts or dancing half of the routine are flexible exercises. I normally do stretching exercises after all the cardio and sprinting as the joints are already warmed from the 2 other work outs. Otherwise, I do it on my bed before getting up :).

Basically you need to have a mixture of all three types for a complete work out. There are many forms of exercise to choose from besides the typical treadmill so choose one you are most comfortable and happy with. Other benefits of exercise also includes:

1. Reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases. Even if you already have cardiovascular disease it helps to improve it.

2. Reduces risk for diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity and improving glucose metabolism. So even if you already have diabetes, it helps. This is also true for resistance exercises, not just the normal aerobic.

3. Reduces hypertension - this is true for aerobic exercises. High intense exercises have not shown much effect.

4. Reduces blood TG, Cholesterol and LDL. This is true when you burn 1000-2000 calories a week usually from constant aerobic or sprint exercises.

5. Reduces risk of stroke due to all above.

6. Reduces risk of colon, breast, lung and multiple myeloma cancers with 30-60 minutes of moderate to high impact exercise daily.

7. Reduces osteoporosis. Lunge exercises and medium impact exercises stimulate bone growth.

8. Improves muscle health and reduces sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the age-related muscle wasting that we see in elderly people. In some it occurs faster than others. Regular exercise helps maintain muscle masses thus reduces sarcopenia.

9. Maintains body composition and reduces obesity.

10. Reduces Arthritis.

11. Reduces stress. This is only true when you make the exercise fun. Like I said, there are many forms of exercise you can choose from.

12. Improves mood.

13. Reduces Depression and anxiety due to the improvement of mood and reduction of stress.

14. Improves self-esteem. When you exercise and feel good about it, reduces stress and elevates your mood, your self-esteem improves. Plus the multiple health benefits and the figure benefits would definitely boost the inner you.

For busy people like me, there are studies on people who do exercises only on weekends or once or twice a week and it does shows improvement and benefits. So even if you are strung out during most the week, at least take a day off to do some exercise. The recommended is to burn at least 1000 calories a week and this would give you a reduced risk of 20% of dying prematurely. 

Like I always tell my patients during aesthetic consultations, Doing something is always better than doing nothing. So even if you do not get an optimum exercise routine, at least doing some exercise would benefit.

Dieting tips for weight reduction and maintenance. (Part 1 - MYTHBUSTING)

Recently I posted on HCG diet and definitely, it is one of the most amazing diets in the world because you lose fat weight and you do not sag and you do not need to exercise much. The only problem is that it is a prescriptive diet, and the diet is super strict that you need to be under a care of a physician to ensure you are doing it properly to get the desired results.

So I decided to write this entry, for those who want to lose a few pounds and start eating healthy. The key to good weight is mainly the food you eat i.e understanding what you put in your mouth, coupled with some physical activity. First of all, let's unlearn a few things that we learnt when we where younger:

MYTH NO 1 : You will be fat if you eat fats.

Not necessarily. We need some fats to help with the function of the membranes of our cells. We also need fat for transport of Vitamin A,D,E & K in our body. In fact, you need to consume 3500 calories of fat to gain 1 pound of fat in the body. The general consensus on fat is - not to take visible animal fats and say NO to all forms of processed fats like margarine, vegetable spreads etc. If you like butter - take butter, it is much better. Cook with ONLY palm oil for high heat, olive oil for low and moderate heat. Do not use excessive heat with other forms of oils because the phenol bonds break and the biproduct can be precancerous. Low fat or No Fat foods can be more harmful because of hydrogenated fat contents, so it is safer to just take the fat. People who take good oils tend to have better skin hydration too. (Try takin virgin coconut oil/olive oil daily)

MYTH NO 2: Carbohydrates are a must in meals.

Although the old food pyramid puts the portion of carbohydrate as the lowest and most intake, studies have shown that over consumption of refine carbohydrates (i.e. white rice, white bread, pasta, mee, beehoon, white flour, processed sugar, etc) is the major cause for obesity leading to diabetes, hypertension and heart problems. YES - EATING REFINED CARBOHYDRATES LEADS TO FAT. That is why nowadays most diets focus mainly on protein and fat. We can survive with minimal carbohydrates. In the past, the carbohydrates were not as processed as it is now. When carbohydrates are processed and refined, it increases the ability of absorption into the body and leads to a quick increase in blood sugar level, which triggers high insulin release to stabilize the blood sugar level, which leads to storing of the sugar into liver and fat cells. 

MYTH NO 3: Eating Cereals and fruit juice is good.

It really depends on what type of cereal you eat. Most children contains corn syrup and colourings which studies have shown to lead to child hyperactivity. Even in fresh juices, there is a very high sugar content as a preservative as well as to give it a good taste. These are all refined sugars and get absorbed easily. Corn syrup is actually one of America's biggest bi-product because of excessive corn and studies have shown it to be highly associated with obesity. As for juices, most of the fiber content has been destroyed. Furthermore, it makes it too easy to consume more fruit sugars compared to eating the fruit itself. Some fruit juices were also reported to have traces of arsenic. So if you are craving for some juice, go for freshly made ones minus the sugar.

MYTH NO 4: Meal Replacement Drinks are the only way to keep my weight down.

Although I do admit, the meal replacements do help, but understanding what you eat is more beneficial in the long run, plus minus the cost of buying the expensive meal replacements. Imagine spending between RM 500-800 a month for meal replacements which after awhile bores you (who wouldn't be bored taking a shake drink everyday) - when you can actually spend less at a grocery store buying healthy food or eating at a healthy diner. But then you will need to know what to buy, that topic will be covered in my next blog.

MYTH NO 5: Multivitamins makes my appetite increase and hence will make me gain weight.

Although some vitamins causing appetite increase, we need vitamins and trace minerals in order for our body cells to function properly. This leads to better metabolism. Take multivitamins on an empty stomach as it will give the best absorption. Some nutritionists even recommend splitting the vitamin into two and taking it twice instead of once a day. Some people do not believe in supplementing vitamins and minerals but in view of how our foods are cooked and processed, most of the vitamins and minerals  disappear or damaged. Try to go for organic based vitamins and minerals as there is less chemicals involved.

MYTH NO 6: You Should NOT eat late at night because it will just turn to fat.

It is not what time you eat, its how many calories you consume within a period of 24 hours. A full grown adult needs approximately 1200-1600 calories a day depending on sex and body built. However, in Malaysia, a lot of us tend to over eat because we are not aware of how much calories we take in a meal. A simple plate of nasi lemak is 680 calories, a roti canai is 360 calories, lasagna is 390 calories per serving, a KFC snack plate minus the drink is 890 calories. Despite this fact, I would still not recommend people to sleep late because when you stay up at night, you tend to consume more food that is required i.e. munching snacks, teh tariks and you don't really notice because you're hanging out. 

MYTH NO 7: I Can always do a Crash diet when my weight goes up.

Although crash dieting is one way of getting the weight down in the short run, it may stop weight loss in the long run. Most of the time, crash diets involve completely abstaining from foods hence you not only lose some fat, but also your protein mass and connective tissue. In fact, when you starve yourself, you lose your sugar stores first, your protein stores break up and fat is the last to go. This leads to lesser lean mass and thus less energy is needed to sustain your body functions, so less calories are used. Losing weight fast also causes your skin to sag more because of the loss in connective tissue. The best way to lose weight is to target long term, by changing the way you eat, understanding what to eat.

MYTH NO 8: I Can eat anything if I exercise.

This may sound right but it is still not true. Depending on what type of exercise we do, the calories burned are just a few hundred for 30 minutes, compared to the intake we take in a day. Therefore, even though we go to the gym, we still need to watch what we eat, as sometimes easily in 1 meal, we can be consuming 1400-2000 calories (especially buffets). Too strenous exercise breaks down protein stores more than fat, so we should make sure we keep our heart rate only between 40-60% of the max heart rate allowed for our age. Even athletes are very concern about their diet and their main focus would be on high protein and good fats for better muscle building, not high sugar foods that leads to more adipose and cellulite. (Yes, all those sweet sugary things leads to more cellulite - that's why when you are skinny you also have it).

MYTH NO 9: If I Quit smoking I will be fat.

Biologically it has no relation but psychologically, most people who try to quit smoking, tend to use a comfort food as a replacement and hence leads to weight gain. They choose things like sweets, chewing gum, biscuits, asam jeruk, etc. as an excuse to curb cravings. I have a simple technique for people to quit smoking gradually and avoid cravings. I usually tell my patients to buy a cigarette holder, and only smoke what's inside the cigarette holder for the day - and no asking ciggies from buddies. After 1 week, drop down by 2 ciggies and continue for a week, before dropping down another 2 every week. If that week you feel okay, we continue, but if not then stay on the amount of ciggies of that week for another week. Other supporting techniques would be to take coffee with no sugar, sugar free chewing gum, nicotine patches and if you have an urge to chew, then chew on healthy nuts (low sugar not fried) or vegetable sticks (carrots/celery) or fruits (apple/orange/plum).

MYTH NO 10: It is really water retention, not fat.

Fat is fat. If you really want to know what is water retention, weigh yourself in the morning and weigh yourself again in the afternoon. The weight difference is due to water. That is why when dieting, we advise you to measure your dry weight in the morning. It is the most accurate - i.e. after more than 6 hours without water, likely the body is in a mild dehydration state. Similarly when you go to beauty salons, and they measure, weigh you, wrap you up an heat you up in a warm blanket, the weight you lose is the water weight dehydrated from you which can be anything from 400gms to 2 kg. The few  centimeter lost is due to cells being dehydrated, thus becomes smaller. (Plus the fact that they wrapped you, so the body retains some of the shape for awhile before bouncing back to normal).

These are but a few of the dieting myths I have compiled. Feel free to comment and if you have any other myths that need clarifying, do email me at drmarr@faceworksclinic.com. Let's work in understanding and changing the way we think about food. 

For a more intensive prescriptive diet, please come in for a consultation at my clinic. CAll 03-21440080 for appointments.