lose weight while you sleep™
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LOSE WEIGHT WHILE YOU SLEEP™
Terry Shintani, MD, JD, MPH, KSJ
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YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR BODY
BURN MORE CALORIES WHILE AT REST
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Do NOT change your diet or exercise level without guidance from your medical doctor, especially if you have health problems or are on medication.
The information in this book is intended as general information about diet and exercise. It is NOT a substitute for professional medical advice.
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NATURAL FAT BURNING STRATEGY
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MAXIMIZE FAT BURNING CELLS
In this section, we’re going to focus on how much lean body muscle you retain and its impact on calories. Muscle mass is related to the way our body burns energy.
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Lean body mass is just another way of saying muscle mass. Our Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), what you now know is the rate at which we burn calories while we are at rest, is largely determined by how much muscle mass we have in our bodies. (This is especially important when selecting a weight loss program, because most diets cause you to lose muscle mass as well as fat mass.)
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Why is lean body mass so important? Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat. This is because muscle cells are much more active than fat cells due to their basic functions. Muscle cells are constantly burning energy to allow our bodies to move, to repair themselves, to grow in response to exercise, and to replenish energy that they burns during activity. By sharp contrast, the only real function of fat cells is to store energy in the form of fat. This requires very little energy.
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RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Muscle cells, even if they are inactive, burn an average of 13 calories per kilogram per day while fat cells burn an average of only 4.5 calories per kilogram per day (8). When muscle cells become active they, of course, burn even more than they do at rest.
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In other words, muscles burn about three times as many calories as fat does when they are at rest and when you are asleep. Thus, it stands to reason that the more muscle mass you have on your body and the less fat mass, the more calories you will burn at all times. This is confirmed by studies that indicate that one of the most important determinants of Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is body composition.
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DON’T THROW OUT THE BABY WITH THE BATH WATER! Given the importance of lean body mass in
burning calories, one of the important things to deal with during weight loss is the loss of muscle mass. In most diets, especially those in which calorie intakes are very low, another problem occurs besides the slowing of metabolism (that was described in NATURAL FAT BURNING STRATEGY #1). This consequence of dieting makes it harder to lose weight.
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People losing weight too quickly also begin to lose muscle mass. The problem with this is that the loss of muscle mass eventually leads to an overall slowing of metabolism simply because your body has lost some of the muscle mass that burns calories.
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RESISTANCE EXERCISE BUILDS FAT BURNING MUSCLE Research indicates that strength training or
“resistance exercise” can help prevent some of the loss of muscle mass that naturally occurs during weight loss. For example, in the study described earlier in which weight loss was attempted through diet and exercise, it was noted that the group that did strength training did not lose a significant amount of muscle mass while losing weight. Those who attempted to lose weight by diet alone or by diet and aerobic exercise did lose some muscle mass.
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The results are clear: doing “resistance exercise” helps to prevent the loss of muscle mass during weight loss. Resistance exercise is designed to build up muscle strength and muscle tone. If done properly, it helps you retain and increase muscle mass so that you have more cells that burn calories faster.
So if you want to help your body burn energy and metabolize stored fat, you need to incorporate resistance-training activities that tone your body and build, or at least retain, muscle mass.
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GET FRIENDLY WITH RESISTANCE TRAINING
If nothing else, do simple, home-based exercises that require strength such as push-ups, sit-ups, or stair-stepping for starters. Make strength training a part of your life, and you can retain the muscle mass that will help you burn calories faster and help you lose weight while you sleep.
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9 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO GET RESISTANCE TRAINING
(Remember to check with your doctor before undertaking any new exercise program)
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Understand how keeping lean body mass helps you burn calories. Lean body mass or muscle mass burns calories at a rate three times faster than fat mass or body fat. Thus, the more muscle you retain, the better your chances at long term weight loss.
Strength training or resistance exercise (such as weight lifting, push-ups, sit-ups) are the kind of exercises that will help you retain and increase muscle mass. Ideally, strength training should be done daily with a plan to work your large muscle groups with increasing resistance. However, if this is impractical, remember that any exercise is better than no exercise.
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Remember to do warm-ups and stretching before doing any exercise to prevent injury. There are simple methods to prevent injury and to maximize the value of your workout. There are many good, simple books about strength training and injury prevention that you could read. Get one that suits your interests and lifestyle and apply the principles you learn.
Join and use a health club: For those of you who are able and have a health club nearby, or even a YWCA or YMCA, with weight machines and other equipment, now is a good time to consider making this a part of your routine. The most important thing is go regularly.
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If joining a club is not practical, consider exercise equipment or some simple home exercises at the very least. The basic idea is to exercise your large muscle groups for maximum effect. This includes your leg muscles, abdominal muscles, chest muscles, back muscles and upper arm muscles. Try the following four simple exercises and you’ll get a feel for exercises that will help maintain muscle tone in all of these groups.
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Tone your leg muscles with ‘stand ups.’ If you are sitting in a chair, simply stand up right now and sit back down ten times. This exercise tones your thighs and gluteus maximus (buttock muscles). If you do this until your legs begin to feel a little burning sensation, you are doing well.
Sit-ups are an old-fashioned but very effective way to tone your abdominal muscles. If sit-ups are too strenuous, you can do “crunches” by just curling your body forward from a lying position without completely sitting up.
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Push-ups are another old-fashioned, effective way to tone up your chest muscles and triceps (the muscles in the back of your upper arm). If you can’t do full push-ups, start with knee push-ups, that is, push-ups that start with your body on its hands and knees rather than hands and toes.
Arm curls are an exercise that requires some kind of weights. Hand weights are ideal for this. If you don’t have any hand weights and are not very strong, simply use a can of soup in each hand for weights.
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