What is Weight Contrtol?

Exercise: The Other Half of Weight Control

L et's face it: Dieting is difficult, and permanently upgrading your eating habits takes determination too. When making these changes, you need all the help you can get--and luckily there's one inexpensive, medically approved strategy that will not only boost the effectiveness of your diet, but also keep the pounds from coming back. For good measure, it will give you a better-looking body, and a healthier, happier life.

The strategy is simple: Eat less. Exercise more.

Why Dieting Isn't Enough

If you still secretly believe, as so many people do, that you can slim your body and keep it slim forever with one crash diet, you're headed for disappointment. At first, your efforts may be successful. But if you diet without exercising, you're at risk of becoming a fat person in a temporarily thin body. Remember that 95 percent of all dieters will eventually regain the weight they've lost if they don't make permanent changes in their eating habits--and don't increase their level of physical activity during (and after) a diet.

In addition to boosting the results of your diet and keeping extra pounds off afterwards, exercise offers you these valuable health bonuses:

·	Lower blood pressure
·	Reduced risk of heart disease
·	Increased endurance, strength, energy, and productivity
·	Reduced stress
·	Improved body tone and enhanced attractiveness
·	Reduced risk of osteoporosis
·	Protection against adult-onset diabetes
·	Help with smoking cessation

And there's more. Exercise not only increases your body's metabolic rate and helps you burn calories faster, it also stabilizes your body's insulin and blood sugar levels, and can decrease your appetite. Regular exercise also fights the effects of aging and can even extend life. A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health indicated that men and women aged 86 to 96 tripled the muscle strength of their legs when they worked out with weights. This is especially good news for older seniors, who may be able to avoid life-threatening hip fractures and other disabling injuries if they embark on well-supervised exercise regimes. Other studies have shown that weight-bearing exercise can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, the "brittle bone" condition that afflicts many women in their postmenopausal years.

SOURCE:
"Exercise: The Other Half of Weight Control." The PDR Family Guide to Nutrition and Health. David W. Sifton, Editor in Chief. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc., A Thomson HealthCare Company, January 2003.