Is There Really a Magic Weight Loss Pill?

Ok, so we get it… We’re supposed to get in shape and stay that way. But what if we’re not sure how to do it exactly?  We’ve probably all seen public parks full of people working at getting back in shape… but most of them seem to be in the same shape as the rest of us.  Magazines with gorgeous people adorning their covers pitch one plan after another to “lose belly fat” or “get a flat tummy today.” Are they all saying the same thing?  And, if the secret is so universally available, why isn’t everyone in America already back in shape?

All the extra pounds we have been carrying around have been getting a lot of press as of late.  The most recent study released in late July 2009 found that medical spending by obese Americans averages $1400 more per year per person over a non-obese person’s. That translates to nearly $150 billion a year in extra medical costs that could be avoided if the obesity epidemic was halted.

What is anyone supposed to do to learn how to lose weight?  There always seems to be a magic pill or new exercise contraption that promises unbelievable results for little effort or incredibly little time on infomercials late at night and early in the morning. Is there any truth to their claims?

As with everything in life, one adage will certainly apply: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

One basic rule for weight loss is this: You have to expend more energy than you eat in order for your body to begin calling on its own stored fat for energy. 

If you are carrying around extra inches around your middle, your diet may contain hidden sources of an abundance of calories.  Fast food, soda, pretzels, and snacks generally have way too many calories.  It’s nearly impossible to lose weight when you regularly drink soda and eat fatty burgers on white bread.  Besides being too many calories, this is due to the chemical and hormonal responses our bodies have to various kinds of foods.  Sugars and carbohydrates that quickly break down into simple sugars raise insulin levels.  As a result our bodies quickly store extra calories as fat if our muscles are not demanding energy due to intense exercise.  Our diet must contain the proper mix of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and mountains of vegetables. 

How can we tell we’re eating the right combination of foods?  Without weighing all your food you can try the following: When you prepare a meal, make your portions of protein and carbs equal in size and half of your plate. Make the other half of your meal all vegetables.  Eat six small meals every day instead of three large ones.  This approximation approach will get you on a better path as you learn much more about nutrition.

Once we have a healthy food combination integrated into our lives, losing the extra weight we’ve put on over the years still requires some effort. 

Low impact cardio like walking will strengthen your heart gradually and is probably a great first step if you haven’t exercised in a long time.  Elliptical trainers also are great for low-impact cardio.  However, if you really want to burn fat, and this may come as a surprise, you should work on building muscle.

Cardio exercises raise your metabolism for the duration of the exercise and for a short time after.  For some people, this is all they will need to lose the weight they want to lose.  There are mental health benefits to walking, running, and biking too, just for some time alone in a very busy world.  Getting results via low impact exercise can take longer, though, and nothing makes you want to exercise more than quick progress.

So, why should you work on building muscle if you really want to burn fat quickly?  It takes energy for your body to build and repair muscle, which breaks down during strength exercises.

Therefore, you burn energy during your exercise, and you continue to burn energy above and beyond your base metabolic rate for a much longer period afterward as muscles are repaired.  Also, when you force your body to repair and build muscle tissue, it produces its own growth hormone.  You may not have known it, but growth hormone is the best known fat burner.  Really!

There are only two ways to get growth hormone in your blood stream. The first is illegal, dangerous, expensive, stupid, and guaranteed to destroy your life eventually. The other is natural, and a result of exercising using the right routines.  The only catch to the whole concept is that you actually have to work hard to see results.  You don’t have to spend 12 hours a week in the gym or that you must run five miles a day.  With three workouts a week that you should be able to complete in an hour and a half at the longest, you can get significant results before you know it.

The growth hormone theory was actually even put to the test by a blogger at who has been recording his journey to get in shape lifting weights–and he’s 48!  His wife is doing it too, and she lost three inches off her waist in ten weeks.   It worked because of the intensity of the workout.  The intensity magnifies the impact your body feels, and that triggers the release of all the right hormones that help burn fat and build muscle.

An intense weight lifting workout doesn’t mean you have to do 25 sets of exercises for each muscle every day!  Let’s not confuse intense workouts and overtraining!  Remember, too, that intensity is extremely relative.  What your body will perceive as an intense workout will differ greatly from everyone else’s!

The two keys to intensity are compound exercises and supersets. 

A compound exercise forces you to use a lot of muscles for each repetition.    Think about exercises like the dumbbell military press…  Most of your muscles get involved to execute each repetition.  A pushup works similarly: Besides the very obvious chest and triceps at work, back and shoulder muscles keep your elbows in position throughout each repetition.

A superset is simply a set of exercises performed one right after the other with the absolute minimum rest possible between exercises.  Typically, supersets are only discussed in the context of working one muscle, as in supersets for delts.  However, you can work your entire body with only one superset of eight to ten different exercises. 

If you have never done a full-body superset, you will be shocked at how difficult it becomes after only the first two to three exercises.  Repeating the superset three to five times will most definitely spike the intensity level your body experiences.  If you are in better shape, you can shorten the time between exercises and the rest between supersets to further jack up the intensity of your workout. 

Remember that the level of intensity your body feels is what triggers the biological mechanisms that force it to adapt to new requirements you just imposed on it.   So you don’t have to work body parts to “failure” to experience the natural release of growth hormone and its benefits, but you will feel fatigue!

But what if you want to start getting back in shape at home and don’t have weights?  No problem!  There are full routines you can do without weights to work your whole body.

Beware of any companies trying to sell you the next miracle supplement for losing weight with no effort.  If you’ve read this far, you are interested in learning about losing weight and getting fit and are on the right track to getting sound guidance.  Congratulations!