Exercise

[LadyT]

Hi, I am full of random questions this week!!

Why is it on any other diet you are encouraged to exercise but on LL you have to be careful, why?

It doesn't make sense to me, I understand that there is a need to be careful because it's a VLCD but in my head to aid weightless you have to eat less (tick) and exercise more (just started one class a week)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated xx

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[MagdaX]

I'll try to explain huni. I'm a bit of a health and fitness maniac so I read a lot about that.

When on vlcd your body receives very restricted amount of calories. They mainly come from proteins and the tiny amount of carbs we get in our packs is used to fuel our brain and basic metabolic functions.
The rest of the energy we need to survive is being taken from our fat deposits.
Now any physical activity that requires our body to burn calories puts us under a tremendous stress. Which is ok IF you get plenty of carbs from your diet. It's the carbs that are used to fuel our muscles when we exercise. If we don't get enough of them our body will start eating into the muscle tissue for energy
Also a very important thing to remember is that being on vlcd will put our bodies into a starvation mode which means the metabolism will slow right down to preserve energy. If you perform high impact exercise on top of that it will cause your body to start panicking because it'll be thinking it's literally dying. As a result it will start protecting itself by holding onto water and fat and you will start losing weight a lot slower.

Hope that explains it a bit

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[LadyT]

Thanks Mags, thats really useful. In my head it was simple, but I knew there would be a science behind it.

This makes me wonder is it actually worth doing any exercise until I am almost at goal. I could be using that as an excuse I know!

At the moment I am doing quite a high intensity bodyjam class which is aerobics based once a week. It falls the day before my class this week I had a lower weightloss, that could be coincidental I know but I am really wanting to maximise my weigthtloss in the best way I can and help it along the way.

There are girls at my class that fall off the wagon weekly and consistently lose either the same as me or more a week, I know one of them runs a few times a week, but I guess she could be fuelling the exercise with carbs like you said! Ideally I would like to start the couch to 5k programme as I am doing the race for life in July. The latest I could start the programme is the beginning of May.

Decisions, decisions!

All very interesting! xx

 

[Minerva]

I did read somewhere that lengthy and continuous aerobic exercise/cardio with not too much resistance does make the body utilise lean tissue for energy, however, resistance workouts (weight lifting) and interval training (high intensity running for a short period with a small low intensity period on a loop for 20-30 minutes) are most beneficial to build lean tissue which in turn makes the body burn more energy on a day to day basis which will sustain a much longer-term maintenance and loss (the energy to sustain muscle tissue in comparison to fat tissue is higher).

The calorie deficit is too big to start doing too much all at once if you're starting from scratch. But, some exercise is better than none. We do lose lean tissue on a VLCD at a ratio of 25:75 (muscle:fat), so to try to sustain it is a good move. I was also reading elsewhere that fat tissue will be broken down for the body and converted into glucose for the brain - which is the most important thing. Many individuals who exercise regularly recommend doing workouts first thing in the morning before any food or drink - because it maximises fat burning.

But, no one can really be 100% sure. Lab. experiments are often inconclusive, so listen to your own body, we all respond to things differently. If you feel you can cope with exercise, that's great! However, be prepared for a few weeks of slower losses. Don't panic - you are still losing weight, just any muscle damage from the physical activity will make your body retain some water to 'repair' the damage. It's normal and after a few weeks it will happen less and less. Many people on Cambridge and LL go to the gym/run/lift weights and sustain great losses every week!

Though remember, it's sometimes the tape measure rather than the scale that will give you the results this way.

 

[LadyT]

Thanks Min for the additional information. Its like anything once you look into it you find all sorts of pro's and con's to whatever it is you're investigating.

xx

 

[Pinkie :)]

This has been a dilemma for me too Lady... but have decided that it's important I put in place some exercise regime now, before I hit goal... as a positive move towards my plan of maintaining...

I feel it's gonna be a key for me, to make changes to my lifestyle, and a big one is introducing exercise... so, here I am doing that! Similarly to your Body Jam classes, I do Zumba once a week... I've only been going 3 weeks but I am really enjoying it and it's certainly making me break in to a sweat! My losses have been the same, but that might change, I'll be keeping my eye on it!

Either way, I really need to tone up, which is another main motivation for me doing it... I don't want to be slim and droopy, and it's kinda getting that way!! LOL!!

So... trying it anyway, and seeing how I feel. I was a bit faint half way through last nights class and so just took a sec, had some water, and was fine... We gotta just read our bodies, as the ladies have pointed out above, it's all down to the individual really...

xx

 

[LadyT]

Thanks Pinkie, I agree with you about a way to help maintain which is why I thought if I kick it off now it would help in the long term.

I am going to continue with what I am doing but monitor it along the way. Just realised how close you are to goal, it wont be long for you hunny. Thats really exciting! xx

 

[sexychick]

Thanks for the info ladies,was thinking what to do myself also!
Decided to go back the gym and just take it easy,as I also need to tone up now and feel I need to exercise for maintenance also, as I am getting close to my goal too!

Sexy xx

 

[Minerva]

Well done, at least everyone's getting into the spirit! It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do SOMETHING! And with the weather picking up into warmer and sunnier days, there's just no excuse not to at least go for a long walk to soak up the sunshine! Every little counts towards our long term goals!

 

[HannahNewton]

Hiya Lovely Losers!

I was exercising more when I did LL last year than I am this time - started building up slowly this week. I was a bit heavier at the end of RTM than I am now, but wearing smaller, more fitted clothes and my measurements were less. - I did some exercises at home with hand weights as my aim was to lose fat not just weight and be toned not flabby.

Last Saturday I joined my local gym and am just using toning machines and doing a warm up and cool down on the cross trainer. I will add in more cardio when I'm on RTM and re-introducing carbs.

I have to say when I was drying my hair this morning I noticed a bit of definition in my upper arms, which is really great as I have some cellulite on them and they were quite flabby before I came back to LL. :sigh:

Dr Miriam Nelson has done a lot of research into weight training for women.

http://www.strongwomen.com/fitness.htm

Have a peek at her website for some ideas if you fancy it.

Finding exercise you enjoy is probably the key