"Working" Out

I have been thinking a lot about this lately and more and more evidence supports my claim.  I have always hated exercise and sweating.  I lost 40+ pounds without a whole lot of sweat and I think you can too.

I think of the body working a whole lot like Osmosis Jones.  Remember that movie?  Each part of the body has a job to do and uses the materials available to get the job done.  If a few extra pounds are available our body gets a little lazy and is less efficient with it's energy - it figures there is always more available.  When we cut back calories our body starts to use the energy a little more carefully (remember when gas prices were high and you drove a little less often and conserved as much as possible?) However, when we add high intense exercise the body starts to panic a little.  In the gas scenario it is like we speed up and stop and start fast - we are going the same places but we are not getting the same efficiency because we are burning too much too fast.  Our bodies have a job to do and all of the sudden there is a possibility of shortage.  Our bodies are so amazing that they will not allow us to burn through our energy too fast.  It will use what it's got more efficiently.  This is called slowing down our metabolism.  It will also send messages to send more energy - hunger.  We want to boost our metabolism to burn through our incoming energy as well as the stored energy sitting on our hips and we want it to do it without a lot of anguish.

If you are just starting out then start slow and work up to a workout of mostly using your muscles.  For those that are already exercisers and you are at a good place then keep it up.  But, if you are hitting a plateau then try this.  If you like the sweat then let your sweat come from the resistance instead of the fast movements.  Weights are not the only way to gain muscle either.  Get on the treadmill and go the same distance but at an incline.  Don't push it.  If you are sore the next day you are overdoing it.  You will feel like you have not worked out but your body will reward you.  Give it three weeks and you will see a change.

There are a few articles that I have ran across lately that say it much better than I can.  One is in Woman's World Magazine.  They don't have a website but it talks about how muscle can boost your metabolism and if you take time to add the muscle you will burn energy 50% more efficiently.  The other article my friend Jana referred me to. It is from TIME and it is way bold about it's message on exercise.