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Jack LaLane said that exercise is king and nutrition is queen. Together, you have a kingdom. In this series of articles, we’re talking about weight control. Personally I prefer it to turn the order around, with nutrition in the first place and exercise second. But actually, the results would be so much better if both get the same attention.

Bottom line to manage weigh is to improve your body’s function. That is achieved by giving it the nutrients it needs on a daily bases and using that nutrients effectively. If those nutrients aren’t used effectively, it either gets wasted or stored. Neither is a good idea.

Let’s start at the beginning with our metabolism. The easy definition I use for metabolism is that is the rate at which your cells burn food to create energy.

Your metabolism is always working. While we sleep, while we sit at our desk or while we’re exercising, our metabolism is turning nutrients into energy.

When an overweight person wants to get rid of the stored fat, the only way is to take in fewer calories that what is burned during the day. With fewer calories, the next available source would be used, which is fat.

While we sleep, our metabolic rate is at its lowest, next is what is called resting metabolic rate. This is when we’re awake but without any bodily activity, such as working at a desk.

When we start exercising, our metabolism increases as our exercising increase in intensity. The faster your heart beats, the more you are out of breath, the faster nutrients and fat get used for energy. When your heartbeat returns to normal, your metabolism also returns to the resting metabolic rate.

While your bust with your exercise, you increase your metabolism and burn more food and stored fat that otherwise. But there is a way to even increase your resting metabolic rate. This is my favourite, because your body burn of more calories that it used to, even while you’re sitting at your desk.

Muscles are the energy factory of the body. There is no other tissue in the body that come close to lean muscle to burn calories.

Strength training is king when it comes to weight control. While exercising, you burn calories. And as time goes by, your lean muscle mass increase which increase the resting metabolic rate.

Women are sometimes concerned about becoming bulky and non-feminine by building muscles. The pictures of the female body builders are not exactly the picture of femininity. That is what they’re afraid of becoming by building muscle. Fortunately it’s the male hormone which builds muscle more quickly than what female hormones could do. To become build like a man, a woman needs a lot of male hormones together with serious exercise.

What rather happens is that the feminine shape gets enhanced with shapely legs and arms and a flat tummy. Most people find a firm, toned body very attractive. And that is without taking the health benefits of a normal weight rage into account.


We’ve just talked about the effect exercise has on your metabolism. In this article, we won’t go into the benefits of better circulation, increased oxygen supplies, a stronger heart and so forth. Exercise absolutely improves your health tremendously.

In another article I wrote about being consistent with your exercising, by finding something that you like. Read that article at the following link www.health2u.co.za/newsletter/enjoyable_exercise_08092009.html. 

Exercise is a great way to use the calories we take in daily and to burn the stored fat. Any plan to reduce your weight should be based on high nutrition, low calories. And the more active you are, the more calories are burned.

[Note: To find more options and advice on effective exercise, attend the health and wellness seminar in Raslouw, Centurion. Read more at www.health2u.co.za]