Exercise and Weight Loss, Term Paper Example

The problems of overweight and adiposity have gained epidemic scale worldwide. The USA ranks second among countries with the highest overweight rates.  The indices of overweight are 60% of the adult population and 18 % of children and adolescents. The health risks, mortality statistics and constantly growing tendency of obese people to apply unhealthy weight loss behaviors have put the issue in the focus of current theoretical and empirical researches. The findings of numerous current experiments prove the efficiency of exercise (running, aerobics or other drills) as a basic component of weight loss strategy. Most surveys emphasize the necessity of the complex weight loss programs which, except training, should also comprise appropriate nutrition behavior. The outcomes of empirical assessments justify the efficacy of such multi-component strategy in reducing and maintaining weight. The exercise also proved to be beneficial to overall health and decrease the risk of many diseases.

The problem of weight loss is urgent due to the precarious figures designating overweight and obesity rates in different countries. Constantly growing indices worldwide endowed these health problems with the status of a global epidemic. The USA ranks the second in the list of countries with highest overweight rates, which implies a national epidemic. This problem concerns people of different age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. However, researchers thoroughly investigate the problem of children and adolescent overweight. According to the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, during the last thirty years, the incidence of overweight American young people (12 to 19) ran up from 6.1% to 18 % (Yost et al.)  Statistics shows that about 60% of American adults are overweight, about a quarter of the population are obese and 3% percent are extremely obese (Carel et al., Borer, Brill et al.).

During the last few decades, the grave health risks related to obesity attracted research consideration. The consequences, overweigh implies, include high blood pressure, atherosclerosis. Carel notes that obesity is a main cause of illness and death in the USA, which “may soon replace smoking as the primary cause of preventable death” (182). From the standpoint of extra weight overcoming, the specialists frequently dwelt on exercise “as a means of maintaining body weight or lowering body weight and fat” and “the cornerstone of behavioral weight loss program” (Borer 127; Brill et al. 1484).

Researches prove that regular physical exercises together with healthy a diet belong to  the most efficient and healthy methods to control and lose weight. The shifts in lifestyle, namely overeating, highly substantial nourishment, and decline of physical activity serve the basic reasons for putting on extra weight. However, it should be noted that inclination to gain and store fat has genetic roots. Borer concludes, that “most authors attribute to genetics about 60% of the tendency for fat gain” (p.128).

Yost, Krainovich-Miller, Budin, and Norman claim that efficient weight-loss strategy should comprise the following elements: “behaviour skills, behaviour change, and parental involvement to promote healthy diet and nutrition and to increase physical activity (PA)/ exercise” (466).  Evidently, parental involvement (as to, children and adolescents) and promotion of healthy weight loss behaviors play a significant role. Despite multiple helpful interventions, many people with such problems resort to unhealthy weight-loss habits involve taking diet pills, diuretics, self-induced vomiting.

The similar concept of combined strategy is represented in the extensive review “How Effective is Exercise in Producing Fat Loss” by K. Borer. The author sets the number of tasks concerning the issue. Supposing exercise as one “of the behavioral approaches to curbing weight gain or losing body fat”, the scientist summarizes the outcomes of previous works on exercise efficiency without any diet, necessary intensities of exercise, correlation of obesity and spontaneous activity, capacity of aerobic fitness to oxidize fat, exercise’s impact on appetite (Borer 126). The article concludes that exercise (namely, aerobic drills) can be applied to lose weight. Besides, accompanied by dietary restraint or dietary restriction, the exercise shows higher efficacy. Borer describes the complex strategy comprising healthy diet and exercise, which may be:

Successfully used by individuals listed in the National Weight Control Registry. They are entered in the registry if they have lost at least 13.5 kg and maintained this weight loss for at least one year. Their success in maintaining the fat loss resides in restricting their caloric intake to 1,400 Kcal per day, a low proportion of fat in their diet (25%), a tight monitoring of changes in body weight, and daily exercise for a minimum of 1 hour. (126)

Another aspect of the problem is the value of exercise sufficient to cause the reduction of weight and provoke health benefits. In the course of the 12 week weight loss program, Brill, Perry, Parker, Robinson, and Burnett examined the dose-response effect of walking exercise, accompanied by the low-fat diet, and weight loss. The experiment involved 56 subjects (premenopausal overweight women), divided into three groups. The first group walked 5 days per week 30 minutes; the second group walked 5 days per week 60 minutes; the third group kept to a diet. The study showed that 30 minute walk is similar in its effect to 60 minute walk. They are similar in capacity to diminish body circumferences and to cause greater weight loss, in comparison with diet alone. Moreover, “The fact that the addition of walking to diet did not elicit significantly greater weight loss suggests that the emphasis should focus on exercise as a means to attain health-related benefits rather than purely as a means to enhance weight loss” (Brill et al. 1491).  Nevertheless, physical activities may evoke ambiguous assessments. The examination of effect of running on weight loss by Williams (2004) proves that running is effective presumably for overweight people.

To summarize the above mentioned facts, we should state that overweight and adiposity have become urgent public issues in the USA. They relate to numerous health risks and high mortality rates which lead to the development of strategies aimed at the abatement of harmful consequences by decreasing weight. The recent surveys of vigorous exercise’s impact on weight loss have proven that, apart from reducing weight and fat, exercises (sports, household chores, or garden-work) are beneficial to overall health condition. Regular physical activity decreases the risk and prevents hypertension, back pain, diabetes, coronary heart disease and attack, osteoporosis, depression. Various interventions have been developed by the specialist to diminish the national rates of obesity and overweight in the USA. Some of them represent contradictory concepts. However, the multi-component approaches to weight loss, involving exercise and healthy nutrition (or dietary restrictions) has proven to be the most efficient means of diminishing and maintaining weight loss.

Works Cited

Borer K. T. “How Effective Is Exercise in Producing Fat Loss?” Kinesiology 40.2 (2008): 126-137. Print.

Brill, B. J., Perry, A. C., Parker R., Robinson, A., Burnett, K.  “Dose–response effect of walking exercise on weight loss. How much is enough?” International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders 26.11 (2002): 1484 -1491. Print.

Carels, R. A., Darby, L. A., Rydin, S., Douglass, O. M.; Cacciapaglia, H. M., O’Brien, W. H. “The Relationship Between Self-Monitoring, Outcome Expectancies, Difficulties with Eating and Exercise, and Physical Activity and Weight Loss Treatment Outcomes.” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 30.3 (2005): 182-190. Print.

Williams, P.T.”Vigorous exercise and the population distribution of body weight.” International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders 28.1 (2004): 120- 128. Print.

Yost, G., Krainovich-Miller, B., Budin, W., Norman, R. “Assessing weight perception accuracy to promote weight loss among U.S. female adolescents: A secondary analysis.”  BMC Public Health 10 (2010): 465-475. Print.