“Never eat more than you can lift.”
Miss Piggy
Who would have expected such healthy insight from our somewhat out-of-shape Sesame Street friend? Miss Piggy makes an important connection with eating and lifting. Over 1/3 of our adult population in this country are overweight. The statistics are not much better for our children — after all apples do not fall far from the trees. At any given time, millions of Americans are unsuccessfully dieting and spending billions of dollars trying to slim down. Successful, permanent weight control comes from combining sensible good nutrition (i.e. healthy eating) with exercise. Constant “dieting” and starving yourself doesn’t work — it actually results in loss of important lean muscle tissue, not fat, making you more prone to future weight gain. Muscle fuels your metabolism and its presence is the key to weight loss. Thus, your exercise program must include both cardiovascular or aerobic exercise and strength training. Keep the muscle, look great, and lose fat. Don’t pay too much attention to your scale weight; it can actually increase as you gain muscle which weighs more than fat. More importantly, take the mirror test. How do you look? Is your belt size decreasing? How do your clothes fit? You will know if you are on the right track.
FitTip
Pump some iron to help shed those unwanted pounds.
Follow Dr. Nick!
