Exercise & Fitness FAQ

Once again I thank you for your time. Any help that you could provide me with would be appreciated. If you have a web site that you feel could help answer my questions, please feel free to suggest it. If you need any further information about me, ask. Thank you.

Using the calories, fat grams, vitamins and minerals reported by the Healthy Body Calculator as a guide, select foods that you like. The nutrient values reported in Your Nutrition Facts depend on whether you included a 1 to 2 pound weight loss or weight maintenance in your personal data.

Then use the Food Guide Pyramid to meet your body's need for a variety of foods. But since it contains 2000 to 2500 calories, you may have to reduce the number of servings. If your calorie intake is below 1500, you will probably not meet your RDA for vitamins and minerals and should take a multi vitamin while losing weight.

Another choice would be the Diabetic Exchange eating plan, which is a healthy diet to follow whether you want to lose, gain or maintain your weight. The number of exchanges in each group i.e. milk, meat, starch/bread, fruit, vegetable and fat are similar to the Food Guide Pyramid, but can be planned for various calorie levels. You see an exchange contains foods with similar nutrients. For instance, bread, cereal, rice, pasta and potatoes belong to the Starch / Bread exchange. Maybe you should talk to a dietitian. Most college campuses have one at the student health center. Ask.

As to an exercise program, go to your campus Physical Education department and ask to talk to an exercise physiologist or certified trainer. Go over your exercise program, ask for recommendations and a demonstration of how to do recommended exercises.

As to spot reducing, I'm afraid that is not possible. You can exercise to strengthen underlying muscles in all areas of your body and to reduce body fat so that these stronger muscles show better. However, I would caution that since you are a woman, not to lower your body fat too low as below 18% body fat, you may quit menstruating. You need body fat to make female hormones.

I am trying to get good abs. Yet I find that I still have an excess of skin... not fat. I'm 16 years old. My underlying muscles are strong, yet they don't show through. How can I get that washboard stomach?

Thanks
 

Basically, by exercising your abdomen and reducing the overlying body fat you will show more muscle definition. However, you do need a certain amount of fat to make testosterone.

Since you are 16, you will continue to grow until 23, but should reach 90% of your adult height at age 18. So don't drastically alter your diet which may interfere with your normal growth.

Remember to exercise the "rest" of you. I would suggest you talk to your physical education teacher or if you belong to a health club, ask to talk to an exercise physiologist or trainer for personalized recommendations.

Why do I feel hungry when I'm exercising, but when I go home I'm not hungry anymore?

Moderate exercise by itself does not increase your appetite unless you have exercised too hard or are on a quick weight loss diet and your glycogen stores are depleted. Glycogen is the stored form of glucose in your muscles and liver. You only have about 1500 to 1800 calories of stored glycogen. When glycogen is depleted, your body has to turn to protein in muscles and organs to supply glucose. Depending on the time of your last meal before exercising, your blood sugar may be low. In which case, your body is telling you to eat.

Moderate exercise helps in suppressing appetite and increasing your metabolic rate for up to 15 hours after exercise. A gland in your brain called the hypothalamus is responsible for secreting a hormone, which inhibits hunger. Exercise helps stimulate this gland to produce more of this hormone. Moderate exercise that would produce this beneficial effect would be 60 minutes of exercise, three to five times per week. Possibly, by the time you complete your exercising the suppression of your appetite has started.
 

I am 22 years old, 5'9" tall and weigh only 125 lb. I recently started working out and would like to know what I can do to my diet, to maximize my efforts in gaining weight. My body fat percentage is about 9% and I would like to maintain this level.
 

Your Normal body weight for height is 144 to 176 pounds. You need to gain about 20 pounds of muscle and this will take eating healthy and weight training. If you wanted to compete in sports, your weight goal could be even higher and still maintain a 9% body fat.

Your diet should contain enough calories to gain about 1 pound per week. I used Healthy Body Calculator to calculate your basal metabolic calories at 1574 plus very light activity (mostly sitting and standing) at an additional 458 calories for a total of over 2029 calories per day. (This does not include calories burned during exercise.) To the 2029 calories, you need to add an additional 500 calories per day to gain 1 pound per week. The calorie goal you should consume per day is around 2500 to achieve your weight goal. You will need to adjust the calories upward as you gain weight as all tissue, especially muscle, needs calories to function. The more you weigh, the more calories you burn and the more calories you need to eat to continuing gaining or at least maintaining your higher weight.