In hopes of losing weight, we’ve all heard to “Eat less, move more!” However, Dr. Cederquist and Nicole RD are here to tell you otherwise.
Conversely, moving less can also have detrimental health consequences. Being sedentary can even shave off precious years of life!
So if you’re ready to find the balance and enjoyment of exercise, you won’t want to miss the lesson!
Dr. Cederquist: Nicole, have you heard the news?
Nicole: What's that, Dr. Cederquist?
Dr. Cederquist: Sitting is the new smoking. So that's why I want to discuss exercise, why it's so important, and how to effectively include it in our daily lives.
Nicole: Oh, yes! Being sedentary can be so harmful to our overall health. We hear it all the time: “Too much sitting, not enough movement, can increase our risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions, and even shave off years of our lives!” So regular movement and physical activity can offer vast health benefits.
Dr. Cederquist: For sure, Nicole. And as we age, women experience lower estrogen levels, while men have declines in their testosterone. Productions in these hormones can cause us to lose precious muscle mass and bone strength. Our risk of insulin resistance and weight gain also increases with this aging, although exercise can really combat these significant risks.
Dr. Cederquist: Now, people have been told that to lose weight, you have to eat less and exercise more. But we often see people not getting the results they're hoping for when they're so hyper-focused on exercise and less focused on their diet.
Nicole: Yes, that's so true. I think a clear example of this, Dr. Cederquist, was at the medical center where we would see patients who were running marathons but still struggling to manage their weight and insulin resistance and overall health.
Nicole: And what we found were that these over-exercisers were actually under-fueling on their protein and calories. And when you do that, that ultimately results in losing lean muscle tissue and slowing our metabolism down even more.
Dr. Cederquist: Yeah, I bet people would not even believe that someone running a marathon could struggle with weight. But we saw it a fair amount of time, and it was so frustrating. But it goes back to what we know about nutrition and exercise: You truly cannot exercise your way out of a poor diet. So what you eat is extremely important to master first.
Nicole: Yes, absolutely! And unless you're already in an exercise routine, we typically recommend holding off on starting any new exercise regimen the first few weeks of your bistroMD program. We just want you to get into a routine with your eating. And once you've really mastered your new eating plan, then we would encourage you to slowly incorporate more exercise or movement throughout your day.
Dr. Cederquist: Yes, because focusing first on your meals and snacks also helps ensure you're consuming adequate lean protein, controlled complex carbs, and healthy fats. We found this balance of nutrients paired with exercise can do wonders for your overall health, weight loss progress, and weight maintenance.
Dr. Cederquist: Truly, there are so many vital reasons why it's important to exercise on your weight loss journey. Nicole, if you could please highlight a few of the most important reasons.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. I think one important reason that probably comes to both of our minds is that exercise can help to improve insulin sensitivity. So your cells and your muscles become more sensitive to the action of insulin when we're exercising, which results in less insulin spikes; and less insulin means less body fat storage is occurring.
Nicole: Secondly, exercise, especially weight-bearing exercise, can really help to improve bone density. And this is really important as we age and extremely critical to prevent and manage osteoporosis and injury risk as we age. Thirdly, being active helps to regulate our blood sugar. So this is extremely important for those of us that have insulin resistance and diabetes.
Dr. Cederquist: Great points, Nicole. And to add, exercise improves body composition beyond typical weight loss. Resistance training helps increase lean muscle, which increases our metabolic rate and the more calories our body can burn even at rest.
Dr. Cederquist: Being active also helps to decrease cortisol levels, which is known as the stress hormone. Increases in cortisol cause an increase in glucose and an increase in insulin. And again, the more circulating insulin often means more fat storage. We know regular physical exercise also decreases major health risks such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer while improving mental health, mood, and energy. Now decreasing health conditions and diseases in the future is of course great!
Dr. Cederquist: But I think the biggest benefit of exercise is that it makes you better now. I gave a very technical biochemistry-rich lecture for family medicine medical doctor residents a few years back. All the research, and there was tons of it, carefully footnoted it all, is that exercise helps modulate the pathways that let you process information better now. Learn better now. Think better now. Rest better now. Decrease stress now.
Dr. Cederquist: And you can see why that was so critical to doctors who are undergoing their training where so much is coming at you 100 miles an hour all day long. But I know that exercise helped me be a better doctor, better mother, wife, friend, boss, daughter, all of it because I was getting those benefits right away.
Nicole: I love that, Dr. Cederquist! So many wonderful benefits. And I think one of the best things about exercise too is it doesn't always have to be so structured to gain some serious benefits. And there's many ways to incorporate more activity in your day just for about all experience levels and abilities.
Nicole: So for those who are just beginning an exercise routine, we often recommend starting out with what we call “exercise snacks.” And no, that doesn't involve any food, but basically this is fun-sized movements that you can incorporate throughout your day. So activities like doing squats while you're brewing a cup of coffee or doing jumping jacks while you're heating up your bistroMD meal or in our household, our kitchen, we call it our personal dance floor. And so we like to dance while we're cooking.
Dr. Cederquist: Yeah, that's so much fun! What that means is you can just start with some simple walking or chair exercises. Listen to your body and start small. As we've discussed in previous lessons, that biting off more than you can choose sometimes makes it challenging and sometimes even impossible to get healthy habits to stick.
Dr. Cederquist: So instead of signing up for a half marathon without any running experience, commit to a 5K first. If you sit most of your day, even committing to a 10-minute walk around the neighborhood or getting up out of your chair and doing 10 squats, sit back down. It's a great start. Slowly add more time or activities and before you know it, exercise will become a routine and natural part of your day.
Nicole: Yes. And to help that exercise habit stick even more, make it fun! By no means do you have to spend all these hours at the gym every day. I myself don't personally love going to the gym, and I don't personally love structured exercise all that much.
Nicole: But you bet I enjoy dancing and hiking and biking with the kids or going for a walk with a friend or playing sports with my kids or doing yoga together. Exercise doesn't always have to be timed or structured or so intense to reap benefits. So just have fun with it and find something that you enjoy doing.
Dr. Cederquist: For sure! Because all forms of movement can benefit you. So it's less important how you move or for how long and at what intensity, but focus more on making a consistent effort to move each and every day.
Dr. Cederquist: I also wanted to share my exercise story, which is different from Nicole's and goes to show everyone has their unique journey. I'm not too proud to admit that I'm not good at sports. Whenever I play something like volleyball, I end up jamming a finger.
Dr. Cederquist: But I found structured exercise in the way of cardio classes in college really helped me manage my stress from school. And I even taught high-impact aerobics in medical school. And while others may find the elliptical boring or spin class boring, I get lost in the music and I often get to process my thoughts almost like a form of meditation. It really helps me de-stress.
Dr. Cederquist: And I personally like the structure of having a specific time per week when I'm going to a class I like. And I find I'm so much more likely to do it versus if I have an entire week available with no structure. Now waking up at 5 a.m. is not fun, but it's a habit that I've learned that there is no time for me to have a conversation with myself at 5 a.m. as to whether or not I'm going. If I don't immediately get out of bed, brush my teeth, and get dressed, I am late. And for me, that structure is freeing.
Dr. Cederquist: Now strength training is a different experience for me. I don't love it because I can't get lost in the music. I have to pay attention to form and make sure I don't miss how. And so I don't know how many have I done or what have you. So I'm really focused. So I don't get that benefit, but I do love what it does for me.
Dr. Cederquist: Lifting heavy weights really helps preserve muscle. And there are many other body weight exercises that you can do like yoga, which also helps make you strong. Now, many people really love strength training exercise because you can really feel and see yourself getting stronger. But if you don't have much experience with resistance training, I would recommend some instruction and supervision to help you safely get started.
Nicole: Yeah, so true, Dr. Cederquist. Consulting with professionals can help avoid injury and just maximize your effort and time. So this week, we challenge you to incorporate some fun movement throughout your day, whether it's an exercise snack, a short walk with a friend, joining a class that you get lost in the music of, or simply dancing in the living room to your favorite tunes.
Nicole: Remember to have fun with movement and find what works for you—something that you'll be able to sustain. Thanks for joining us! Until next time, everyone, make it a great week!