Don't believe me? Try this on for size.
A USDA Horror Story
A researcher named Dr Homann performed a study whereby 56 girls in the South Dakota Department of Corrections, between the ages of 14 and 17, volunteered for a 4 to 6 month program of wellness.
Optimally these young damsels were to exercise for approximately 14 hours per week. That's 2 hours of activity per day.
2 hours.
Per day.
They did things like hike, circuit training, run, basketball and step aerobics. All good stuff, right?
So why is it that after 2 hours per day of exercise that these girls ALL got fatter?
It's because they followed the most worthless piece of nutritional advice ever provided to a human being: the 2003 USDA Food Guide (Pyramid)!
These girls were measured at the beginning of the study and again at the end. The measurements were pretty standard stuff, like:
- A mile run for time and step test to gauge their level of cardiovascular fitness.
- Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds (for % body fat), waist and hips circumference for body composition.
- The shuttle run for agility.
- Standing long-jump, sit-ups and bench press test for muscular strength and endurance.
- Sit-and-reach and the straddle test for flexibility.
Care to guess the results?
As you've probably figured out, the girls did pretty well in the cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, agility, and flexibility realm.
However, their body composition measurements got worse.
Rather than slim down (as you would expect from all of that exercise) and lose a dramatic amount of body weight and fat, ALL of these young ladies made gains!
In fact the average net gain was 6lbs!
They increased the size of their waists by 1/2 inch, increased the circumference of their hips by 3/4 of an inch, and increased their body fat level by as much a .5 percentage points!
I'm the father of two girls, and I can tell you that if I had been responsible for this kind of poor showing after this much expended effort, well...let's just say I would not win "Father of the Year" anytime soon...and I'd probably own stock in Kleenex tissues.
The rules for fat loss never change, no matter how much you exercise:
- Eat five to six times a day.
- Limit your ingestion of sugars and processed foods.
- Eat fruits and vegetables right through the day.
- Drink more water and cut out high calorie liquids (beer, wine, soda, etc.).
- Focus on eating lean proteins at each meal throughout the day.
- Save starch containing foods until after a workout or for breakfast.
I really do not know how to state it any more plainly than that.
Steve
Steve Payne is San Antonio's premier fat loss expert. If you're really serious about fat loss, then please consider San Antonio's finest fat loss "boot camp", the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps, The 28 Day Miracle Fat Loss Program or you can e-mail Steve here for more information on his many GUARANTEED success programs.
