THE EXERCISE FACTOR
For years, the role of exercise in
reducing has been misinterpreted. Today, regular exercise is known to be
essential for maintaining good health and preventing many diseases as well as
being a vital adjunct to dirt for weight control. As some put it, diet is half
the battle for weight control; it helps you on your way. Exercise provides the
vitality and the drive; it helps take you where you want to go. There are still
two widely prevalent misconceptions about exercise and weight control.
One is
that it takes great amounts of time and effort to use up enough calories to
affect weight significantly. The other is that exercise increases the appetite
and the end result is increase, not decrease, in weight. The misconception
about time and effort stems from the impression that any exercise has to be
accomplished in a single uninterrupted session. To be sure, it takes an hour's
jogging to use up 900 calories, but one does not have to do all the jogging in
one stretch.
One must walk 35 miles to lose a pound of fat, but walking an
additional mile a day for 35 days will take off the pound.
One can lose 10 pounds in a year by walking an extra mile a
day. In one dramatic demonstration of the value of exercise, the daily food
intake of a group of university students was doubled, from 3,000 calories daily
to 6,000. At the same time, exercise each day was stepped up.
There was no gain
in weight. 68 / Building General Health as Preventive Therapy Another fact
about exercise that deserves consideration: Body weight affects the amount of
energy expended whatever the activity may be -walking, jogging, tennis playing,
or anything else. For example, a 100- pound individual walking 3 miles per hour
will burn about 50 calories in 15 minutes; someone weighing 200 pounds would
use up as many as 80 calories in the same period.
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