How much does it take
to keep fit?

You go to the gym, you do aerobics you pump the iron, you look and feel good and then you have a few days off. What happens? You put weight back on and you have to work harder to get it off again.

Ever wondered why this happens?

Our bodies are really smarter than we sometimes think. After all subconsciously our heart beat is an automatic response and breathing is automatic response and these actions know when to speed up or slow down. They know when we are active and need to go faster and when to slow down when we are resting.

So how does this work?

Our bodies build up memories of past events and when a similar event occurs the old file is referred to and the best action is replayed.

When we keep fit by exercising our bodies notice a rapid reduction in fat storage. The body built up the fat over a long time of sedentary lifestyle and a diet of high fat intake. We didn’t go to bed one night and wake up the next morning with several kilos more kilos and an expanded waist. It took us months and years to pile on the extra weight, and our bodies just got used to it.

So when weight loss happens in a short period of time our body’s memory is in conflict and believes that the extra fat and weight were the normal and it then sets out to regain the weight which was lost as soon as it can.

This is the main reason why weight lost is soon put back on. The habit of weight loss needs to done slowly so as to convince the body that the reduced weight is the normal.

Our body also needs to know that there will be no shortage of food otherwise it will continue to want to keep a hold of what it already has in case there is a shortage.

Keeping fit is good but hard exercise may not be the best solution for a sustainable weight loss.