The Exact Reason Why Cardio is Essential: The Starvation Response

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The Exact Reason Why Cardio is Essential: The Starvation Response

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Ever attempted to lose some fat and failed miserably? It’s more

than likely because you did not incorporate exercise.

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Distribution Date and Time: Thu Sep 29 20:48:05 EDT 2005

Written By: ny Lavot

Copyright: 2005

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The Exact Reason Why Cardio is Essential: The Starvation Response

Copyright © 2005 ny Lavot

Weight Loss Resources

http://www.weight-loss-resources.com/

Cardio, Calories, and the Starvation Response

Ever attempted to lose some fat and failed miserably? It’s more

than likely because you did not incorporate exercise.

In order to lose fat, there must be a deficit of calories in the

diet. In other words, your body must use more calories than you

eat in order to use its fat stores for energy. There are two

ways a calorie deficit can be accomplished. The first one is to

eat fewer calories. The second one is to use more calories

(exercise). The best way to accomplish fat loss without hitting

a plateau and failing is a combination of both. You must eat

less calories and burn more calories. If you try to accomplish a

calorie deficit only by eating less calories, then you're body

thinks it's starving, and will go into a " starvation mode " where

it lowers its metabolism in order to prepare for a period of

little food (this is more than likely a protective response from

years ago when food actually did become scarce, unlike today).

When the starvation response is elicited, you smack into the fat

loss plateau and the fad diet fails.

When you incorporate exercise into your routine, your body feels

more comfortable with not lowering your metabolism. If you are

exercising frequently, then your body thinks, " I'm actually doing

something, so there is probably an abundance of food now, and I

shouldn't worry too much. " Therefore, the starvation response is

mostly avoided. Two important forms of exercise to produce this

affect are weight training and aerobic exercise (cardio).

However, this article is mostly about cardio.

The goal of cardio is to burn calories while avoiding the

starvation response. Many times when you mention " exercise " or

" cardio " , people immediately get negative thoughts in their head

about the extreme difficulty of doing such exercise, but these

thoughts are misguided. Cardio gets easier as your body adapts,

is very rewarding, and can even be fun.

How Cardio Becomes Easier While Still Burning the Same Amount of

Calories

As you do cardio more and more, you body begins to adapt and

become better at performing the same work, but with less

perceived effort. The body becomes able to move nutrients and

oxygen around faster because you build new capillaries, the cells

produce more mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell), your

heart becomes more powerful, your body produces more blood, and a

host of other adaptations. The main thing to note here is that

you still burn the same amount of calories, even after your body

adapts and cardio becomes easier. However, with your new, more

adapted body, you will be able to accomplish exercise that burns

even more calories resulting in even more fat loss. For

instance, in order to burn 300 calories, you would have to walk

for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. In contrast, jogging for about

25-30 minutes (the amount of time will vary depending upon your

speed) will burn 300 calories. Obviously, the last one is more

practical unless you just have a huge amount of time on your

hands. Walking also doesn't elicit the endorphin high that

running/jogging does (discussed later).

The Overload Principle

When you begin a cardio program, your first goal should probably

be to adapt to the point where you can burn a sufficient amount

of calories. This involves the overload principle. The overload

principle is simple: in order to initiate adaptations within your

body you must exercise with either a greater intensity, duration,

or frequency. Depending upon the type you decide to overload

(intensity, duration, or frequency), you will adapt to that type.

For instance, if you want to run faster in the same amount of

distance, you should run faster, and your body will adapt to

that. If you want to run farther, you should run farther, and

your body will adapt to that. Your body adapts highly specific

to the stresses you subject it to. Pretty much, the overload

principle reveals that doing the same routine every time without

trying to push yourself harder will result in no adaptations.

For instance, if you do the same aerobics tape everyday, then

your body will never adapt any further - since there is no need

for it to. However, if you were to get a more advanced tape and

do it, this would initiate an adaptation in your body, but then

you would have to find an even harder tape to initiate any

further adaptations. Keep in mind though, if you decide to stay

at the same level of fitness and do the same routine, then you

will still burn the same amount of calories, and if your goal is

just fat loss this may be a potential option for you.

Just Get Started!

If you haven’t done any cardio for a while, you should obviously

start out small. Start out with just a brisk walk, then

intermittent jogs while you are jogging, then finally, you will

be able to jog the whole time, and then increase your times/speed

to the point where you are happy. The hardest part is really

just to start doing something. Once you get your momentum going

by exercising for the first time, even if you have to start out

small, you have already accomplished the hardest part.

Your Body's Reward to You: An Endorphin High

In addition to burning off unwanted fat, doing cardio gives you

something called an " endorphin high " . This all natural high

induces a feeling of well-being, relaxation, improvement in mood,

and increase in your ability to think more clearly. It's

theorized that this is the reason why many long distance runners

are " addicted " to running - they love the high they get

afterwards! Once you've experienced one of these, you're even

more likely to continue your regime and therefore continue to

burn off fat.

Make Sure You're Hydrated

Before starting on your new cardio regime, make sure you are

properly hydrated. Ever had that thick, cotton-like feeling in

your mouth while exercising? Cotton-mouth is an obvious sign

that you are dehydrated; if you ever get cotton-mouth while

performing aerobic exercise, please realize that you could be

performing much better and reducing your risk of experiencing

dehydration's nasty side effects if you only had drank more water

beforehand. It is best to drink water throughout the day rather

than only around the time you exercise.

Music!

One sure fire way to get you pumped up and associate cardio with

something positive is to listen to some music before and while

doing it. You'll be surprised at how much better you perform and

how much more fun cardio seems.

The hardest part about a cardio regime is starting. Remember to

incorporate the overload principle when trying to cause an

adaptative response, to stay hydrated, and to listen to music

while performing your cardio regime. Once you get passed that

point and experience some of cardio's effects such as fat loss

without hitting a plateau, a feeling of accomplishment, and that

awesome endorphin high, you'll become addicted. However, no

exercise routine is complete without the proper support from an

intelligent nutritional program; for more information on this you

can visit http://www.weight-loss-resources.com.

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ny Lavot is an avid weight-loss and fitness researcher.

You can find tons more information on these topics at:

http://www.weight-loss-resources.com