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Weight Loss Training

Getting to our ideal body weight is something that many of us never quite get right after we graduate from our twenties. And, if we participate in sports, our performance is affected by our our body weight. So, although this book can help anyone who is trying to lose weight, it was primarily written to help amateur athletes understand what types of exercise will enable them to attain and maintain their ideal body weight for optimal performance.

This book is organized into motivation, explanation and suggestion sections. If you are considering this book, you are probably already motivated to lose weight. However, it does not hurt to re-affirm the health, fitness and athletic performance advantages of being at our optimal body weight. The explanation chapters discuss the principle of energy homeostasis and the dynamics of fuel use. This research indicates that high intensity workouts and participating in races do not promote weight loss. The suggestion chapters discuss routes and the time required for weight loss that respects our energy preservation mechanisms. The final chapter takes a broader perspective and looks at the effect on overweight and obesity at a societal level.

Contents at a glance

Chapter 1-Introduction

Chapter 2-Health benefits of making room for exercise

  1. Aging runners have reduced disability and mortality rates
  2. Physical activity and leaness trump age in aerobic fitness
  3. Blood pressure reduction
  4. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease
  5. Exercise and type 2 diabetes mellitus
  6. Anxiety and exercise
  7. Exercise versus losing weight in reducing cardiac events in women
  8. Exercise helps women to stop smoking
  9. Summary

Chapter 3-Optimal weight ranges for health and athletic performance

  1. According to Body Mass Index (BMI)
  2. Optimal weight for runners
  3. Marathoners
  4. Cyclists
  5. Effect of body weight on VO2max
  6. Effect of VO2max on running performance
  7. Summary

Chapter 4-Energy homeostasis and weight loss

  1. Weight loss myths
  2. Survey on prevalence of weight loss efforts
  3. Survey on effectiveness of weight loss strategies
  4. Our appetite and energy homeostasis
  5. Yo-yo dieting
  6. Appetite and energy expenditure from exercise
  7. Minimum physical activity to avoid weight gain
  8. Summary

Chapter 5-Fuel use dynamics during exercise

  1. Fuel storage and transportation
  2. The "Wall" in a marathon
  3. Carbohydrate/fat use versus exercise intensity
  4. Trained runners burn fat better
  5. Fat burning improves after years of persistent cycling
  6. Summary

Chapter 6-Training that burns fat without alarming your sub-brain

  1. Route through the energy homeostasis defences
  2. Weight loss calculations
  3. Exercise intensity versus heart rate
  4. Exercise options
  5. Summary

Chapter 7-A broader picture of overweight and obesity

  1. Obesity trends
  2. Why do we have these trends?
  3. Health care costs of obesity and overweight
  4. Reversing obesity and overweight trends at a societal level
  5. Summary