Weight Loss

Weight Loss: It’s not rocket science; research studies prove exercise is essential to your long-term success.

Numerous collegiate research studies have found rebounding, or bouncing on a trampoline, to be a great tool with which to lose weight, and to keep it from coming back.

Underneath all of the complex, convoluted diet regimes plastered all over the Internet and television, there are some simple truths that can lead anyone toward weight loss.

In the most basic terms, caloric balance (or imbalance) determines your weight. The amount of calories you put into your body, minus the amount of calories you use in activity over any given period of time regulates your weight change.  In short, consuming more calories than you expend through activity will lead to weight gain. Therefore, consistently burning more calories than you eat will cause your body to use/burn stored calories, and over time you will likely lose weight. Clearly, the types of calories (proteins, fats, carbohydrates etc.) you consume (and store) can have a significant effect on your weight.

Here, however, the focus of this article is on exercise.
Exercise is essential to weight loss, for many reasons. Most simply, exerting energy through exercise burns calories to speed up weight loss. Exercise also plays an essential role in keeping excess weight off, once you’ve lost it.  In fact, medical professionals, health specialists, physical therapists and nutritionists, as well as doctors observe that focusing on calorie intake alone is often not effective for weight management.

Doctors’ empirical experience reinforces the concept of the caloric balance formula.  In a WebMD article exploring the role of physical activity in weight loss, Dr. Timothy Church, MD, Director of Preventive Medicine Research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, acknowledged the importance of a combination regimen. Doctor Church noted: “When it comes to weight, you can’t talk about diet alone and you can’t talk about exercise alone ... you absolutely have to address both issues at the same time.”

Health studies of many kinds continue to point to exercise as a critical co-factor in losing and managing weight effectively. James O. Hill, PhD, Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver, states: “I come back to this over and over and over -- you can’t find very many people maintaining a healthy weight who aren’t regular exercisers.” (Quoted in WebMD feature, Exercise and Weight Loss: 5 Truths, by Miranda Hitti)*

Researchers, doctors, and other experts consulted by WebMD concerning the best type of exercise for weight loss consistently offered a one-word response: cardio.  Glenn Gaesser, PhD, FACSM, kinesiology professor and department head at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, declared the following about cardio exercise: “In all cases, however, you’ll burn more calories with cardio (aerobic) exercise than with strength or resistance training…Strength training itself will not lead to an appreciable amount of weight loss because it just doesn’t burn enough calories.” (Quoted in WebMD feature, Exercise and Weight Loss: 5 Truths, by Miranda Hitti)

Knowing that cardio exercise is a great way to burn calories ultimately can help you to tip the scales in your favor. With a healthy helping of exercise, moderate meal portions, and steady discipline, you’re armed with all the tools you’ll need to lose weight.

Here’s a great place to start increasing your cardio activity:
Find out how jumping on the fitness trampoline can make you feel better about jumping on the scale.

Information from WebMD was used in this article. Segments from the following articles were quoted:

  1. What kind of exercise -- and how much -- is best when you’re trying to lose weight?
    By Barbara Russi Sarnataro
  2. Timothy Church, MD, MPH, PhD, and director of preventive medicine research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  3. WebMD Weight Loss Clinic-Feature
    Glenn Gaesser, PhD, FACSM, kinesiology professor and department head at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
  4. Exercise and Weight Loss: 5 Truths
    Experts Weigh In on How Much Exercise Affects Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance, by Miranda Hitti; WebMD Feature. Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
  5. James O. Hill, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and medicine and the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver
  6. Timothy Church, MD, MPH, PhD, and director of preventive medicine research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana