Exercise & Weight Loss

Exercise & Weight Loss

What exactly goes on inside the body when you take a stroll or go for a swim? Any physical activity creates a complicated set of physical processes that have effects on almost every organ. Like all machines or moving entities, the muscles require and have fuel. The fuel comes from the food a person eats or the one that is stored in the body as a reserve in the form of either fat or glucose. The only loop is that the food cannot be directly converted into fuel ready to be burnt in the trillions of cells in the body. In fact, each cell has its own storage location for energy and the molecule stored in it is known as ATP or adenosine triphosphate. The body's ability to manufacture ATP is very vital as it determines the volume of physical exertion the muscles can bear. The vice versa is also true in this case, as the amount of muscle conditioning decides whether you can generate sufficient ATP or not.

The food that a person eats contains energy in various forms like fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. These components are picked up and stored in the form of ATP. To do so, the stomach and the small intestine must break the food into hundreds of thousands of molecules which enter into the bloodstream and make their way to every cell in the human body. There they go to a small structure known as mitochondria, where the molecule goes through a number of reactions that lead to the inception of ATP. The body stores only a tiny amount of this molecule, but manufactures it quickly, as the body's requirement increase. Sometimes, while the body is still under physical stress, the demand for energy increases so the cells produce more ATP. In order to do this, they tap into the source of glucose stored in the muscles and fats stored in various places. These components 

then enter the bloodstream and make their way into different parts of the body via the circulatory system.

The stored glucose is known as glycogen and the fat may be broken down for the production of ATP in the following two ways:

i. Aerobic

ii. Anaerobic

Aerobic processes are the ones that require oxygen and produce more ATP molecules. Oxygen is their life line and they halt if the supply chain is broken. If the body works so hard it becomes impossible for it to deliver on oxygen, then the body switches to anaerobic production which has a byproduct of lactic acid. This lactic acid naturally enters into the blood and creates an imbalance. To counter this imbalance, the body increases its breathing speed so that more oxygen is taken in and the heart beats at a faster rate so the oxygen can reach the muscles.

But the anaerobic activity can't be sustained as the bodv can only cancel out the imbalance for a short period of time since the heart and lungs are working at full throttle. The generated lactic acid leaves a fatigued feeling and eventually the person needs to slow down. By doing so, the body gets ample supply of oxygen and once again the process of ATP production becomes aerobic. The production of lactic acid stops and the muscles start to regain their former strength.

The level of a person's fitness can be determined by the speed at which this happens. Regular exercise trains the lungs, heart, and the blood transportation mechanism, which enables them to deliver a larger quantity of oxygen to blood vessels and at a higher, swifter rate. Walking up a hill can illustrate this point.

The body is not bound to one process for the generation of ATP, but actually relies on both. Because of this there are two types of distinctions between all types of exercises:

• Aerobic,
• Anaerobic,

If the intensity of the exercise is so high that the heart and lungs are unable to meet the demand of the muscles then the activity is anaerobic, otherwise it is aerobic.

The American College of Sports Medicine has a standard amount of time that it recommends to individuals for physical activity, i.e. 30 to 45 minutes at a frequency of 3 days in a week. Each work out should have at least 5 minutes of warm up and cool down so the body can set in and out. The American Cancer Society also recommends at least 30 minutes of physical activity that is carried out at a moderate intensity for at least 5 days per week. Children should be spending 60 minutes on medium intensity moderation exercises. Moderate exercises, like walking, will have a similar effect on the energy bill as a longer session, so choose a session that is enjoyable.

The maintenance, gain, and loss of weight are pretty much related to energy balance. Positive balance leads to an increase in weight while a negative balance leads to loss. The physical activity and caloric activity are the quantities that are balanced. Exercise is a great way to tip the scales to zero, which can help the body gain lean mass by burning more fat content than calories. Walking, or any physical activity for that sake, can burn 3 times more calories than sitting would.

It must also be known that weight loss, similar in nature to diet, can be reached by exercising alone. An exercise program that is worth a minimum of 200 minutes and focusses on moderate intensity exercises can reduce the amount of fat and general mass in body. An exercise program with less than 150 minutes training time can improve the body's cardio profile; there is an improvement in the body's overall nature as well. Exercise also improves the maintenance of the body once it loses weight, which makes it so much more superior as compared to artificial treatments.