Loss of weight or fat loss?: effects of exercise on body composition

Sometimes, the loss of weight is not associated with a considerable loss of fat and what we are suffering in a dehydration process and catabolismo muscular, without the loss of wished fat taking place, it is true that we will observe a reduction of weight in the scales, but it not always means that we are losing the quantity of fat for that we were waiting.

The basic composition of the organism is distributed in 5 components, skin, adipose textile, muscular textile, bony textile and residual textile (that refers to the formed one by the vital organs, guts, connective textile, nerves, vascular glasses, and the adipose textile that cannot be separated physically from the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

All this in its set gives us the corporal weight of the subject. In this article we are going to center on 2 of these components (adipose and muscular, without letting through for high, that the exercise practice has big benefits in the bony textile). There are great the patients whom we advise to begin a program of exercise and nutrition to reduce the corporal weight normally associated with a problem excess weight or obesity. If we wanted to insure ourselves of that the work is well faced to reduce the obesity and the excess weight, we should bear in mind the loss of fat.

With the exercise and depending on the factor intensity can go so far as to mobilize the fat and favor the lipólisis process, but not always this AGL mobilization bears a loss of weight, it is necessary to bear in mind the process of betaoxidación that take place inside the mitocondria and that are half-full for mechanisms of regulation (enzymes). The activity enzimática increases with works of between 5 and 30 seconds, the activity of the fosforilasa, the creatin-kinasa and the miokinasa only improves with efforts of at least 30 seconds. (Costill et. Cabbage 1979).This would come to reinforce the reason to use the works intervalics to maximum intensity in the programs of loss of weight.

But also we should compensate this work of cardiovascular resistance, with the weight work, and obtain profit in the active textile (the musculature), improving this way our corporal composition, since it diminishes the fat and there increases the muscular textile, which metabólicamente is more active and consumes more calories in situation of basal rest, favoring also the loss of weight.

Why is it so important to reduce the fat quantity?

In addition to for the esthetics, which in most of occasions, is for what in the first moment there look the users of a center of fitness, we must be conscious of that the adipose textile and its disposition have happened to be in the last years an important aspect inside the public health, because there has collaborated with risk factors in different metabolic illnesses and endocrines like the diabetes mellitus, especially not insulino clerk, cardiovascular, coronary insufficiency and infarctions of myocardium, arterial hypertension or circulatory illnesses as for example the varicose veins. The results of the investigations initiated between others for Vague, in 1956 they suggest that the important thing the entire quantity of corporal adiposity is not only, but the place where it accumulates. The women, for genetic condition, have major fat quantity that the men, but these suffer more of the illnesses associated with the same one. The women, for general norm, have an adiposity more marked towards the low part of the body, what is known as the Syndrome of Venus, characterized by a concentration of fat in the hips and thighs attributed to the feminine hormonal action, the men on the contrary tend to accumulate the fat in the trunk and the abdominal subcutaneous area.

However, many customers realize that substantial loss of fat in the first few weeks and reached a point wonder, … ..i am no longer low more the belly?, wrongly thinking that is lost much more fat percentage in the legs and the thigh, what has happened is that in percentage terms has lost more fat in the belly that in the extremities, but percentage wise it is also often have more accumulated fat in the belly, it costs more be seen belly flat thin legs. It is also good to remember that the number of adipocytes (fat cells) cannot be changed once established after puberty, but various factors (socio-economic, cultural, sporting, nutritious, etc) can change their size, accumulating more fat. Hence the importance with our small good care of your power. An obese child, has many possibilities and ease to be true when whichever is greater.

Another curious aspect and that usually create controversy is that while the abdominal adipose tissue is the first to be affected, contrary to popular belief, the changes that you experience the abdominal fat are not related to the amount of physical activity that was performed on the same, but that is directly proportional to the caloric balance that supposed Chouraqui, i.e. if there is no pathology associated with greater intensity more negative energy balance, therefore, more weight lose.

As a conclusion to say that we must take into account the fluctuations in body weight, and check on what component we are producing these fluctuations. Not always the weight loss, is associated with fat loss.

Doubt the miracle diets in the weight is lost quickly, in most cases what is lost is water, subjecting the body to a process of dehydration and once completed the miraculous diet, we will be back to the initial weight or even above.

A greeting to all.

José Antonio Hidalgo Martín

Máster Oficial en Investigación en Ciencias de la Actividad Física

Licenciado en Ciencias de la Actividad Física

Diplomado en Cineantropometría 1er nivel por la ISAK

Especialista en Actividad Física y Salud

Profesor en el Secretariado de Deportes de la Universidad de Alicante.