If you're obese and thinking your weight loss seems slower than a dead snail, it may not be your imagination. In a
study published in Cell Metabolism (a little light bedtime reading for you), researchers found that the skeletal muscle of obese people may actually be "programmed" to store fat.
The good news is, the researchers also found that exercise can be a huge help in overcoming this problem because exercise does promote changes in muscle metabolism. That means that combining exercise with dietary changes may be your best bet for losing weight, even if the weight loss is slower than you'd like to to be.
It can be frustrating, trying to start an exercise program when you're overweight or obese, but it's essential for your health, whether you lose weight or not. These resources can give you some ideas for how to start:
Muoio, Deborah M., et al. Elevated stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 expression in skeletal muscle contributes to abnormal fatty acid partitioning in obese humans. Cell Metabolism, Vol 2, 251-261, October 2005.
The perfect body. That’s a goal many of us have and sometimes do crazy things to get – exercising for hours, skipping meals, fad diets or buying things from a middle-of-the-night infomercial in the hopes that we will finally get rid of those love handles or those chunky thighs. Our parents may have told us we can do anything if we just work hard enough and that may be true in many cases…but that doesn’t always hold true when it comes to changing our bodies.
What you've probably figured out is that all the exercise and dieting in the world may not be enough to achieve that perfection. In the end, we’re still a product of our genes and that means having to accept that there are just some things we can’t change no matter what we do. We eventually reach a point where we wonder – “How much can I really change my body and what do I do if I can’t make it perfect?"
It’s easy to get hung up on perfection when you’re surrounded by beautiful, perfect-looking bodies in magazines, on TV and on the Internet. It’s not so easy to let go of that desire to be perfect, but doing so may open doors you never knew were there. If you're frustrated with your flaws, start by learning more about your body image with the Body Acceptance Quiz. Then, learn more about how you can accept your body and focus on getting the perfect body for you.
