Exercises to help shed weight gained from the holiday season
With the festive season upon us, you may think that extra exercise and physical activity during this period will take care of those extra calories.
Sadly, no.
A person weighing 70kg would expend only about 280 calories after a 30-minute jog, and 130 calories after 30 minutes of resistance exercise. And the amount of calories burned would be fewer for people who weigh less, said Mr Png Eng Keat, a physiotherapist at Singapore General Hospital.
That is a mere dent, considering a typical Christmas meal of mashed potatoes, ham, turkey, log cake, Christmas pudding and red wine totals about 1,200 calories.
In fact, an average person can gobble down up to 8,000 calories worth of food on Christmas Day alone, said Mr Png. This is based on estimates in Western countries.
While having Christmas feasts are not quite part of our Asian culture, more people are embracing Western influences and our diets are becoming more similar, he added.
So, exercising to lose the calories consumed, or in anticipation of calories that you are planning to consume, is a skewed game of catch-up, he said.
And you may want to be careful about stepping up your routine too much, for a sudden increase in the amount or intensity of exercise can hurt the musculoskeletal system, leading to aches, pain or injuries, warned Mr Png.
INCREASE GRADUALLY
A better option would be a gradual increase in the amount and intensity of exercise, to allow the body to safely adapt to the increased level of stress caused by exercise.
A safe level of increment for a moderately intense cardiorespiratory exercise would be 10 to 15 minutes over two weeks, he said.
Long, sustained bouts of brisk walking and jogging are the best exercises to improve one’s cardiorespiratory fitness and burn calories, he added.
Cycling, dancing and practising martial arts are also helpful.
Generally, any form of activity that involves the sustained use of major muscle groups will cause more calories to be used up, said Mr Png.
One should maintain these activities at a moderate intensity and accumulate at least 150 minutes of it over a week.
Intensity can be estimated by the heart rate achieved during the exercise. When one is exercising at a moderate intensity, for instance, it should be at about 70 to 80 per cent of his maximum heart rate. You can get your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.
Source: Asia One
Published: 02 Jan 2015
Category: Features, Wellness and Complementary Therapies
