Question

INTERPRETING THE REAL LIFE STORY: Shondra’s Experience

I was surprised at my results of the body composition assessments we did in our lab. The BMI calculation told me I was at a healthy weight (about 24). But when we did the skinfold test, I found out that I was almost 29 percent body fat, which is considered overweight. I talked about it with my instructor and I told her that for the first two years after starting college I had yo-yo dieted. I would eat a lot less, lose weight, and then get sick of dieting, eat what I wanted, and gain it all back, plus more. Also, I hated to exercise, so I didn’t do anything other than just walking from class to class. My instructor said she felt that my higher percent body fat might be due to my weight loss history. Each time I dieted, I probably lost lean body mass along with fat, and then when I gained weight back, I mainly gained fat, so over time my percent body fat went up. The good news is that over the course of the year, I became much more active and even started doing some basic strength training. Even though I didn’t lose any weight, my percent body fat went down to 23 percent, which is a lot healthier.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Shondra’s BMI results told her one thing, while her skinfold test told her another. What are some situations in which someone’s BMI will not give an accurate picture of whether or not he or she is overweight?

2. What types of attempts at weight loss are likely to end up being just another “yo-yo diet”? Have you had any experiences with any of these methods, and if so, what was the result? What strategies are more likely to lead to permanent and sustainable weight loss?

3. What role do you think strength training will play in your own weight management? Do you think strength training is a good idea for those who are trying to lose weight? Is it as important for women as for men?

Answer 1

1. When muscle mass is heavier, BMI may shows overweighted. And the BMI test doesn't takes an account of body fat accurately.

BMI does not take into account the body fat versus muscle or lean tissue content. Muscle is more denser and weighs heavier than fat (the cubic inch of muscle weighs more than the cubic inch of fat). So, BMI calculation shows overweighted when muscles contents are more.

2. Yo-yo dieting or weight cycling is the cyclical loss and gain of weight, that resembles the up-down motion of a yo-yo.

After completing the yo-yo diet, the dieter is likely to experience the body's starvation response, leading to rapid weight gain of only fat and the cycle changes the body's fat-to-muscle ratio, one of the more important factors in health.

The key strategies for achieving permanent weight loss is regular exercise with an eating plan that provides more satiety per calorie.

3. Strength training specializes the resistance to induce muscular contraction that builds the strength, anaerobic endurance, size of skeletal muscles and bone density.

Strength training actually strengthen the muscles with lowering body fats. So, it is a good way to lose weight in additions to the benefits of increased bone density reduced potential for injury, increased ligament strength and toughness, increased metabolism, increased fitness and improved cardiac function.

The strength training is not same for both sexes but the amount of muscles have no difference in strength between the both the sexes. Men have different responses to strength training than women and also they need strength train at least two times weekly.