Do you put on weight in a few years after losing weight by dieting?
You’re not the only one. About 80 per cent of the people who lose weight by dieting gain it back on in a four-to-five year period.
The problem with dieting is that when you restrict calories you also lose muscle mass and as a result your metabolism slows down to accommodates the restriction of food.
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Moderate intensity exercises such as dancing or a brisk walk has been shown to reduce the lowering of metabolic rate while restricting calories through diet.
However, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham wanted to find out if high-intensity interval training (HIIT) had the same effect.
For this, 5-week old male mice were placed on a high fat diet (HFD) for 11 weeks and then randomised into one of the four groups – Remain on HFD, Calorie Restriction (25% lower energy intake), Calorie Restriction + HIIT and Calorie Restriction + Moderate intensity aerobic exercise (MIT).
The researchers found that HIIT along with a calorie restricted diet preserved muscle mass and also showed greater improvement in glucose/insulin tolerance.
Improvement in glucose metabolism in CR +HIIT group is associated with a molecular signature which seems to enhance glucose and lipid storage in skeletal muscle.
Previous studies have shown that MIT burns more calories, but further studies have shown that HIIT produces the same amount of weight loss doing exercises for 20 minutes as doing MIT exercises for 60 minutes.
The reason most people don’t exercise is lack of time and HIIT along with restricting calories helps those on a diet to prevent muscle mass loss while maintaining energy expenditure – important implications for guiding people on their weight loss journey and helping them keep that weight off.
Source: American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology And Metabolism
