WHY I LIKE EXERCISE?

The reason we exercise is not just to burn those 100-plus calories for every mile we walk. Exercise does much more--it helps to increase our metabolic rate so we burn calories faster, Also, studies show that for a few hours following exercise, we continue to burn calories at a faster rate.
Exercise helps to prevent the body from moving towards the starvation or hibernation response. Many persons who go on a low-calorie diet cause their metabolism to be lowered and their body starts to conserve energy. Exercise will resist the body's attempt to move into this condition.
Those who exercise usually gain muscle mass instead of losing it. Up to 20 percent of the weight lost by those who diet without exercise can be lean tissue. Those who increase exercise and while cutting calories usually gain a few pounds of lean tissue as they lose body fat. Lean tissue is needed to help metabolize fat. Those who diet without exercise lose lean tissue and therefore have less muscle tissue to metabolize fat.Regular exercise has a positive effect on body chemistry. Studies show that muscle tissue from trained athletes contains more fat-burning enzymes than muscle from untrained individuals. Untrained subjects who participate in endurance-type exercise for several months develop an increased amount of fat-burning enzymes.
Most fat people have excessive insulin in their body tissues. An excess of insulin in body tissues, which is not used by the cells, can actually cause an increased storage of fat. Exercise helps the body's cells to better utilize insulin, thereby reducing the need for more insulin.
All of the evidence is not in on exercise as a means of appetite control for humans. Some studies show obese people seem to experience an appetite suppression following moderate exercise, while other studies seem to contradict the findings. Appetite suppression following exercise may be psychological, but it certainly works for many.
Grant Gwinup, a researcher from the University of California campus in lrvine, studied obese men and women to see if exercise alone was effective in helping people lose weight.
Gwinup worked with a group of 34 obese men and women who were de-moralized after years of trying to lose weight. He told them to start a daily walking program and gradually work to increase their time and distance. The group accomplished nothing until they worked up to half an hour a day. Then they started losing weight and, at the end of the year, every one of the 11 patients who stuck with the program lost a significant amount of weight. The average weight loss was 22 pounds. The most successful lost 38 pounds, the least successful 10 pounds.