• Physical activity is necessary to stay healthy (except when there is a medical reason not to exercise).
If you are overweight, it is complementary to the changes you are making with your diet plan and will help you slim and maintain your weight.
• You will burn better what you eat
Regular physical activity promotes improved heart and vascular health. It increases the oxidation of fats and sugar circulating in your blood after digesting a meal.
• You will keep your muscle
Physical activity will help you preserve muscle mass whilst slimming.
• You can develop more muscle
By exercising regularly and at a somewhat high intensity, you will increase the amount of muscle cells. You will remodel your silhouette with less fat and more muscle.
• You will increase your energy expenditure.
It is primarily your muscles that burn energy; approximately 75% of the energy that you consume.
Thus, the more muscular you become, the more you will burn energy and the quicker you will lose weight. In addition, you will be able to eat more or allow yourself to eat richer foods.
• You will feel better
Physical activity eliminates stress and gives a feeling of well-being and balance that is important for your morale.
Which exercise to choose?
Choose exercise that you enjoy in order to practice it regularly and with pleasure.
• Endurance activities (long duration): speed walking, jogging, hiking, swimming, cycling, cross-country skiing...
They force your body to draw from its fat reserves.
• High intensity activities (intense but for short duration): gymnastics, racing, downhill skiing, football, rugby, basketball,...
They force your body to burn carbohydrate (sugars) and help you reshape your body.
Ideally combine 2 types of activity: endurance and a high intensity activity. For example: jogging and gym.
Think about daily activities such as:
Climbing stairs.
Choose to walk instead of taking the car.
How long should I exercise for?
Don't forget that regularity is what counts the most.
• The minimum required for health is 30 minutes of a moderate intensity activity (which is a physical activity that makes you slightly breathless without transpiring) five times per week.
Examples: quick walking, cycling...
• In order to accelerate weight loss, practice on top of the 30 minutes per day mentioned above, a prolonged activity for ˝ to 1 hour at least three times per week.
Examples: jogging, cycling, ...
• Ideally, practice a prolonged physical activity of low intensity for 1 hour every day. Examples: fast walking, swimming.
With less than 20 minutes of physical activity, the body burns mostly the reserves of sugar to sustain the muscular effort. After 20 minutes, the body begins to burn fat.
Note: the objective of exercise is to increase your muscular weight, as the energy expenditure is not significant and in general does not justify an increase in dietary intake (except for certain prescriptions, adapted to each individual).
For example, when you burn 60 to 150kcal per 1 hour walking on flat land (this corresponds to the energy in a fruit or a glass of a sweet carbonated drink).
Adapt Your Menus depending on your exercise
Before exercising: We highlight two cases:
If you prefer losing weight to exercise performance:
Ideally practice physical activity on an empty stomach, or at least before absorbing sugary foods. Just before physical activity, you can eat, a protein food. For example: a slice of ham, hard-boiled egg, diets yoghurt...
After the physical activity you can consume carbohydrate containing foods such as bread, cereal, fruit, sugary foods...
If you prefer exercise performance or well-being to losing weight:
• The last meal should be at least, if possible, 3 hours before exercising in order to avoid digestive discomfort.
• It should be easy to digest and sufficiently rich in slow sugars or starch: starchy foods, bread, cereals...
• Make sure to drink plenty of water, or water flavoured with lemon (or another citrus fruit).
• Avoid foods that are heavy and hard to digest: meats and fatty fish, dishes with sauces, continental meats, dried pulses, cabbages...
Whilst exercising:
• Make sure to drink water in order to avoid dehydration.
• For more intense activities, and those lasting more than one hour, you may want to eat a small high-energy snack (cereal bar, dried fruit)
After exercising:
You must eliminate and reconstitute your energy reserves (in the form of glycogen in your muscles and liver).
The meal should be light in order to eliminate toxins from your body.
For example choose in your diet plan starchy foods (prescribed potatoes, pasta, rice, bread)
• Make sure to drink plenty of water, as well as broth or vegetable soup that are rich in minerals.
• Instead of meat choose: eggs lean fish, dairy products that produce less azoturic products.
• Cook without adding fat.
If you are following the LeDiet diet, you must take into account the prescribed foods in your diet plan and vary their breakdown during the day depending on exercise and selecting the advised above foods or their equivalent.
