Exercise=weight loss, the science please

[RubysGold]

Ok I know Im being a bit dim
Anything remotely scientific has always gone straight over my head, so please keep it fairly simple for me

What happens when a horse (or person) exercises, how does that get rid of excess weight. What if (like me) your skinny already, what does my body use instead of fat.

My horse has had an operation (few months back now), and therefore we can't do all that much, we're up to an hour hacking walk and trot. Does exercise=weight loss only if you exercise until you are tired and sweating, if so, that means my horse isnt going to lose any weight from that until she is fully rehab'd and can do more?

Confuseddddd Lol

 

[camilla4]

Does exercise=weight loss only if you exercise until you are tired and sweating, if so, that means my horse isnt going to lose any weight from that until she is fully rehab'd and can do more?

Confuseddddd Lol

HI there,

No, this isn't the case at all. Basically, any exercise requires fuel. Generally speaking, and keeping it very simple, the food that you eat breaks down into compounds which are "burnt" as fuel by the body in the same way the a fire burns coal or wood. Once the substances in your bloodstream have been used, your body will use stored fuel. Losing weight basically depends on you burning more fuel than you consume. All exercise will burn up this fuel but, if you are consuming as much fuel as you need, you will not use any stored fat so will not lose weight. At the very least, low level exercise, combined with careful feeding, will ensure that you horse will gain as little weight as possible!

 

[little_critter]

Energy comes from calories, meaning any work you do will burn calories - even if it's just 5 minutes walking.
If you want to lose weight you must burn more calories than you are putting in to them through food. So either do more work or eat less food.
It's a balancing act, they will need food (even if it's just grazing) so they have the energy to work (and just generally live, breath, power the internal organs etc).
You need to make sure you are not giving them more food than they can burn off during work.

Doing some exercise (even if they're not puffing and sweaty) is better than doing no exercise.

However there is a diffrence between being slim and being fit. Think about comparing a skinny supermodel who stays slim through not eating and a marathon runner.
They'll have similar waist measurements but the model could be out of puff walking up stairs while the marathon runner can happily run 26 miles (and probably eats like a horse to keep up with his energy demands).

Fat is not the body's first choice for energy supply - it's harder to break down and make use of. I believe the first choice of the body is the glycogen stores in the muscles (a bit like starch I think). There is only so much of this you can store, once this is used up the body will start to burn fat. Once you finish your exercise the glycogen starts to build up its reserves again ready for the next time it's needed.
Again - think of the marathon runner; they don't start the race with a spare tyre round their waist! They are using the glycogen stores in their muscles.

Hope this babbling is of some help!

 

[zangersheide]

Don't know the sciency bit but apparently walking is better for burning fat that running

 

[jenki13]

Energy comes from calories, meaning any work you do will burn calories - even if it's just 5 minutes walking.
If you want to lose weight you must burn more calories than you are putting in to them through food. So either do more work or eat less food.
It's a balancing act, they will need food (even if it's just grazing) so they have the energy to work (and just generally live, breath, power the internal organs etc).
You need to make sure you are not giving them more food than they can burn off during work.

Doing some exercise (even if they're not puffing and sweaty) is better than doing no exercise.

However there is a diffrence between being slim and being fit. Think about comparing a skinny supermodel who stays slim through not eating and a marathon runner.
They'll have similar waist measurements but the model could be out of puff walking up stairs while the marathon runner can happily run 26 miles (and probably eats like a horse to keep up with his energy demands).

Fat is not the body's first choice for energy supply - it's harder to break down and make use of. I believe the first choice of the body is the glycogen stores in the muscles (a bit like starch I think). There is only so much of this you can store, once this is used up the body will start to burn fat. Once you finish your exercise the glycogen starts to build up its reserves again ready for the next time it's needed.
Again - think of the marathon runner; they don't start the race with a spare tyre round their waist! They are using the glycogen stores in their muscles.

Hope this babbling is of some help!

This is a pretty good description. The bodies first choice of energy supply is glycogen (the stored form of glucose) found in the muscles & liver.
Fat provides more energy but takes longer to break down into the energy & therefore is a more secondary source.

Any exercise will burn energy i.e calories, BUT once your body adapts to a certain exercise it will require less energy to perform so burn less calories.
For example you go for a mile jog you come back sweating buckets & feeling like your dying (lol) keep going out & 4 weeks later you can jog it easily, barely out of breath. Your body has adapted & you don't use as much energy to perform a certain exercise. So you increase your training (amount or distance) & you start feeling tired again & continue losing those pounds!

I think it works the same in horses

 

[VioletStripe]

When you exercise, you use more energy because your muscles are working harder so need more oxygen and glucose to use for the extra work. This means you use up the extra fat on your body which is essentially just stored energy from where you haven't used all the calories you've put it. And when it says to use a brisk walk, this is because it uses aerobic respiration which is more efficient. When you do cardio work, you use anaerobic respiration which is what makes your muscles hurt - lactic acid is produced. But, it's when you begin to burn the fat off because you're using up more of your energy supplies. You don't need to do cardio everyday, but any form of exercise helps to increase your metabolic rate and burn off calories because it's harder work - only if you don't then compensate by adding even more calories because of it! xx

 

[jenki13]

Don't know the sciency bit but apparently walking is better for burning fat that running

& this ^^ is due to the fact that at low-medium level intensity exercise your body can meet the energy demands through burning fat & therefore it becomes the primary source & carbs (glucose) becomes the secondary one.
(They both actually work at the same time but one becomes dominant over the other)

Oh & also if you burn up your carb stores through exercise (& not fully replaced) this means that other daily activities use more fat for energy. Its why the Atkins diet works (in the fact it makes you lose weight whilst your on it) but also makes you feel like poo because your body actually prefers using carbs for energy

 

[Fanatical]

This is a really interesting thread. Lots of good advice and info..!

 

[BBP]

Don't know the sciency bit but apparently walking is better for burning fat that running

Aaaargh! Just leaving for work so will try to come back to this one when I get home as this is not entirely true. Basically at certain % of max heart rate the body utilises a higher proportion of fat to carbs as fuel, but the total energy expenditure is so much higher at higher intensities that the actual total calorie burn from fat is still generally higher when working at a higher heart rate. Obviously your horse is not able to work at higher intensities anyway, so at the moment it's irrelevant, but people often use this as an excuse for not pushing themselves harder! Don't know if I explained that well, am in a rush!

 

[camilla4]

Aaaargh! Just leaving for work so will try to come back to this one when I get home as this is not entirely true. Basically at certain % of max heart rate the body utilises a higher proportion of fat to carbs as fuel, but the total energy expenditure is so much higher at higher intensities that the actual total calorie burn from fat is still generally higher when working at a higher heart rate. Obviously your horse is not able to work at higher intensities anyway, so at the moment it's irrelevant, but people often use this as an excuse for not pushing themselves harder! Don't know if I explained that well, am in a rush!

That's very true, Kat! At the end of the day, it the energy expenditure which counts when it comes to weight loss but so many people are condtioned to work out in the "fat burning zone" that they become misled. Tried to avoid putting too much in this thread as OP seeemd keen to avoid too much science so my initial reply was incredibly basic!