By Bill Nurge
Millions of Americans lose their lives every year to obesity. It’s a devastating multiplier for every physical malady know to man, including Covid.
Not sure if you’re overweight? Click on the link to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI), which is the standard measure of body fat based on height and weight. https://www.calculator.net/bmi-calculator.html
Excess body fat has nothing to do with aesthetics, and everything to do with health and longevity. Being overweight puts a person at an exponentially higher risk for SEVEN (bold below) out of the top 11 leading causes of deaths per year in the United States.
The top causes of death per year according to the CDC are:
“Losing excess body fat is more important now, than ever…”
David A. Kass, MD, a cardiologist at John Hopkins University, wrote that his findings demonstrate that obesity is the single most important—and largest– independent risk factor for serious COVID-19 disease.
“Our findings reveal the distressing collision of 2 pandemics: COVID-19 and Obesity. As COVID-19 continues to spread, we must focus our immediate efforts on containing the crisis at hand. Yet our findings also underscore the need to combat the the equally devastating, and synergistic, force of the obesity epidemic.
What’s so bad about an extra 10-20 lbs?
Fat is metabolically active, and it produces pro-inflammatory molecules called cytokines, which are a type of immune protein. It’s as if your body is battling itself continuously—an ongoing war caused by signals released from fat cells–which the immune system responds to by producing a background of inflammation. So if you are overweight, your baseline is characterized by a constant battle against inflammation, caused by excess fat.
When an overweight person is infected with Covid you superimpose a much bigger battle–with a novel virus that the immune system has not seen before–and the whole system becomes hyper-activated in a cytokine storm of inflammation that can have devastating consequences.
Here’s the full article: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/latest-evidence-on-obesity-and-covid-19
So what’s the best way to drop some lbs and win a street fight with Covid if it calls you out?
You’ll definitely want both fists up, which means the debilitating one-two punch of diet and exercise. For exercise, make sure you’re getting 3x/week, 60 minute sessions, of high-intensity full body resistance training that check all 6 boxes in every workout:
1. STRENGTH at all loads/angles/speeds to be stronger for Life and Sports.
2. STAMINA in all of your muscles to burn more fat, and feel energized all day.
3. MOBILITY in every joint to move more freely, reduce injuries, and feel younger.
4. MUSCLES that are lean, powerful, & function optimally for your active lifestyle.
5. COORDINATION to improve sports performance and overall athleticism.
6. CORE DYNA-STABILITY to eliminate back pain, and move with confidence.
Throw in some moderate intensity outdoor cardio (30-45 mins) 2-3x/week and you’ve got our recipe for building lean, mean, fitness machines 🙂
Check out the coreenginefitness.com home page to learn more about using the CATALYZER™ to lose weight, and build the fitness you need for Life and Sports.
For diet, we adhere religiously to the K.I.S.S. principle…
Keep It Simple Sweetheart by eating less often. By prolonging your overnight fast—i.e. skipping breakfast; and lunch if you can—you spend more time burning fat as an energy source.
You’ll also end up eating less by narrowing the time-frame in which you consume calories. Studies show that eating the same number of calories (2,300) per day at 5:00 p.m. (this is when we usually eat our first calories), leads to fat loss (5 lbs/8 weeks=40 lbs/year!) as compared to no fat lost when consuming the same number of calories in 3 meals/day. It’s really simple, and it really works if you get used to eating later in the day, instead of all day.
Here’s a rec-cap of some quick links to get you started with optimizing your body mass with the CATALYZER home gym:
• Choose a CAT Kit that works for your budget, and your goals.
• Start performing free online workouts featuring hundreds of new exercises
• Sign up for our FitCAT30 Challenge which will help you create new habits that will change your body and life.
• Join our online community and meet lots of motivated athletes
We’re all on the same team, with the same goal of looking, feeling, and functioning our best.
Check out this 60 sec video to see some of the exercises we use to stay lean year round..
