Exercise for weight loss: a comprehensive reshaping of bodily functions, from improved body shape to enhanced heart function and metabolic rate.
The health benefits of exercise for weight loss are mainly manifested in reducing obesity levels until a normal weight is achieved, as well as in improving metabolism, enhancing cardiovascular function, improving athletic ability, and treating and preventing chronic diseases. The most important impacts of exercise on the body shape and health of obese patients include the following: Improvement of body shape in obese patients: Long-term exercise can increase the proportion of energy derived from fat at rest, preventing excessive fat accumulation and avoiding obesity. Exercise has a significant effect on improving the body shape of obese patients; prolonged aerobic exercise can lead to varying degrees of reduction in morphological indicators such as weight, body circumference, and BMI.
The effect of exercise on fatty liver in obese patients: After exercise-based weight loss, the degree of fatty liver significantly improved, indicating that aerobic exercise has a positive effect on improving and treating fatty liver. The effect of exercise on improving fatty liver is certain. This effect is mainly achieved by reducing the body's fat content during exercise, thereby lowering the level of triglycerides in the blood and reducing the amount of triglycerides entering liver cells. It does not improve the liver's ability to oxidize triglycerides through exercise. The effect of exercise on lipid metabolism: In normal individuals, blood lipids account for approximately 0.04% of body weight. Although this is only a small portion of the body's lipids, changes in blood lipids can reflect the amount of body fat and the body's utilization of fat stores, thus largely reflecting the state of lipid metabolism.
Studies indicate that lack of exercise is a major risk factor for dyslipidemia. Long-term, appropriate exercise can improve lipoprotein metabolism. It is generally believed that after a period of aerobic exercise, serum TC, TG, and LDL concentrations can decrease in obese patients, while HDL, HDL/LDL ratio, and ApoA/ApoB ratios can increase. Exercise for weight loss improves cardiac function in obese patients: after weight loss through exercise, the resting heart rate and immediate heart rate during quantitative exercise significantly decrease. Left ventricular diastolic and systolic functions are significantly enhanced. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume increases, while end-systolic volume decreases. The increase in left ventricular end-diastolic volume is particularly pronounced.
This indicates that in severely obese patients, the pericardial fat filling the pericardial cavity reduces ventricular diastolic function. Exercise and weight loss reduce pericardial fat, significantly increasing end-diastolic ventricular volume. We call this morphological change resulting from the reduction of pericardial fat a physical morphological change, while the changes in cardiac morphology, structure, and function after exercise leading to improved ventricular diastolic function are called functional morphological changes. Exercise and weight loss also improve the risk factors for atherosclerosis in obese patients: after exercise and weight loss, the levels of fasting lipid profiles, plasma atherosclerotic index (AIP), and acyl-CoA cholesterol acyltransferase 2 (ACAT2) significantly decreased, reducing the risk of atherosclerosis to some extent.
The effects of exercise on inflammatory factors and antioxidant capacity in obese patients: Obese patients are in a state of chronic inflammation. After exercise, tumor necrosis factor significantly decreases, and antioxidant capacity improves. If essential amino acids are adequately supplemented during exercise, the improvement in inflammation and antioxidant capacity is even more pronounced. Low-intensity, long-duration exercise plays a definite role in promoting healthy weight loss. We believe that evaluating the effectiveness of weight loss is not only reflected in changes in body shape, but more importantly, in the degree to which weight loss improves metabolic syndrome. Any weight loss method that has adverse effects on health or does not improve metabolic syndrome is unscientific and unreasonable.
Exercise combined with appropriate nutritional intervention is currently considered an effective, safe, simple, and economical weight loss method. However, exercise may also have certain side effects, and it is essential to pay attention to their prevention during the exercise process to achieve the best results. Exercise injuries: Due to their excessive weight, obese patients experience significantly increased load on bones and joints during exercise. This is especially true for severely obese patients, whose knee and ankle joints may undergo degenerative changes or injuries due to the weight-bearing, making them more susceptible to injury during exercise.
Ankle injuries occur in up to 7.1% of cases, and knee injuries in up to 6.3%. Ankle and knee injuries significantly hinder the effectiveness of exercise for weight loss, so prevention is crucial. Muscle injuries are also common in obese individuals during exercise; sudden changes in posture or rapid corrections can easily lead to muscle strains. In a normal standing position, the center of gravity of obese individuals shifts forward compared to those of normal weight, and those with weak erector spinae muscles are prone to forward spinal tilt, which can result in posterior disc herniation during sudden bending movements. Besides excessive body weight, the main causes of joint and muscle injuries during exercise in obese individuals are insufficient warm-up and lack of concentration during exercise.