Personalizing rest periods and dietary intake after exercise results in more permanent weight loss, according to a recent study published in the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine.
Lead author and founder of The Catching Point Transformation, J. David Prologo, MD, is a dual board certified interventional radiologist and obesity specialist in Atlanta, GA. Prologo explained that “a great deal of the diet failures we see nowadays are because people are trying to follow generalized schedules written for the masses. In reality, each person needs different combinations of time and nutrients to change their bodies after a given workout. Coming back and exercising again before the body is ready – because a blanket schedule instructs you too – is like throwing a grenade on a rickety bridge, and most people react by ‘quitting their diets.'”
Instead, Prologo explained, people need to listen to the feedback from their bodies. When fatigue, soreness, and “the gloom” hit four or five days into the diet or fitness program, a program option is needed that will adjust to that.
To be “on track” Prologo said that the dieter won’t need to start over. Instead, a program needed to be generated is a point total at which the person will reach goals, and instead of “chucking the whole thing, when your motivation wanes, the program will absorb and accommodate the users need for a day off. The schedule will reorganize accordingly around these needs for breaks, and the person ‘stays after’ their original point total.”
“What really matters in the end is how much exercise and how many nutrients a person gets. Not whether or not they can do it on a predetermined schedule,” Prologo said. “This way, users give their bodies a chance to adjust for the long run. Dieters can actually finish a program. Finish and get somewhere.”
