The resumption of physical activity in a journey of combating obesity can worry or even put off some. Dr. Antoine Desvergée, hospital practitioner in the physical medicine service and rehabilitation of the CAEN Normandy University Hospital, shares his advice to facilitate it.
- For a successful physical activity, it is advisable to be accompanied.
- You also have to choose fun activities.
- Sport-health houses can help find the help of a risk-free physical activity.
Obesity is a multifactorial disease. Thus, all the people who decide to fight against their extra pounds, must pay attention to their plate, to their mental and physiological health, but also to act against a non-negligible factor of obesity: sedentary lifestyle. However, becoming more active after years of inactivity is not always simple. Dr. Antoine Desvergée, hospital practitioner in the physical medicine department and rehabilitation of the CAEN Normandy University Hospital, explains how to use physical activity without risk.
Resumption of physical activity and obesity: you have to be accompanied …
“The worst of the messages to be transmitted is that the purpose of physical exercise is to lose weight. It is actually necessary to support weight loss, but the resumption of physical activity is not enough in itself. We must take into account all components: nutrition, psychology, health“warns the specialist.
Dr Antoine Desvergée wanted to recall this point, because an important element remains little known to the general public: “Physical activity does not lose weight. It is actually necessary not to lose a muscle ”, explains the doctor. Indeed, during weight loss, a somewhat vicious circle can settle. The fat mass certainly decreases, but the patient loses at the same time of the muscle. However, the decrease in muscle mass leads to less energy consumption, and by domino effect a ceiling effect occurs. “Finally, with physical activity alone, the distribution between fatty mass and lean mass changes, but weighting it moves quite little”specifies Dr. Desvergée. “It is important to explain this to patients before resuming the exercise to avoid demotivation.”
Pain when taking up physical activity
Beyond the potentially discouraging ceiling effect, obese people who take up physical activity, encounter an obstacle: the increase in pain when taking back physical activity. “Return to motion can lead to an additional pain, especially in terms of lumbar, hips or knees. It is temporary – two or three weeks – but it is necessary to prevent them, as this can lead to rapid stop after the recovery of physical activity.”
How to avoid these demoralizing traps during this care and sports course? “Rule number 1 is to be accompanied” by trained professionals. “The nutritionist, all people who want to find a healthy weight, think about it. But obesity requires multidisciplinary work. Depending on the involvement, you need either a physiotherapist or a teacher in adapted physical activity, or a sports educator”adds the doctor. “When patients are accompanied, activities are adapted to their physical conditions and their abilities. They are warned of possible pain at the start. They are advanced gradually to limit the risk of injury and return to inactivity.”
To find help, it is possible to push the door of a sport-health house. “There are now on the whole territory. Supporting and physical activity reports are offered. Patients are oriented according to their capacities and their way of life”explains Dr. Desvergée.
… and have fun to fight inactivity
Are some physical exercises to be avoided when taking care of obesity? “In practice, all high intensity and significant impact activities should be not recommended for people who suffer from major weight problems. But in reality, there is no contraindication from the moment the activity is adapted to the level and health of people,” says Dr. Desvergé.
Besides, the specialist has a final important recommendation for people who seek to resume physical activity. Building as much on his professional experience as on scientific literature, he ensures that the best way to achieve his fitness goal is to have fun when you do sports. “Indeed, buying a carpet on the internet and making it at home alone, is not effective. As it is quite off -putting, few people hold on the length. The sessions must be fun. When people have fun, the effort seems less difficult”warns the doctor.
“You have to understand that we can and that we have to move while having fun. This is how we fight against obesity, because it allows you to adopt in the long term a lifestyle in movement and not sedentary”concludes Dr Desvergée.
