"If you want to lose weight, you need muscles"

Created: 12/21/2022, 6:00 p.m

By: Bettina Stuhlweißenburg

Exercise and a plant-based diet help to stay slim and fit, say the trainers Petra Lammert (left) and Monika Griesser from "Medifit." could not attend the interview and © appointment.

Photo: TP

Goose, mulled wine and other delicacies: Two experts explain how to get through the holidays without breaking the bank

Holzkirchen – Goose, mulled wine and other delicacies: Many families have a feast at Christmas.

Under what conditions short-term feasting is not so bad is explained by two people who should know: The qualified sports scientist Monika Griesser and her colleague Petra Lammert, Bachelor of Arts in health sports and prevention, take care of themselves in the "Medifit" training and health studios Holzkirchen and Hausham care about the holistic well-being of their customers.

Ms. Lammert, Ms. Griesser, how can you avoid a figure disaster over the holidays despite cookies and mulled wine?

Petra Lammert:

If you exercise regularly throughout the year and pay attention to your diet and your acid-base balance, you can enjoy the Christmas season.

Prevention is the secret!

How do you take care of your acid-base balance?

Lammert:

Alcohol, sugar, too much red meat, but also lack of sleep and stress lead to acidification of the body.

Those who are acidic feel exhausted and cannot sleep well at night.

It is helpful to drink a lot of water so that harmful substances can be transported away.

We need pure, mineral-rich water, no soda, no juice spritzers.

We don't have to be vegetarian, but it shouldn't be a beef steak every day.

In order to keep the acid-base balance in balance, the following also applies here: exercise, a plant-based diet and sauna sessions.

Why can those who exercise regularly throughout the year feast over the holidays without gaining significant weight?

Monika Griesser:

Because they usually have more muscle mass.

In the trained skeleton there is a 40 percent higher mitochondrial density.

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells.

There the supplied food is converted into energy.

If you build up to two kilos of muscle mass over the year, you increase your basal metabolic rate, i.e. your energy consumption per day, by around 160 calories.

If you want to lose weight, you have to build muscle to burn energy.

How often do you have to train for it?

Griesser:

It should be two to three times a week.

also read

Holzkirchen: Accident with hit-and-run at kindergarten

READ

Kinderland has been drained: more groups can return in January - one after-school care group remains quartered out

READ

More fitness: TuS Holzkirchen with a new division and additional courses

READ

To survive the war winter: Aid convoy brings 400 boxes from Holzkirchen in Ukraine

READ

Conservationists and hunters in Bavaria argue about kills: "The deer is not a sacred cow"

READ

Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

Does endurance training help?

Griesser:

We should do both: muscle and endurance training.

Running, for example, can be harmful for someone who has little muscle.

Because muscles relieve the joints.

Muscles also make endurance training more efficient.

How do you motivate yourself to exercise when it's cold outside and very comfortable on the sofa?

Griesser:

Anyone who keeps fit all year round with sport and a healthy diet produces enough happiness hormones such as serotonin and dopamine in winter.

They help with motivation.

Sufficient sleep is also important for regeneration.

It should be an average of seven hours of regenerative sleep.

In our culture, most people don't get that amount of work or the quality of sleep they need.

Why is that?

Griesser:

Mobile phones, tablets, streaming services and the like are certainly a big topic. People go to bed, but instead of sleeping there, they look at their mobile phones.

Sometimes you hear about the “hunt-and-wait principle”: You should wait an hour after exercising before you eat, because then your metabolism is still running at full speed and energy reserves are used immediately.

Is that correct?

Griesser:

That depends on the individual training level.

Especially after hard training sessions, it is important to have a good immediate supply of all important regeneration substances, such as electrolytes, vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates.

Then the body quickly gets into supercompensation, i.e. increased performance and muscle building.

Which foods provide us with these regeneration substances after exercise?

Lammert:

About a high-quality protein shake without sugar and without flavor enhancers and a banana.

Cold bathing is said to be a fat killer.

Is that correct?

Lammert:

In fact, the body needs energy to generate heat.

So it can go to the fat reserves.

Reducing the room temperature to 20 degrees and sleeping at 18 degrees stimulates the metabolism.

Does skipping dinner help to keep from gaining weight?

Lammert:

Skipping meals to save calories only helps to a limited extent and is not a long-term solution.

In order to burn energy, the body needs many vital substances.

So vitamins, magnesium and secondary plant substances.

Also a balanced hormone level.

The same applies here: a plant-based, varied diet, two liters of mineral-rich water a day and exercise help to keep you from gaining weight.

If you gained two to three kilos over the Christmas period: how do you get them off?

Lammert:

Diets are not helpful.

Not least because doing without means stress for body and mind.

And to avoid a yo-yo effect, once you've reached a weight, you have to hold it for at least three weeks for the hypothalamus to remember that weight.

Instead, you should always focus on a plant-based diet, two liters of water a day and – very importantly – exercise.

Anyone who lives like this will automatically find their way back to the old form after Christmas.

Holzkirchen-Newsletter: Everything from your region!

Our Holzkirchen newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Holzkirchen region - including all the news about the Corona crisis in your community.

Sign up here.