Weight Loss, Diet and Slimming blog

Saturday, December 8. 2007

DDR Dance Dance Revolution and Weight Loss - Play a Game and Lose Weight?

What is dance dance revolution?

It is a game played using a television, a game console, the DDR software, and a dance pad.

The ddr game is played on a mat or platform with 4 arrows pointing in each direction (up, down, left, right) and four arrows on your tv screen that will scroll or overlap. When they overlap then you hit the corresponding arrow on the mat with your feet all while listening to lively music.

Dance dance revolution was started in video arcades but I feel the real weight loss benefits are going to be achieved now that it can be played in the privacy of your own home.

How expensive is DDR?

That is one of the beauties of dance dance revolution for home. You probably already own a TV and maybe even a playstation or similar game console. But even if you don't own a playstation everything you need can be purchased for approximately $300.00! This is much cheaper than many stationary bikes or elliptical machines.

How did you learn about dance dance revolution?

As part of my job here at weightloss-articles.com I subscribe to many newsletters and breaking news alerts, read many magazines, and research everything weight loss related. In one weeks time I received two breaking emails about weight loss studies with ddr and also came across one article and many many weight loss testimonials. This lead me to start researching to bring this information to our readers.

What are some of the claimed weight loss achievements?

In researching dance dance revolution weight loss achievements I came across testimonials from users claiming anywhere from 5 to 95 pounds of fat loss! I am a skeptic, especially when I read a claim on a site that is selling products, however, when I find message boards full of real people claiming weight loss I tend to believe it more. It just makes sense ? if you enjoy it and do it on a daily basis you will burn more calories!

Who is DDR for?

DDR is for people who want to lose weight but who have not found a cardiovascular exercise they enjoy enough to stick with. Overweight children who love video games will benefit greatly from ddr. Dance dance revolution is for the people who enjoy dancing, music, moving, and a good challenge. DDR is also for anyone who is bored to tears with a treadmill, exercise bike, or elliptical machine. Most importantly it is for people healthy enough for exercise and who have been cleared by their doctor.

Conclusion

I believe that if your exercise and eating routines incorporate something you enjoy then you will more than likely succeed in your goals. My cardiovascular exercise of choice and a great passion in my life is mountain biking therefore I find it easy to do and want to go ride anytime I get an opportunity. When I heard of dance dance revolution or ddr I became very excited because I know many people will benefit from this and achieve their weight loss and fitness goals simply because they will feel the same way about ddr that I feel about mountain biking. If you think it is something you will enjoy, can do on a regular basis, and will stick with then by all means give it a try. DDR is creating a craze and a community of people willing to share stories, success, and experiences. Let us know if you have a dance dance revolution weight loss story you would like to share with us.

As always, I wish for you the best of health,

Bill Herren is the webmaster for http://www.weightloss-articles.com Top weight loss site! Weight loss articles, success stories, product reviews and much more! Every thing you need to reach your weight loss goals.

Tuesday, September 11. 2007

Why Exercise Promotes Weight Loss

Health24.com
Why exercise promotes weight loss

Exercise can make an important contribution to preventing or reversing obesity. Exercise is essential in controlling or reducing body weight. Here are the 10 major reasons why exercise helps you to lose weight.

Direct energy expenditure
Exercise helps with weight maintenance through direct energy expenditure (burning extra energy derived from body fat) and also improves aerobic fitness.

Mobilisation of body fat
Exercise mobilises body fat and increases fat oxidation - so when you exercise the sluggish energy stores in body fat get put into use and burnt to release energy, thus reducing the amount of fat stored in the body.

Greater benefit for overweight people
Studies have shown that overweight people lose more body fat when they exercise than lean individuals. Thus exercise, especially of the aerobic type like cycling, jogging and brisk walking, has a more pronounced effect on those people who are obese and want to lose weight, than on people who are already thin.

Increases lean muscle tissue
Resistance exercise like gym workouts using apparatus and weight-lifting increases lean body mass or muscle tissue which has a higher energy turnover than fat tissue. By increasing the amount of lean muscle tissue in the body, the amount of energy you require to keep you body ticking over is also increased - a condition that promotes weight-loss.

Counteracts energy conserving measures
Exercise counteracts some of the self-protecting physiological responses to weight-reduction diets. When the human body is exposed to a reduced food intake on a low-calorie/kilojoule diet, a number of protective functions get activated to preserve the energy supply, for example processes that use up energy are reduced or switched off to conserve energy. If a low-calorie/kilojoule diet is combined with exercise, the body cannot go into the "switch-off mode", thus leading to weight-loss.

Raises resting metabolic rate
Exercise stimulates the sympathetic part of the nervous system and raises the so-called resting metabolic rate (RMR). The RMR is the amount of energy your body needs to keep physiological progresses going (breathing, heart beat, digestion) when you are completely at rest. If the RMR is boosted then you use up more energy even when you are resting and start to lose weight.

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