Vibrating your way to weight loss

They are the words we've all been dying to hear; "You can blast fat by just standing still. "

HealthFirst reporter Leslie Toldo is here- probably to tell us what the catch is with this theory.

You stand still, no doubt about it, on a vibrating platform, and researchers at the State University of New York say not only will you lose fat, but you may fight off osteoporosis, too.

Remember vibrating exercise machines that promised weight loss. Sounds silly, right?

Researchers are now studying the effects of vibration with surprising results.

Mice that stood on this platform for 15 minutes a day formed more bone mass and less fat.

"The funny connection between bone and fat is they all come from the same cell," Clinton Rubin, a professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department, said.

That stem cell can become muscle, bone or fat. Scientists believe the gentle vibrations cause the cell to turn into bone to tolerate the jiggling.

"So, it's a different way of thinking about why we become obese," Rubin said.

In this torso scan, the red is fat. The vibrating mouse, seen at the bottom, formed about 30 percent less fat during the study.

The platform also showed promise in humans. Postmenopausal women who stood on the vibrating plate maintained their bone mass, while those who didn't lost about three percent.

Rubin said tennis players are a good example of how shaking leads to bigger bones. They have 35 percent more bone in their playing arms.

These vibrations may one day be a simple way to fight both osteoporosis and obesity -- problems that plague millions of Americans.

Okay now, before you let your imagination run wild, vibrations don't remove fat cells. They help fewer develop. So if you already have fat to get rid of you will still need diet and exercise.

You also need to be careful. The vibrations used in this case are gentle, so filling up your watching machine with tennis shoes and sitting on top is probably not a good idea, and could actually be dangerous for you.

And that would be the catch.

-Source

Maximize weight Loss, Three simple rules

We do agree the key to permanent weight loss and true fitness is a lifetime commitment to exercise and eating right.

But hey, there must be a shortcut to this goal in there somewhere?

"Yes there is," says Sammie Richards creator of Booty Camp Fitness, a program that invites women to laugh, jump, lunge, and punch their way to a great-looking body. "Just like learning to eat right step by step, we must also learn to exercise that way."

Don't waste your time, for example, on routines or

machines that fail you, she says. Instead, here are the three key principles to give you the most efficient, weight loss workout every time, courtesy of Booty-CampFitness.com:

1. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)-- Forget walking for 60 minutes every day, who has time for that? A 10-15 minute HIIT cardio workout burns more fat. If you spent 15 minutes doing HIIT on a stationary bike, for example, it would be the "calorie burning" equivalent to 60 minutes of walking.

2. Combine Resistance and Cardio Training-- Not only do you burn more calories during the workout if you combine cardio with resistance training, but it boosts your metabolism after the workout because of the resistance portion. For example, cardio alone will boost your metabolism for three to six hours, and resistance training continues to burn increased calories for 24 to 48 hours post-workout.

3. Muscle is Metabolism-- Lifting weights or body sculpting isn't enough. You need to challenge your muscles by working them harder and harder each time. Progressive strength training can be done with body weight, free weights, or machines. All that matters is that it's progressive and it's challenging enough to force the muscles to make improvements. For example, each additional pound of lean muscle mass will burn an additional 50 calories or so, per day.

-J. C. CARROLL, NEWS CANADA