NEWS

"You don't have to exercise harder to lose weight -- just smarter."
CFM Conducts Study on Exercising Smarter

September, 24, 2005- That's what Exercise Physiologist Mike Lepp tells his clients. Now physicians at Cabarrus Family Medicine want to prove just that.

Dr. Mark Robinson will be working with Lepp to conduct a weight loss study to show how much more effective Lepp's approach is than the exercise regimen recom-mended by the American College of Sports Medicine.

A team of physicians at CFM have hypothesized that Lepp's method of using a metabolic test to determine the exact heart rate at which a person needs to exercise effec-tively will make participants lose at least eight more pounds than they normally would.

"We've been doing this predominantly in fitness settings and thought we could bring it to the medical profession," Lepp said.

Study participants will be broken into three groups. One will use Lepp's method and a heart rate monitor, one will use standard methods and a heart rate monitor and the third group will use the standard method but will check their heart rate only by checking their pulse.

The theory is simple: To lose weight one must burn fat, but exercising at high in-tensity levels only burns sugar.

"We want to have them burning the most calories possible at a sustainable rate," Lepp said.

The study says calorie counters on exercise machines send messages that the more intense the exercise, the more calories are burned.

But exercising at higher and higher levels simply burns glycogen in the muscles, Robinson said. Once that sugar has been burned up, people reach their anaerobic thresh-old and experience muscle fatigue.

"The body will just stop," Robinson said. "The muscles won't work anymore. This is what happens when endurance athletes hit the wall."

After performing a metabolic test that simply involves breathing into a mask while exercising, Lepp determines the exact heart rate the patient need to exercise at to lose weight.

Patients will be studied for 12 weeks and will check in once a week for the first three weeks and then once every two weeks.

The study is open only to non-smoker females aged 25 to 45 who are willing to follow directions and exercise regularly and don't have other medical conditions.

All clinic visits and procedures are at no charge to participants, who will also re-ceive a free club membership for the duration of the study.

Cabarrus Family Medicine will also offer the metabolic profiles to the public at large at a cost of between $85 and $235, depending on how involved the patient wants the profile to be.

Those interested in the study can contact Debi Wright at 704-721-7427.

To have your metabolic profile determined, call Cabarrus Family Medicine at 704-786-6521.

By Barbara Jones, Independent Tribune