Weight Gain: Ways to fight the Battle of the Bulge
At any given moment, 33-40% of women and the 20-24% of men are trying to lose weight. Yet an estimated ¼ to 1/3 are still overweight, which increases their risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as gallbladder disease, gout and some types of cancer.
Traditional knowledge says that 3,500 calories equal one pound of weight. Cut the calories, burn more of them than you consume and you’ll drop pounds. That’s been the approach for years- but isn’t working. Short-term calorie-restricted diets can generally help you lose, but as much as 2/3 of that weight is generally regained within a year and almost all of it within five years.
Many diets just don’t work for the long haul. If you really want to keep the weight off the rest of your life, you have to change your lifestyle.
Here’s some ways to lose fat wisely and increase your chances of keeping it off.
1. Decide first if you truly need to lose weight. Look at your shape, height, weight, and history of obesity-linked diseases and the history of those factors in your family.
2. Make a plan. Once you decide you’re ready to change your lifestyle to reach a desirable weight, you’ll have to figure out how to do that. Most experts recommend learning to make nutritionally sound food choices, eating an adequate amount of food each day, and increase your physical activity.
3. Don’t plan to lose too much too soon. Rapid weight loss generally means a rapid weight gain down the road. Don’t try to lose more than half a pound a week.
4. Pick a good time. Don’t decide to start this the week before your wedding or right after you lose your job. You don’t want to choose a period of high stress only to add additional stress.
5. Don’t try to change everything at once. It’s unrealistic to think that tomorrow you’ll completely redo your food habits in some 180-degree shift.
6. Measure your foods. Doing this tedious chore for a few days can help train your eye to recognize portion sizes.
7. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Skipping meals leads to binge eating.
8. Make sure you eat enough. That’s music to any dieter’s ears. Starvation diets leads to bingeing and lowered metabolism.
9. Cut the fat. Cutting out high-fat foods can benefit much more than your figure-you’ll lower risk of heart disease and some cancers. Fat is nature’s way of crowding a lot of calories or energy into food. A gram of fat (one-fourth of a teaspoon) contain 9 calories, while a gram of protein or carbohydrate has four.
10. Exercise. Exercise is the key in losing weight. Obviously, exercise burns calories. But according to some researchers, it may also increase your metabolism, possibly for as long as 18 hours after you’ve works out. So you end up burning more calories, even after your workout.
