How to Successfully Lose the Extra Pounds
What constitutes a successful weight loss? Despite all of the increased understanding about nutrition and how our bodies adjust metabolism, achieving success in weight loss still remains a most difficult task because we live in a sedentary and “food-laden” society.
What constitutes a successful weight loss? Experts are theorizing on, lower metabolism rates that keep the body from burning excess calories, the “burden of extra fat cells” formed during periods of weight gain, the “elevated body weight set points” from high-fat diets, or the “energy expenditure defects” following meals.
Despite all of the increased understanding about nutrition and how our bodies adjust metabolism, achieving success in weight loss still remains a most difficult task because we live in a sedentary and “food-laden” society.
Below are some tips gathered from experience:
- Start the day with a 30- to 45-minute brisk walk. This will result in several benefits. First, the body burns more body fat when exercising in the morning than at other times of the day. Also, walking before breakfast increases the amount of energy the body uses in digesting the meal burning more calories than normal.
Exercise also helps to preserve the muscles of the body. When people try to lose weight without exercising, often 25 to 40 percent of the weight loss will come from body muscle and water. Regular exercise, especially calisthenics and weight lifting, can help decrease this loss. Maintaining the muscle mass is important because the resting metabolic rate, or the energy expended to keep your body living while at rest, is based on the amount of muscle you have. Thus, the more muscle you have, the more calories you can burn at rest.
Another good reason for exercising while attempting to lose weight is the psychological benefit. Several studies have shown that regular cardiovascular exercise discourages anxiety and depression while promoting a positive mood and self-concept.
Excess weight can lead to a variety of problems, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, and possibly heart disease. Many studies have shown that exercise plays a major role in helping to combat each of these ill effects.
- Increase intake of food high in fiber and carbohydrate, but low in fat. Do this during breakfast and lunch. Some research has shown that people who weigh more than their ideal weight tend to eat foods that are highly palatable – generally goods high in fat and sugar – but low in fiber and complex carbohydrate. When these people are put on diets high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grain cereals or products, they tend to eat fewer calories, but still feel satisfied and full.
These types of foods have important secondary benefits for the dieter. High complex carbohydrate meals require more energy during digestion. In addition, the body has a harder time turning complex carbohydrates into body fat, as compared with foods high in fat. Finally, both heart disease and cancer prevention diets are based on complex carbohydrate foods.
- Eat light at night. According to some research, being moderately active before and after meals tends to increase the amount of energy used after meals. Since people tend to be more sedentary in the evening, it is best to eat a light meal at this time. Foods such as soup, light vegetable salads (with low-calorie dressings), whole-grain crackers, and fruit are good choices.
Eating lighter at night makes good sense because studies have found that weight control following this method is easier. Subjects in research experiments tend to gain more weight when fed a given number of calories in the evening instead of in the morning.
This plan emphasizes a lifestyle approach, a permanent change in living. The most effective diet is not a diet at all, but rather a gradual change to slenderizing eating patterns and a shift to foods that can be eaten healthfully for a lifetime.
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