Losing Weight, Naturally

Hi! My name is Omar, 39 years old and 2 months ago I was facing a problem most Americans face today – obesity. I stand 5′8″ and of medium built. An ideal weight for someone my frame and size is around 150-160lbs (based on recommended BMI scale). I have a busy lifestyle, juggling work and family, watching my weight was the least of my concern. Unknowingly, I have packed a lot of fats over the years and ballooned to 196lbs! The previous 2-3 years I have always maintained my weight around 170-178lbs. So the sudden increase in weight was alarming and I just knew something must be done to lose the extra poundage.

The Effects

Before I go to the nitty-gritty of what simple steps I did to lose weight, let me tell you first how even with just a 15-20lbs weight have affected me. These are the changes I had physically…

• Easily Fatigued – With the extra weight, naturally my body had to exert more effort just to do even the simplest task.
• Became A Snorer – Being above your ideal weight by atleast 20% impacts your respiration as airways will have some degree of compression.
• Decreased Sexual Appetite/Performance – Connected of being easily fatigued.
• Aches All Over – The combination of lack of exercise and increase weight takes it’s toll on our bones.

Aside from these, please bear in mind the even more serious dangers of Obesity…

• Risk for Heart Diseases and Stroke
• Risk for Type II Diabetes
• Risk for Cancer
• Risk for Muskoskeletal disorders such as Gout and Osteoarthritis
• And the list just goes on…

The Remedy

Losing weight programs nowadays focuses on a triad approach in dealing with obesity – Diet, Exercise and Medication.

People usually takes for granted that the two approaches is more effective than the drug approach. What happens why people fail is that they do 10% effort on the first two and rely on their wonder pill to do all the wonders.

Medications (weight loss pills) should only be the last recourse and considered an option if diet and exercise is ineffective. As much as possible, I avoid these drugs, though they may brings you positive effects, it will definitely bring side-effects too. Besides, I believe weight loss should only incur $0 expense. In this article I will only touch on the first two approach to weight loss – Diet & Exercise.

Diet

By diet I mean not only reduction of food intake but also about taking the right kind of foods to eat. A balanced an complete diet is at the forefront of not only effective weight loss but also improving our general health.

Previously I never mind what foods I eat. As long as it tastes good, I’ll have more of it. Sadly, most delicious foods offers the least benefit to our health and in fact a major cause of diseases.

Analyzing my diet intake, I realized that I was consuming more carbohydrates than I need. Carbs is one of the major sources of energy. Though essential, not burning those stored energy will result in weight gain. In a nutshell, my diet proportion before was 40% Carbs, 20%Protein, 30%fats and 10% green leafy vegetables and fiber foods per major meal. Not too healthy huh? Yes, it is diet doomed for disaster. Luckily for me though, I still don’t have any disease yet (knock on wood). Ok, so here is the changes I’ve made to my diet…

• Carbs – from 40% I’ve cut it down to 15%. I’ve reduced rice from 200grams a day to 50. Before I eat about 2 peices of sliced bread, now I just eat 1 every other day. No sodas for me too anymore. Also try to avoid or limit high-carb foods such as junkfoods and pastries.  These foods are high in calories. You’ll be surprised how these food class dictates your weight.
• Protein – Major contribution of protein is building body tissue, rejuvination and growth of tissue among others. I knew this component wil be important in my weight loss program as I don’t want to look skinny when I drop weight but to have a bit of tone. From 20%, I’ve increased it to 30% of my intake. This is also essential when doing physical exercises while on diet as protien promotes and repairs muscle cells.
• Fats – 30% fat diet is dangerous to our health. Cholesterol, a major component in fats is attributed to major vascular diseases. Fats also is a source of energy but it should be taken minimally to prevent build-up. Nowadays, I stay away from high fat foods. So my 30% have virtually gone to 5-10%.
• Fiber – I have also doubled up on my fiber. Fiber while trying to lose weight is really helpful. Not only that they are low in carbs & fats and high in nutrition, they are also slow digesting food. Extending your time to start feeling hungry while dieting.

Exercise

Of the two, this is the tougher one to adhere for me. Work, Family time and personal recreation had to sacrifice a little to make exercise work for me. Honestly, it only takes a good 30 minutes a day to have an effective exercise. The type of exercise should also be considered in trying to achieve your goal. Few important things to consider when entering into an exercise regimen;

1. Work within your limits, dont overstress
2. Take ample rest in between exercises routines
3. Go slow then slowly increase time or resistance
4. Maintain consistent exercise time
5. Listen to your body, how it is responding to what you are doing
6. Watch your burned calories

My Favorite (Basic) Exercises

Threadmill/jogging – I devoted 15-20 mins. a day to this. Probably one of the best exercise to burn those unwanted calories. 10 mins a day at 3 miles/hour speed should be able to burn about 100 calories. Downside of the threadmil is that it is a high impact exercise. So don’t overdo it. If you’re new to it, expect some joint and muscle pain or discomfort. Again, work within your limits.

Bicycle – Like the threadmill, it is very effective in getting rid of those unwanted excess calories. It is not as strainous to the body as jogging or doing the threadmill but doesn’t burn as much calories as the latter. I did this every other day for 15 minutes.

Jump rope – This exercise is often underestimated in its health promotion value. Though another high impact exercise, it burns as good as the threadmill or jogging. This exercise though takes a bit of time to master the skill to have a fruitful regimen. I did 10 minutes a day on this one.

A Bit of Muscle Toning

For my case (And I bet for most), losing belly fat proves to be the toughest. There is controversy if specific abdominal muscle exercises is truly effective in losing that stubborn belly fat. I believe a good waistline is not sculped majorly by exercise but by diet. “It all starts in the kitchen”.

After 4 weeks in my program (and getting rid of my 36 waistline) I have introduced some simple abs muscle toning routines such as 20 sit-ups a day, 10 half-crunches daily. I was surprised by the results! No I didn’t develop my six-packs but I could feel my musle in my abs tighten that I never thought were there.

Things to remember too…

Watch those calories – I cannot stress this enough. Recommended intake of daily calories is 2,000-3,000. In my case, I’ve cut it down to 1,200-1,400. So yes, I meticulousy watch what I eat. Also watch you daily burned calories especially in exercise. There shouldn’t be a gap of more than 1500 when in losing weight. Here is a good site to estimate burned calories in various activities: Activity Calorie Counter

Take your vitamins – embarking on  diet will absolutely impact your daily vitamin intake. Be sure to take supplements to augment the deficiency. It’ll also boost up your energy and resistance while you’re on your increasing physical exercise.

Get enough sleep – Let your body rest and rejuvinate.

Good Luck!