Overweight? Check. Need to get in shape and lose weight? Check. Want to do it quickly? Try a fad diet… Wrong! Unfortunately many Americans turn to fad dieting to get the results they want quickly, desiring a fast fix to a problem that takes years to create. The hype surrounding fad dieting revolves around the fact that people want an easy solution to a difficult problem. Unfortunately, there is not a healthy solution to losing weight quickly. Yet, the answer to losing weight is in itself easy and straightforward, but hard to grasp by most: eat less and work out more.
What does the statement “eat less, workout more “mean? In order to lose weight, the calories you burn per day needs to exceed the calories you take in. In other words, your daily expenditure of calories (i.e., walking, talking, exercise) has to be more than what you put in (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner). It sounds relatively easy; the hard part relies on the fact that you must do this in a healthy fashion. Not eating and over exercising is detrimental to your health so it is important to avoid both these extreme measures. You have to strike the perfect balance of adequate nutrition and a healthy active lifestyle which is the conundrum that most people have difficulty with—how best to stay relatively healthy, maintain an adequate healthy diet and exercise appropriately.
Fad diets are a “cookbook” for weight loss and people are driven to fad dieting for its relative ease of use. Unfortunately, the results that can be achieved with it are limited to say the least. Even though fad dieting can lead to sudden weight loss it is difficult to maintain. In fact, it is relatively impossible to stay within this “cookbook” diet over time. Once the diet plan is abandoned, the weight gained is sometimes much higher than your original weight.
The solution, therefore, is to make a lifestyle choice for overall wellness. A healthy lifestyle puts you in charge of your own health. You make the decision to better yourself. Not only do you decrease the likelihood of acquiring multiple diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity but you will also feel better and increase your energy level. Below are some tips to put you on track towards a healthy lifestyle:
Healthy Eating:
• Incorporate fruits, vegetables and whole grains into your meals. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals that are important for proper growth and development and warding off illnesses.
• Bake rather than fry your lean meats, poultry or fish. Baked food items are low in fat content.
• Drink plenty of water. Not only does water keep you hydrated but it has many health benefits including ridding the body of waste and regulating your overall body temperature.
• Avoid skipping meals. Not eating not only slows down your metabolism but it deprives your body of the nutrients it needs to function properly
Exercise
• Try walking at least 20-30 minutes per day
• Sign up for a water aerobics class
• Ride a bike
• Do muscle strengthening activities such as lifting weights, push ups or sit ups
Of course the amount of exercise needed depends on the individual and it is best to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise regimen, especially if you have a medical condition. Once the decision has been made to change your lifestyle, you must form a strategy that is appropriate for your current state of health. With the appropriate consultation, this strategy can lead to a new way of life that will allow you to maintain appropriate health and wellness for a lifetime. And thus, the weight loss that is achieved is maintained forever. This is not a fast cure to the problem, but an easy one that is permanent. The first step is to make the plunge, put yourself in charge of your own health, and make the lifestyle choice for overall wellness. Good health is sure to follow.