Saturday, September 7, 2013

Healthy Body Better Life: The Top Tips To Lose Weight - Health ...

Whether you are trying to lose 5 pounds or more than 50, the same principles determine how much weight you lose and how fast your weight loss will occur. Remembering the following simple guidelines and putting them into practice can lead to weight loss without the aid of any special diet plans, books, or medications.Our body weight is determined by the amount of energy that we take in as food and the amount of energy we expend in the activities of our day. Energy is measured in calories. If your weight remains constant, you are probably taking in the same amount of calories that you burn each day. If you're slowly gaining weight over time, it is likely that your caloric intake is greater than the number of calories you burn through your daily activities.Everyone is in control of the amount of food he or she consumes each day, so our intake of calories is something we can control. To a major degree, we can also control our output of energy, or the number of calories we burn each day. The number of calories we burn each day is dependent upon our basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories we burn per hour simply by being alive and maintaining body functions and our level of physical activity. For some people, due to genetic (inherited) factors or other conditions, the resting metabolic rate (BMR) can be slightly higher or lower than average. Our weight also plays a role in determining how many calories we burn at rest -- the more calories are required to maintain your body in its present state, the greater your body weight. A 100-pound person requires less energy (food) to maintain body weight than a person who weighs 200 pounds.Lifestyle and work habits partially determine how many calories we need each day. Someone whose job involves heavy physical labor will naturally burn more calories in a day than someone who sits at a desk most of the day (a sedentary job). For people who do not have jobs that require intense physical activity, ex ercise or increased physical activity can increase the number of calories burned.As a rough estimate, an average woman 31-50 years of age who leads a sedentary lifestyle needs about 1,800 calories per day to maintain a normal weight. A man of the same age requires about 2,200 calories. Participating in a moderate level of physical activity (exercising three to five days per week) requires about 200 additional calories per day.For many people weight loss is a chronic endeavor. All too often the shedding of pounds is a temporary event followed by a steady regain of lost weight. Most popular diets are unsuccessful in the long run because they fail to address the multi-faceted nature of what successful, permanent weight loss entails. Luckily, research has revealed many invaluable strategies which can help increase your odds of permanent weight loss. While no single article can possibly cover this vast subject, we have provided links to excellent weight loss programs and books wh ich are backed by clinical research, and can significantly help you in your quest. We also encourage you to browse through our hand-picked award links to learn more about the best strategies you can incorporate for long term weight loss success.10 Strategies for permanent weight loss1. Exercise is essential for weight lossIt's nothing new, but exercise is probably the most important predictor of whether you will succeed at long term weight loss and weight loss maintenance. In order for exercise to be helpful in weight loss, you should strive for a minimum of five 30 minute sessions per week. The good news is that recent research has shown that three 10 minute sessions in a day are as good as one 30 minute session. This helps many in combating the old "no time for exercise" excuse. Be certain to find something you enjoy. You'll be more apt to stick with it. Try walking with a friend, joining an intramural sports league, participating in outings with a group like The Sierra Cl ub, or trying some classes at your local gym. Once you give exercise a chance, you will begin to enjoy its positive benefits on your psyche as well; you will literally become "hooked."Having trouble getting a workout in? Why not try one of these Diet Channel recommended programs: 15 minute boot camp workout Power workout for busy executives 10 minute workout for busy moms Top 3 Diet Plans (based on Diet Channel visitor activity):Mediterranean Diet - "Ideal for people who like to cook and enjoy great cuisine." Learn More...Jillian Michaels - "Jillian guides you through the diet and exercise changes you know you need to make." Learn More...South Beach Diet - "This hugely popular diet promises diligent followers an initial weight loss of 8-13 pounds in the first two weeks." Learn More...2. Weight loss and weight trainingWe chose to list this separately from the "exercise" category because of the significant weight loss benefits attached to weight training in and of itself. Th e basic equation is this: the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will burn. This is why world class weight lifters must eat thousands of calories a day to maintain their weight. Muscle is active tissue, fat is not. Thus, muscle "burns" a significant number of calories each day for its own maintenance. In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, showed that a group of women who followed a weight loss diet and did weight training exercises lost 44% more fat than those who only followed the diet. While aerobic activity can help burn calories, muscle's where it's at when it comes to giving your metabolism a significant daily boost even at rest.Read Cardio and Strength Training: How do you create a balanced routine? to find out how best to pursue numbers 1 and 2 above in tandem.3. Keep a diary for triggers that hinder weight lossKeeping a food diary can be a huge asset in successful weight loss. Devote some time each day to re cord what you have eaten and how much, your hunger level prior to eating, and any feelings or emotions present at the time. A food diary can provide a large amount of self-awareness. It can identify emotions and behaviors that trigger overeating, foster greater awareness of portion sizes, and help you discover your personal food triggers. Study any patterns that emerge from your food diary and identify where you may be able to make more healthful changes. A food diary provides an added benefit of keeping you focused on and committed to your goals. Start keeping a food diary today by printing our food diary.4. Stay focused on being healthy, not on becoming thinMany people become more successful at long term weight loss when their motivation changes from wanting to be thinner to wanting to be healthier. Change your mindset to think about selecting foods that will help your body's health rather than worrying about foods that will affect your body's weight. The Food Pyramid offe rs a basic outline of the types and amounts of food you should eat each day to give your body the nutrients it needs for optimal health.5. Find out why you overeatAll too often overeating is triggered by stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, depression and other emotions. Learning to deal with emotions without food is a significant skill that will greatly serve long term weight control. The Solution, a book and national program developed by Laurel Mellin, RD, helps participants to identify their eating triggers and respond to them without food. A research study showed that the participants in this program demonstrated a better rate of long term weight loss maintenance than those who simply diet and/or exercise and don't address behavioral and emotional issues. Chronic over-eaters and "emotional eaters" can be significantly helped by learning new behavioral skills such as those Mellin presents. You can also seek help with behavioral and emotional eating issues from a licensed c ounselor or psychologist in your area.6. Weight loss support: join a weight management groupA big key in long term weight control comes from receiving encouragement and support from others. You can check to see if groups such as Jenny Craig offer programs and resources in your areas. You may also wish to check with your local hospital to see if their registered dietitian conducts group weight loss programs.7. Weight loss and portion controlWith the advent of "super-size" meals and increasingly huge portions at restaurants, our concept of normal serving sizes is a distant memory. Be mindful of the amounts of food you consume at a sitting. When necessary, divide your food in half and ask for a take home bag. It is all too easy to be a "plate cleaner" even when served enormous portions. Learn to pay attention to your hunger level and stop eating when you feel comfortably full, not stuffed.8: Lose weight slowly with small changesTry to remember that "losing 15 pounds in two week s" is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat. Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week. You can calculate how much time you need to exercise to burn 250 calories by clicking here. You can calculate your caloric needs by clicking here, and then subtract 250 from that number.9. Eating slowly can lead to weight lossDid you ever notice that thin people take an awfully long time to eat their food? Eating slowly is one method that can help take off pounds. That's because from the time you begin eating it takes the brain 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Fast eaters often eat beyond their true level of fullness before the 20 minute signal has had a chance to set in. The amount of calories consumed before you begin to feel full can vary significantly depending on how quickly you eat. So slow down, take smaller bites and enjoy and savor every tasty morsel.10. Weight loss through eating less fat - but do it wiselyWe've known for some time that limiting high fat foods in the diet can be helpful with weight loss. That's because fats pack in 9 calories per gram compared to only 4 calories per gram from proteins or carbohydrates. To many, the message to limit fats implied an endorsement to eat unlimited amounts of fat-free products. Just to clarify, fat-free foods have calories too. In some cases fat-free foods have as many calories as their fat laden counterparts. If you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight. Eating less fat will help you to lose weight. Eating less fat and replacing it with excessive amounts of fat-free products will not.For more information on high-fat foods you should continue to eat, even when trying to lose weight, see the following article from TheDietChannel: Healthy and Fat? 5 High-Fat Foods You Should Not Avoid.Click here for 8 more great weight loss tips!Struggling with your diet? Click here for 6 reasons why we don't lose weight.Before beginning any diet or fitness program, consult your physician. Before you pledge allegiance to a particular diet plan, take heed. More often than not, weight lost through dieting finds its way back into your body. But the news is not all bad: While prevailing lore states that 95% of people who lose weight regain it within a few months or years, recent research shows that roughly 20% of overweight people successfully manage to keep the pounds from coming back o n.Still, that's a low success rate, and it underscores the inherent flaw of the dieting mentality which seeks a quick, often drastic fix for habits that were years in the making. So, what is the best approach to long-term weight loss? Rather than counting every calorie or scratching entire food groups from your diet, make healthful eating along with fitness and stress reduction a part of your daily lifestyle. By thinking of weight loss not as a primary goal but rather as a by-product of making important health choices, you are on your way to addressing the underlying causes of weight gain not merely the symptoms. Healthful dietFood journalist Michael Pollan succinctly advised in a recent New York Times article: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These 3 points form the basis of a healthful diet:1. Eat food. "If its something your great-grandmother wouldnt recognize," says Mark Hyman, M.D., author of UltraMetabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss (Scribn er, 2006), "you probably shouldn't eat it." Choose whole fresh foods rather than processed food products. In other words, don't just avoid processed and refined white bread, but also limit enriched whole wheat bread, which is loaded with processed nutrients and preservatives. Fresh whole grain bread straight from the bakery would be better, while a dish of cooked wheat berries would be even more nutritious. The greater amount of food you eat that is whole and unmodified (rather than being a food product), the more healthful (and believe it or not satisfying) your diet will be. 2. Not too much. There's no getting around that one of the most healthful and effective techniques for weight loss is moderate calorie restriction. Since weight loss boils down to consuming fewer calories than you burn, portion control is a non-negotiable element. To safely lose weight, shoot for a deficit of 250 to 500 calories per day anything greater could leave you very hungry and more vulnerabl e to impulsive indulgences with bad-for-you food. Tip: Restricting the number of calories is one of the most difficult requirements to weight loss. Try substituting quality for quantity. You may find that by choosing organic whole foods, you'll need less to feel satiated.


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