If you have been struggling with your oodles of fat and have jumped from one diet to another, don?t despair. You?re not the only one. Research suggests that obesity is the #1 killer of Americans and that more than 85% of men, women and children in the U.S have tried one or more methods of weight loss in their lifetimes.
Why is weight loss so difficult to achieve?
To answer this question, we have to see why obesity has become so rampant today. Obviously, fast foods, over-indulgence, alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle have succeeded in creating a generation of people who are too fat for their own good. As a result, we are stuck with diseases like:
- High blood pressure
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Cancer
Many diseases of the modern age including various aches and pains are a direct result of being overweight. Therefore many healing systems advocate weight loss as the first step towards cure.
Tried it all, and still at a loss?
Weight loss does not come in a pill or in a special diet program. The media have managed to take advantage of this common problem and come up with various miracle pills and magic diet programs that promise weight loss easily.
But the truth of the matter is that weight loss needs hard work and dedication. Permanent weight loss happens only if there is a radical change in lifestyle. People who take to diet programs and lose weight immediately put on their lost pounds and then some more when they come off their diet. Therefore, the only way out is to work the diet program into your life.
Weight loss depends on two things:
- Healthy and consistent diet, and
- Exercise
Weight loss and diet
Fad diets are NOT the best ways to weight loss, although they promise the sky. Keep off them. Fad diets usually recommend doing away with a particular kind of food or sticking to one kind of food only. The initial results of these diets may be amazing. But any weight loss thus acquired is minimal and very transient. Besides, fad diets are unhealthy because you will be robbing your body of vital nutrients.
Research suggests that losing 1-2 pounds a week through healthy food choices and through moderation is the best way towards weight loss. The mathematics here is quite simple really. The more calories you put in, the more pounds you have to carry. So in order to achieve weight loss, you need to burn more calories than you are putting in.
Weight loss and exercise
There is no permanent and healthy weight loss if you do not follow a consistent exercise program. To be effective, an exercise program has to be:
- Regular
- Be at least 30 minutes every day 5 days a week
- Mixture of aerobic and muscle training programs
Weight loss in itself is an ambiguous term. Weight management would be a better definition. You want to lose excess fat and convert some of the fat into lean muscle. While you lose weight you have to protect your body, avoid loss of muscle mass and prevent depletion of bone mass.
A sensible exercise program, taken up after consulting a doctor and a fitness expert coupled with pragmatic and sensible eating habits is the only way to achieve permanent weight loss.
