Lossing Weight Is Not As Complicated As You Have Been Led To Expect
It is not news to anyone that the obesity rate has risen to epidemic proportions
. In 2008, 25 U. S. States had 25-29% of their adult populations classified as obese and 15 states had adult obesity rates of 20-24%. Only Colorado had a 15-19% adult obesity rate. The causes of obesity are complex, but boil down to one basic fact. If a person eats more calories (energy) than his or her body will use in a day, the unused calories get stored as fat. It is quite apparent that Americans are eating far more calories than they are expending. Lossing weight is possible to do without feeling deprived or losing your mind in the process.
Magical Thinking And Impatience
We are impatient and do not like to wait. We are used to getting what we want when we want it. We click a button and entertainment is delivered instantly. We call for take out and the food appears within minutes. We think that somewhere out there is a magic spell that will get rid of our fat fast. This belief can create big problems.
Not Too Complex
The weight-loss gurus play to our impatience and our tendency towards magical thinking in order to sell their books. But, losing weight is not as complicated as these gurus would like us to believe. In reality, losing weight is a straightforward process. Just as we gain weight when we consume more calories than we are using, we need to use those calories stored as fat in order to lose weight. If we have even a modest calorie deficit in our food intake, we will lose weight.
Dieting Failure
The biological process is straightforward; however, people are complex and food carries more meaning than just energy to power our bodies. So many of us have battled weight for our entire lives. We have deprived ourselves of adequate caloric intake by going on extreme diets. Being deprived sets up a whole cascade of survival emotions and anxiety. It is biological.
We Are Designed To Survive
Extremely low-calorie diets cause our bodies into the starvation mode. Everything in our bodies goes into "red alert" mode. We get more and more anxious, hungrier and hungrier. When this gets to be more than we can take, we go off of our diets and eat, eat, eat. We gain weight, get disgusted and go on another low-calorie diet. The cycle repeats. We can break that cycle and lose weight in a healthy manner. But first, we must give up our magical thinking that there is a secret to losing weight and stop trying to find a quick fix.
Accepting The Reality
The way we can lose weight without losing our minds is to accept the fact that it took time to put the weight on and it will take time to take the weight off. In order to lose one pound, we must burn up 3500 calories of stored fat. If we wanted to lose one pound per week, we need to use 500 additional calories every day. To lose two pounds per week, we need to use an additional 1000 calories every day.
A Two-Pronged Approach
In order to create a calorie deficit requires two things: moving and eating properly. Get your body moving. Take the stairs, do aerobics, dance around your house, go to the gym. Just move. To lose weight also requires eating properly. Select foods as close to their original state as possible. Eliminate fatty, sugary, processed foods and you will see the weight drop off. Build your favorite foods into your eating plan on occasion. This will help decrease any feelings of deprivation you may have.
Losing Slowly Has Big Payoffs
Slowly lossing weight is the best way to keep the weight off for good. It is also best to maintain your health. As the weight drops off, you will decrease your risk for heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and even some types of cancer. Losing weight and keeping it off for good is a gift only you can give yourself.
by: Rich Ransome
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