subject: Do I Need To Lose Weight? [print this page] Do I need to lose weight? How many times is this question asked in a day? As often as it is asked there is no definitive answer. The question you should be asking yourself is how do I feel? Do I feel healthy, am I happy with the way I look, commonsense questions. There are times when weight loss for health reasons is necessary.
Remember when you diet you not only lose the obvious fat around the middle but you also lose organ fat.
If for whatever reason you feel you need to lose a few pounds now what?
The first thing you need to learn about is body fat. What is it and how much of that is healthy fat.
Our bodies carry two different kinds of fat.
There is essential fat which is stored in small amounts in our bone marrow, organs, central nervous system and muscles. This fat is necessary for the normal functioning of these body systems.
The other fat is storage fat. This fat is stocked away for energy. For the times when food is not plentiful the body draws on this store house of fat to feed itself and survive.
For young women in their 20's a body fat range between 21 to 32 percent is ideal. As we age that goes up to between 24 to 35 percent. Women tend to carry more body fat in their breasts, pelvis, hips and thighs.
For young men the range would be between 8 to 19 percent and 13 to 24 percent for the older male.
There really is no hard and fast rule here.
Ok, back to the question should I lose weight? This is a personal question only you have the answer to. There are a number of reasons for wanting to lose weight and as long as they are not unhealthy reasons go ahead if it makes you feel better.
This begs the question, how much? I am not including a weight to height chart for you to compare to. These are easily found anywhere on the internet and are very generic. A certain amount of body fat is needed to stay healthy and active. If you take too much weight off you may become tired, lethargic, your ability to fight of diseases like the common cold will be lowered. Let me repeat myself and say this is a very personal thing each of us will have a different standard to judge by.
If you decide to lose some weight how should you do it?
Join a group where you will have support from others in the group with the same objective as you? Where you do a weekly weight check and follow a strict diet schedule. This works for many but when do you stop going? Is it a lifetime thing and what happens when you do stop?
You can sign up for a food plan where you purchase prepared meals which again work for many, if you can afford it to begin with. And how do you quit?
Or you can follow a plan were you're shown what to eat and what not to eat. Why you shouldn't eat certain foods. What to stay away from when eating. A plan that simply advocates healthy eating habits that will help you to lose weight and keep it off, were you prepare your own meals. A plan that is designed be a certified nutritionist who will help you lose weight quickly, easily and stay healthy.
