Weight Loss Help: Basics

Everyone is an expert, they will tell you what to eat and what not to eat.  Many popular diet experts will tell you those weight loss rules are the key to losing weight.  As science and research gets more complex on weight issues, all the programs and advice out there seems to have the answer.  With so much information out there, one thing is for sure; most people will get discourage about their weight loss.  It’s time to get back to the basic of eating right. 

• Weight Loss Help: Basics - Let’s start by eating right. 

Here’s a chart for the amount of calories you should eat provide by the American Heart Association.

·          1 Sedentary means you have a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.

·          2 Moderately active means you have a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.

·          3 Active means you have a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life. 

• Eat a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups.  You’re probably eating the right amount of calories, but are you eating the right amount of different foods?  You’re body is a complex machine but very adaptable.  It will get use to certain foods if you eat it often enough and it will be hard for you escape those same foods.  Another way of putting it is that you will have a harder time giving up sweet foods, fast foods if you only eat those foods.  Nutrient-rich foods have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are also lower in calories. Download this easy-to-read chart to get started. 

• Learn to buy healthy foods when you shop. The only way to start doing it is by doing it.  Every time you shop, you should buy healthy foods and work it into your diet.  Start small with fruits and vegetables, and then move to fish, fiber and low calorie products.

• Start cooking healthy.  This is one of those things most people want to do but probably don't have time to do.  Cooking for yourself can be fun and you can manage your food consumption better.  You can control your ingredients and portions. You have to cook healthy otherwise you will have to dine out.  The latter might be expensive for some people so most will have to start cooking.  If you have kids, you can teach them to cook and eat healthy because no one will do it for them.  It's also a cycle you must break.  They might be thin when they're young but with poor eating habits and no healthy cooking knowledge, they will also face similar issues later in their lives. 

• Limit the amount of bad foods.  A simple but important part of weight loss is giving up the bad foods or cutting down on them.  One way to do this is not to keep junk foods around the house.  If you find it hard to keep count of all your meals or calorie counts, it might be easier to do the simple things that can have positive changes.  Don’t eat junk foods and limit fast food, sodas, packaged products consumption.  Replace your sodas and juice with water.  It is profound when you think about it.  Off the topic but think of it like saving money, the more you save the more you have.  The more bad calories you cut back, the less bad calories you have to deal with.

• Eating at the right time.  Some people eat once a day and they are fine.  We’re not saying don’t eat, we’re saying don’t eat at the wrong time.  You don’t want to eat late at night.  The cut off time should be 9:00 pm.  This schedule is for people who work 9 to 5.  Eat a hardy breakfast and lunch and then a lighter dinner.  It’s hard to grasp but when you sleep with a full stomach and you’re not moving around, you store fat.  But if you’re like some who gets sleepy eating a big lunch then eat a big breakfast and a light lunch and then a moderate dinner portion.  There’s no way around it, you just have to eat less to weigh less.  There are studies that say eating regularly will maintain healthy weight, and then there are observations and studies that say eating less is the way to weighing less.  This is one of the crucial weight loss help advice.

• Eat to live not the other way around.  You can enjoy your foods but don’t let it consume you.  You have to eat to the point you’re satisfy not until you’re full and sluggish.  If you eat to the point of sluggishness, you will stretch your stomach and your body will demand more food to fill it.  That feeling you get when you're hungry is a good thing, it means your stomach is shrinking and to feed it.  This is when you can make the biggest difference; just don’t eat until the point of feeling heavy.  Eat enough until you're slightly full and then stop.  Then when you get hungry again, eat a little less each time; repeat this process and eventually your stomach will shrink and you will not have to eat so much to feel full.  The weight will automatically come off.  This is why Gastric Bypass Surgery work so well, it might not be a safe procedure but it works by limiting food space.

• Think it in your mind consistently.  No physical effort is needed to do this but it is wise to always think about your sugar and fat intake.  Even if you can’t pinpoint any measurements of your weight loss program, just by thinking about it you will live it out in your eating habits.  Just remind yourself that most foods these days are filled with sugar and bad fats.  Keep it in the forefront of your mind.