If you are reading this you may probably not comfortable with your present weight status or you have a friend, relation, or even an enemy…lol who is concerned about their present weight status.
What if none of the above is your case but rather you are extremely fat that your BMI is more than 30. According to the Center for Diseases Control, an adult with a BMI greater than 30 is obese.
I have come to tell you this, worry not for I am here with words of consolation; you are not alone. A lot of people have treaded the path you are on now, and some have overcome their plight.
Overweight or obesity is a prevalent challenge faced by individual of different groups ranging from children, teens and adults.
This could be as a result of change in life style, urbanization, technological advancement, tight work schedules, unhealthy feeding habit, and increased sedentary work pattern. The list is just uncountable.
Why am I so concerned about losing weight?
Have you ever wondered why people are so concerned about losing weight?Do you know the term, overweight or obesity is one of the most frequently used terms in today fitness world today?
Unlike past centuries were not concerned about losing weight, overweight or fat was never this important in the olden days.
Back in the historic times, being fat was seen an evidence of good living. If you are fat, it shows you are well cared for by your parents, wife or husband as the case maybe or that you live in abundance. Hence, fat people were cherished and adored.
Back in the historic times, being fat was seen an evidence of good living. If you are fat, it shows you are well cared for by your parents, wife or husband as the case maybe or that you live in abundance. Hence, fat people were cherished and adored.
A simple reason was because there was no enough food for the population unlike now that the transportation and food distribution chain has been well enhanced, plus numerous convenient foods on market shelve.
So long as you have the money, these processed foods are at your disposal to purchase and savor
But today, as you and I know, the scenario is really different. Although different people in our world today view this term from different angle; to some “I do not want to get fat because
I want to look attractive to men”; others said that “I really do not want to get fat just to look younger” yet another set of people feel that “I do not get to wear nice and sexy cloth that makes me look gorgeous and I can no longer show off my skimpy and fitted outfits”.
In addition “I am no longer comfortable the way people look at me” these are few of so many other reasons people have?
Now I am asking you this, what is your major reason of wanting to lose weight?
To impress friends, boy friend, peer groups, husband among others.
Or do you want to lose weight because you want to impress yourself; you want to look more beautiful and confident?
Whatever your reason is, you may never be happy or fulfilled even after losing the so called weight!
Why?
Good question!
This reason is because your happiness should come from within, not because of certain persons. If you are okay the way you are. Fine! If not work on yourself confident, appreciate the you in you, cherish and adore yourself and you will have bolt from the blue how all those people you desperately want to please turns backs to adore your looks.
Lesson learned: develop self confident and self esteem because it is necessary in becoming a better and a healthier person.
Now what is my opinion and scientists’ opinion on weight loss?
Even if you love your overweight state or obese condition, I want you to understand something very important; your health is paramount to anything.
WHO states that overweight and obesity is due to abnormal / excess accumulation of fat round or within the adipose tissue which are not healthful.
It was the later part of 19th century and earliest part of 20th century that scientists discovered that there is a great link between overweight and chronic diseases.
Disadvantage of overweight
Being overweight is overtly not good for your health, it affect the weight bearing joint, the hip, kneel and the lower spine.
These tend to lead to osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. You may not really see the effect now but believe me the time may, come when life seems more pleasurable.
I have seen women who cannot move a some distance without settling down to rest before continuing their journey. There is a retired woman I know, she does not go out without being conveyed by a cab or tricycle.
- Cut back on the amount of calorie you consume
Once you have set out on the road to weight lose the first thing you should consider doing is to cut back on your calorie intake. Calorie is defined as the form in which energy is stored in the body. Major food sources of calories are fats and oils, carbohydrate and protein (though not like the first two).
Calories are responsible for weight gain; therefore you need to reduce the consumption of calorific foods. I do not mean you should eat less; of course not.
You should not starve because you want to lose weight.
What is required of you is to play smart.
Numerous carbohydrate foods and fatty foods with different calorie content abound, you only need to make switches between these foods by replacing high calorie foods with less calorie foods.
High calorie foods usually contain little or no fiber with small amount of water while less calorie foods has more fiber and higher water content.
When you cut down the amount you take it means you still consume calorie but not to the level that will be detrimental to your health.
Examples of high calorific foods are: whole milk, breakfast cereal, white bread, refined sugar, butter, margarine, fries, and mayonnaise.
The following are the example of low calorie foods; whole grain meals, tomatoes, beans, soya beans, seeds, peas, fish, watermelon, onions, low fat milk, nut, and lean meat.
· 2 Drink more water to lose weight fast and drink other beverages smartly
Have you ever checked the nutrition facts of a beverage you bought? Do you know beverage is one of the major contributors of calorie to the body?
Or do you just gulp down anything you lay your hand on; our beverages are processed with loads of sweeteners / sugars that sour the blood sugar level.
Nevertheless, there are many healthy options for replacing these beverages.
Example:
Coffee or green tea with skimmed milk should replace chocolate with full cream milk.
Bottle water or diet soda, or fruit juice (without sugar syrup), glass of water with lemon / lime slice, should replace sweetened drinks; fruit squash, and beer.
Types of beverages
|
Calories in 12 ounces
|
Fruit punch
|
192
|
100% apple juice
|
192
|
100% orange juice
|
168
|
Lemonade
|
168
|
Regular lemon/lime soda
|
146
|
Regular cola
|
136
|
Sweetened lemon iced tea (bottled, not homemade)
|
135
|
Sweetened lemon ice (bottled)
|
135
|
Tonic water
|
124
|
Sport drink
|
99
|
Fitness water
|
18
|
Unsweetened ice tea
|
2
|
Diet soda
|
0
|
Carbonated water
|
0
|
Water
|
0
|
CDC (USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference)
Please it is advisable you are mindful when checking the nutrient content on the label of the bottle.
Some state the content of calorie per serving. The onus is on you to the calculation calculate. For instance a label may list the calorie in 10 –oz serving although the whole container contain 20 – oz.
In summary, beverages are made with numerous sweeteners: fructose, dextrose, syrup, honey, sugar, corn syrup, sucrose. Like I have said earlier, please and please, your watch word should be low calorie!
Therefore always choose low calorie beverages like water or diet etc, use water as thirst quencher and not sweetener filled drinks.
Add to your water slices of lemon or lime this would eventually aid in neutralizing the acidic medium in the body. Dilute fruit juices with water instead of sugar syrup.
Stay health by selecting low calorie drinks and loss weight enjoying your drink!
3 Eat fruits and vegetables daily
Eating of fruits and vegetable has been proven to aid in reduction of certain terminal diseases, since they contain phytochemicals that scavenge free radicals causing these illnesses.
With this in mind, fruits and vegetables are among low calorific foods since they contain high amount of fiber and water.
Consumption of fruits and vegetable would help in trimming down fat molecules in the adipose tissues.
I therefore, recommend daily consumption of fibrous fruits and veggies.
4. Plan your meal on time to promote weight loss
It is important you plans your meal on time in order to know what to eat and what not to eat.
This enables you make right choice by knowing what food to substitute with the other, thereby, not accepting anything that goes.
This exercise would help you eliminate high calorie foods and replace it with lower calorie ones without much ardor.
Remember to buy high fiber containing foods. For instance, you can substitute full cream with low fat / skim milk and take fruits instead of high calorie snacks.
4 QUIT LATE EATING:
Nighttime eating results to weight gain (Marci et al., 2008), study has also shown that obese people with NES (Night Eating Syndrome) has less tendency for successful weight loss than those without NES.
This is a disorder involving morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia and sleep disturbances. Research showed that there is a link between nighttime eating and weight gain in obese women.
Although, there are not much research on this but you are advised to stop or reduce frequent late eating to be on a safer side.
· 5 EAT MORE PROTEIN:
Protein foods reduce the ease of getting hungry. It extends the time between when one ingests foods and when you feel hungry.
Protein contains lesser calorie than fat but almost the same with carbohydrate. Research shows people eating more protein foods lose more weight than those consuming more carbohydrate.
The secret behind this fact is this, protein foods make one feel fuller and less likely to make you hungry faster than other foods.
This sounds weird, isn’t? Now let me ask you, could you remember the times you ate beans as breakfast?
Were you hungry the next two or three hours?
Your answer may probably be no. Unlike the ‘carb’ foods, that does not take time to fizzle away resulting to a rumbling stomach.
And the ‘poor’ you would do nothing but eat more and more of foods which are usually starchy and oily snacks and sweetened drinks.
In short, eat more protein rich foods and less carbs!
References
Andersen G. S., Stunkard A. J., Sorensen T. I. Petersen L. and Heitmann B. L. (2004), Night eating and weight change in middle-aged men and women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28:1338–43.
Center for Disease control: https://www.hhs.gov/
Marci E. Gluck, A Venti Arline, D. Salbe, and Jonathan Krakoff (2008), Nighttime eating: commonly observed and related to weight gain in an inpatient food intake study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, (88: 4), Pages: 900–905.
World Health Organization (2006), What are the health consequences of being overweight. www.who.int/features/ qa/49/en/index.html.
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