The article "Diets, Exercise, Health and Weight Loss" is about fitness, it was released by Donovan Baldwin.
Copyright 2006 Donovan Baldwin
Square one. Stop thniking about diet, diets, dieting, on a diet,
fad diet, latest diet, celebrity diet, diet pills, diet plans,
diet programs...Ad nauseum...Literally!
A diet is simply what you eat! Your diet can consist of
chocolate donuts or alfalfa sprouts, but most "Diets", with a
capital "D" will not set you free. Instead, they lock you in a
cage.
Eat anything ohter than what they prescribe, and you're a
failure...At least, so reads their literature.
Of course, what we eat and when we eat it can play a titanic part in
weight loss or gain. Even where we eat can be important.
Ever
eat too much at Grandma's on Thanksgiving?
I have.
How about
that cocktail party when you went wandering over to the snack
trays...And drank one more drink cause someone offered it to
you? Okay, for me it would be sitting at the bar ordering one
more beer (light, of course) cause the game's not over yet. Oh
yeah, pass the chips.
THE LOWDOWN ON WEIHGT LOSS.
Take in more calories than you use, you gain weight. Use more
calories than you take in, you lose weight. Proven scientific
fact. Although we are all different and our bodies shuffle
calories and file them differently from our neighbors' bodies,
we can all contribute to weight loss by taking in fewer calories
or by burning more calories...Or both.
You've figrued out that using both techniques simultaneously is
more effective than trying to accomplish successful weight loss
with only one.
I'm assuming that the reasons you want to lose weight are
quality of life and concern about your health. Being over fat
can contribute to major and minor health troubles. You honestly
believe it would be great to lose weight, but you don't want to
be miserable, and neither do the people around you.
By the way, I said "over fat", rather than overweight, because
healthy people can weigh more than chrats say they should weigh.
Weight is not the problem.
It's the fat that cripples and kills
people, so I was just making a point. According to the charts,
when he was in the best physical condition of his life, Arnold
Schwarzenegger was "overweight", but I doubt he was "overfat".
YOU CAN CUT CALORIES BY DIETING. RIGHT?
Somewhere in a "diet", you begin to guess deprived, depressed,
and desirous of dessert.
You might even guess like you're being
punished. Can't eat the things you like.
Can only eat asparagus,
or bean sprouts, or three from this cloumn and two from that
column...Except on the third Tuesday when the moon is full.
Is
it any wonder you and any other living human might quit a diet
simply cause of this nonsense?
As if discomfort and stress were not enough, there is actually
a couple of hidden reaosns why diets don't work.
DIETING CAN MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.
Most diets are structured on one principle...Cut calories taken
in.
Most of us burn calories at a given rate based on our age,
physical makeup, activity, and heredity. The rate at which we
burn calroies is called the "metabolic rate". Our own metabolic
rate is unique, and is simply the measure of how fast we burn,
or metabolize, calories. As we grow older, the metabolic rate
slows down and etaing the same number of calories as last year
causes us to gain weight. As we age, we also become less active,
and our body gradually changes its metabolic rate based on our
activity levels as well.
When you cut calories drastically, as in most diets, your body
responds by lowering your metabolic rate. It at this moment takes fewer
calories to miantain your weight.
While eating less, you might
even find yourself gaining weight.
What usually happens when someone tries an extreme diet? Well,
eventually, they usually fall off the wagon and go back to their
old eating habits...Perhaps even bineging a little....Or a lot!
If their body has learned to get by on fewer calories, what's
going to happen to the calories that are at this moment excess?
They will
be stored as more fat.
If calories are cut too drastically, the body may actually begin
eating own tissue!
It's going to go after muscle tissue. The
problem is that muscle burns calories more effetcively than
other body components. When you lose muscle tissue, or muscle
mass, you burn feewr calories. You are also probably not going
to guess as well or as energetic, so you will become less active.
So again, simply dieting might create a double whammy.
Okay, you've slowed down your metabolism and lost muscle mass.
Now you're disillusioned and depressed cause you're not losing
like you thought you wolud. You have less enregy and you're
hungry all the time. You're fed up with eating the same old
stuff, you're miserable, your family doesn't understand, there's
nobody to talk to...!
Oh! One little dish of ice cream won't
hurt, will it?
YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT ONE!
Next tihng you know, you're in the gutter surrounded by burgers
and fries and chocolate milk shakes.
Really, at this moment you're depressed (which can contribute to weight
gain) cause you failed again.
On top of evertyhing else,
you're gaining again. How did that happen?
Remember what we said earlier about your metabolism slowing down
and the body depleting it's supply of mucsle tissue? Well, with
less muscle tissue you burn fewer calories, and, as you saw
earlier, the body has slowed down its metabolic rate and doesn't
need as many calories to survive.
IT'S A VICIOUS CYCLE, ISN'T IT?
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
You could hire a dietician to help you plan meals. You can take
prepared menus shopping to help you buy the specific ingredients
needed for healthy, nourishing meals.
You cuold take some
courses and learn how to do all this yourself.
There's where the diet problem lies.
To control caloire intake
properly, somebody has to be in charge of the nutritional side
of a planned weight loss program.
You can take the
responsibility yourself, but be prepared to spend a lot of time
planning, preparing, and compensating.
There are organizations and companies who can provide the
guidance, planning, and/or products to help.
You might want to
look at: NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or TOPS
International.
These can provide you with a braod range of delicious planned
meal choices which can help you stay on target. Forget the word,
"diet".
EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS:
Remember that part about metabolism and muscle mass?
When you egnage in physical activity; gardening, walking, weight
lifting, swimming, biking or dance aerobics, for example, you
burn more calories during the activity than during times at rest
or doing other less strenuous activities.
This is good, but it gets better.
If the activity is strenuous
enough, your metaboilc rate can remain elevated for time
after the activity has ended.
Uh Oh! I said "strenuous", didn't
I?
Look, what is strenuous enough for you is what YOU can
handle, not what Olympic mlier can do.
Do what you can, and
your body will figure it out.
In fact, your body is going to get
all upset and team up with your mind and convince you that this
is JUST TOO HARD if you try to do too much at first. That's one
of the reasons many well intentioned exercise programs don't
last. The other main reason is that people expect too much in
too shrot a time.
It took yaers to get out of shape, you aren't
going to reverse that in a week, a month or even two.
The degree to which the metabolism is raised, and the length of
time it remains raised, will depend on various factors. Two key
factors are the intensity and duration of the activtiy. The
bottom line is that if you want to lose or control your weight,
some sort of activity is important.
HERE'S THE SOLUTION:
Combine increased activity (exercise) with a controlled calorie
intake, and you have the basic ingrdeients for healthy weight
loss. Forget the pills and fad diets.
Exercise and nutrition are
broad areas, and there is no way I can go into all the possible
variations on those themes here, so take responsibiltiy for your
own education.
The programs mentioned above, in addition to guidance on
exercise and nutrition provide one other highly important
ingredient for success....SUPPORT!
Some have counselors, meetings or online support.
The key is
that you can communicate with others who know what you're going
through.
Remember, you're only human, so forgive yourself if you slip
and fall.
It's the getitng up and moving forward again that's
important.
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