Posts Tagged ‘lifestyle diseases’

Regardless of age, if we are overweight we want to know how to lose weight successfully. What may have worked for us once may stop working the older we get. In addition, if we have suffered through diet and a heavy exercise regime with success we want to know that when we begin to eat and exercise normally the weight loss will be maintained.

As we get older we begin to realize that life is finite. We look back to when we were younger and shudder at some of the risks we took and wonder how on earth we survived till middle age in the first place.
But we are still here, often several kilos heavier than optimum weight necessary to avoid lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure.

How did this happen? Perhaps we are eating more and we are less sedentary than we were in our earlier years so we figure we will just eat a bit less and exercise a bit more.

This tactic certainly worked for me when I was young. I was an overweight 14 year old, but losing that weight took no effort at all. I just put less butter on my bread and had less custard with my dessert. Problem solved.

Now as an overweight 47 year old it is not so easy. Cutting calories and walking down to the post office instead of driving is just not moving those kilos.

And nor will a full blown diet and exercise regime. One of my girlfriends of similar age needed to lose weight for a wedding and succeeded. Problem was, when she started eating normally again the kilos just all came back. Now, her weight will not budge regardless of how many fruit lunches she eats and the number of kilometers she swims each morning before work.

I also know people who have had great success with diets such as the Atkins diet but who also report that the weight loss was not sustainable.

Fortunately I have come across some good news for those of us who have trouble losing weight.

Firstly, it seems that we have a build up of parasites in our colons. These parasites are partly responsible for our inability to lose weight as well as responsible for contributing to dietary related diseases such as those already mentioned earlier.

Secondly, speeding up our metabolism will contribute weight loss. Although you may already know this, what you may not realize is that not all exercise is created equal. Whilst all exercise is good for us, not all exercise will contribute to an increase in metabolism. In addition, certain foods are known to increase metabolism.

So, if you have can’t lose weight successfully it may be worth ridding your colon of those pesky parasites along with doing exercise and eating more of those foods known for speeding up metabolism.

Sharon Reid is creating a self improvement website for those wanting to create abundance in their lives.

http://personal-development-for-abundance.com/how-to-lose-weight-successfully.html

Obesity is steadily growing to be major lifestyle problem for most Americans. In fact, studies have shown that with the influx of new fat-rich, fast food diets, Americans have begun to get larger and heavier. Also, in an alarming development, more and more people are getting overweight at a younger age.

Being overweight means that one has an excess amount of weight – which does not limit itself to fat. There are ranges in weight that is acceptable for people of different age and height groups. If you weigh more than recommended for your height and age group, then you should seriously consider shedding off some pounds.

Health professionals use the Body Mass Index (BMI), to ascertain whether a person is overweight or not. This measurement seeks to find out how heavy a person is per amount of body space he or she has. The BMI is a handy tool in assessing whether a person is healthy or overweight.

Being able to know your BMI and watch your weight is essential to good health. While most people just think that being overweight is something that is painful to look at – with repercussions to one’s overall self-esteem, there are other, graver reasons why one should be concerned about his or her weight.

The truth is that obesity is a major factor in many debilitating diseases that have gone up in frequency of late. Heart disease, Stroke, Diabetes, and other major diseases can be traced to obesity and ultimately to one’s diet and lifestyle.

Therefore, to be able to avoid these lifestyle diseases, it becomes imperative that one is able to keep from becoming obese. There are two major ways to do this – a proper diet, and exercise (or a more active lifestyle). Because of the increase in daily conveniences in today’s world, people are becoming increasingly sedentary and fail to work their bodies into health.

The only way to regain this health is to return to a more active type of lifestyle coupled with a return to healthier, less-fatty foods.

Losing Calories is as Easy as Counting Them
But how do people get fat? While genetics can be a big factor, the overriding principle here is that everything that you eat has varying amounts of calories that your body needs for energy. If you consume more than you need, your body ends up storing it for later use. This is when your calories become fat tissue.

The problem here is that it could lead to a vicious cycle where you keep consuming more energy than you need, this will lead to more fatty deposits that will accumulate throughout the years unabated. This underscores the need for more restraint and discipline with our diet.

To lose fat, one must consume just enough calories so that the body does not have to store the energy as fat. It will instead burn the energy up. If you eat just a little less than your body needs, your body will turn to its fat stores for energy.

However, it does not mean that if you stop eating at all, you will lose fat. In fact it would be quite the contrary. If you stop eating altogether and pig out once in a while, it would lead to increased fat deposits because your body would have adjusted to so little energy in the body.

So what is the solution?
The solution to this debacle is to eat just the right amount of calories throughout the day in small but frequent meals. Couple this with exercise, and you have a surefire way of burning the fat nothingness.

However, when going for exercise, it has to be the aerobic kind, meaning it has to be a regular sustained exercise that for more than 20 minutes. This type of exercise uses oxygen and fat to generate energy. Weight lifting on the other hand is anaerobic and uses glycogen instead for energy.

How do you tell the two apart
If you are able to talk a bit while performing an exercise, then it is most probably aerobic. Your heart rate for such exercises should span the 130 bpm range.

Calories
Going back to calories, you should remember that to keep your calories in the range for your weight. Look at the nutritional information to make your decisions. Also you should consult with a nutritionist for further advice on your recommended calorie intake and reduction plan.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://calories.health-webzone.com where you can learn more about calories, how to count them and how to use them to lose weight.