Most people want to lose weight fast. Maybe there’s a wedding or a party or a holiday coming up in a few weeks and they want to drop 20 pounds or more quickly. There are diets available that promise just that. You can be successful. It will be bad for your health and your skin will shrivel more slowly than your body so you will look like a prune, but you can achieve your goal. Then you stop the diet and the weight comes right back on. What could be worse news for the person you just married, and for you too?
So let’s be realistic about this. A two-year-old child weighs 20 pounds. So you’ve told your body to drop the weight of a two-year-old in just a few weeks. Put that way it may seem more of a challenge. It may help to know what your crash diet is doing to your body. At first the weight will keep coming down for a few days and you will keep on celebrating. You’re using up your body’s limited supply of glycogen. As you lose glycogen, you lose water and this explains the rapid weight loss. You’re also running the risk of dehydration, a problem with gallstones later. Then the body goes into starvation mode and you start losing fat along with muscle. The more muscle you have now, the higher your metabolism. So by losing muscle your body slows down its metabolism in order to survive with less food. That is, your weight loss slows down. You may also find that you suffer from headaches, irritability, fatigue, insomnia and diarrhea. Not necessarily all at once, but even one or two isn’t very pleasant. At this point you may well give up and then regain the weight you have lost. ‘Only one out of every six Americans who are overweight or obese loses weight and maintains that loss’ (Penn State College of Medicine). Now we know why.
What you should do? You should set goals, but here we are again going back to realism. Losing weight for summer vacation can be a good idea. But if you book your holidays in February and eat junk food till June, you will not look like Victoria Beckham in August. If you start a healthy diet and regular exercise in February, you probably can. This should be your long-term goal to keep in the back of your mind while you achieve your short-term goal of losing 1-2 pounds each week.
To lose 1 pound in a week, you must consume 500 fewer calories per day than you would to maintain your current weight. That’s the equivalent of twice the chocolate or one almond croissant at your favorite coffee shop. But you’ll have to do more than just leave out the chocolate and almond croissants. Quit junk food, you know what it is – everyone else is eating it. Cut down on sugars, animal fats, crisps and fizzy drinks. Clear your fridge of junk food, if it’s there you’ll eat it. You need a lifestyle change, so you should start eating healthy food. Get plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and fish like mackerel. If this sounds awful just google ‘Mediterranean cuisine’ and you will find many French and Italian meals that use these ingredients and taste really good. Drink plenty of water, avoid skipping breakfast and eat smaller portions. But don’t be a martyr for what you eat. The occasional glass of wine or a festive meal is okay. Just stick to your new diet most of the time.
You’ll also need exercise to burn off the calories you eat. If you dislike that sort of thing then don’t bother with the gym. Brisk walking, swimming or cycling for half an hour daily is fine. If you have time an hour is better.
That is all there is to it. Just eat good food, exercise every day and you will lose weight slowly and safely. No rapid weight loss and loose skin, no yo-yo diets and health problems, no giving up. Then it won’t take long to become one in six people who have lost weight and are keeping it off.
Source by Peter Stockwell
