Lose Weight Naturally

Lose Weight Naturally

You may not believe this but dieting has not proven to be very effective tool for long term weight loss.  It seems as if many people are constantly on diets, however, their weight loss is not that remarkable.  Dieting usually produces what I would call the “yo-yo” effect with your weight.  Initially when you begin a diet you lose weight but after awhile or when you no longer are dieting the weight returns with a vengeance.  Most weight loss finds its way back to you. The good news is that there is a way to lose weight naturally.

Why is dieting so unsuccessful?  Very simply it is because dieting is an attempt at a short term fix for a long term problem.  You cannot necessarily undo years of weight gain in a short period of time.  There was a mindset and daily habits that led to you gaining the weight you are currently carrying.  Those habits and mindsets need to be changed in order for you to be successful.  You need a lifestyle change not simply a diet.

Diets have you wiping out entire food groups from your meal plan.  I don’t know about you but I have found most diets to be very difficult to stick to or very costly to maintain.  Instead of putting yourself through the misery of eating in ridiculous ways or instead of shelling out bucks for prepared tasteless meals you need to focus on three factors.  You need to eat healthy; you need to exercise and you need to reduce the stress in your life.

Too many people focus on weight loss as the be all end all goal.  Weight gain is a symptom of a larger problem.  If you just treat the symptom then you have not solved the real problem.  If you have a high fever that was caused by a raging infection inside of your body and the doctor only treated the symptom of the fever, then you will not heal.  The infection will continue to rage on and cause other problems with you body.  It is much the same with weight loss.  It is a symptom.  If you fix the real problem (unhealthy lifestyle) then the weight will begin to correct itself.  But treating the symptom with a diet will not change much.  The weight will
return just as the fever would return.

So where to we start with learning how to lose weight naturally?

Eat the Right Foods in the Correct Amounts

There is a mistaken notion on the part of some individuals who have weight to lose that they are going to stop eating altogether.  They believe that if they cut down to one meal a day this will help propel them toward the weight loss they so desire.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is important that you not eat less frequently during the day but that you eat more frequently.  I know that sounds like a paradox when you are trying to lose weight but it is fact.  If you cut your food intake drastically or cut your meals to only one meal a day your body will kick into self preservation mode.  If your body senses that you body is being deprived
of nutrition it will go about storing fat.  It stores fat as protection.  Not only will it store fat but it will begin to use muscle tissue for energy.  This is the opposite of everything that you want to happen.  If you are trying to lose weight it is your desire for your body to burn fat not to store it.  So do not cut back on meals.

You probably have a question right about now.  If I am eating more often, won’t I be eating more?  Well the answer is that if you don’t decrease the size of your meals then you will but what you want to do is eat more often but eat less during each meal.  The idea of eating more often is that you might never get so hungry that you binge.  It also keeps your body working throughout the day.  Some believe this may raise your metabolism.

You need to eat more often but you need to eat the right type of foods as well.  Let’s face it; we eat too much of the wrong food quite often.  I can eat half a pizza but I only want one helping of green beans.  You must have more color to your plate.  Eat more fruit and more vegetables.  Too many people are eating nothing but meat, potatoes, bread and other starches.  Too many of us don’t eat healthy enough.  We are missing important nutrients and vitamins in our diets when we are not eating properly.  One of the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables is that it helps fill you up.  The more healthy foods that you eat the less room you have for other less healthy food.  Weight loss will begin to occur when you replace more of your calorie dense foods with the less calorie dense
vegetables and fruits.

Reduce the Stress in Your Life

Stress can make you fat.  There is a chemical called Cortisol that gets secreted when you are undergoing stressful situations.  The unfortunate part is that cortisol has been linked to the storing of visceral fat.  Visceral fat is the fat that is found around the internal organs.  This is the worse kind of fat.  Cortisol has also been linked to belly fat.  And belly fat has been tied to numerous health issues such as heart disease and diabetes.  Find ways to reduce your stress.  Find a hobby that you can involve yourself in and enjoy.  Maybe you need to get a membership in a health club or take up gardening and landscape your yard.  Do anything to relax and it just might help with losing weight naturally.

Drink Lots of Water

You need at least 8 glasses of water each day.  And when I say water I do not mean coffee, tea or fruit juice.  Drinking water is beneficial for your health in that it helps keep you hydrated.  It flushes impurities out of your system.  It keeps you full throughout the day.  Often the hunger feelings that you believe you are feeling are nothing more than thirst.  But rather than feed your thirst you run out and get a candy bar or snack.  Drinking the required amount of water will probably keep that hunger feeling at bay.  The less you eat the more weight you lose.

Fitness and Exercise

The best way to lose weight naturally is to adopt a fitness and exercise program.  You should be exercising at least 25 minutes each an d every day.  I would incorporate cardio exercise on three days each week and weight lifting on another three days during the week.  Weight lifting is a necessity.  It builds muscle and muscle is a fat burning friend.  Muscle requires more calorie expenditure to maintain it than does fat.  So for every pound of muscle that you add you increase your metabolism and burn calories at a quicker pace.

If you combine all of these ways to lose weight you will it will aide you in your attempt to lose weight naturally.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.