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Weight Loss and the Snowball Effect
We all know the familiar
story; you go through your teenage years and are quite
active, maybe you play a little sport on weekends. Because
of your high activity level and age your metabolism
is also high so your weight is not a problem. Unfortunately
this makes you complacent and you develop a taste for
fatty junk food. You develop a habit of unhealthy eating
because your metabolism helps you burn off most of the
calories from the junk food and so the negative effects
remain unnoticed.
As you move into adulthood your priorities
change and you give up sports and focus more on work
and social activities such as parties and drinking.
You notice that you have some extra body fat but by
now you've programmed your lifestyle habits into your
subconscious and weight loss is still not a major concern.
As you get to your 30's or 40's however you have a considerable
amount of body fat and you start to see the health problems
associated with your unhealthy lifestyle.
What you have unwittingly done in your
life to date is set the snowball effect in motion, accumulating
all the little unhealthy lifestyle habits along the
way until the snowball has not only gained speed but
has also become bigger year after year, and so have
you. Like a large snowball rolling down a mountain,
your health and body fat appear to be out of control
and unstoppable.
The Good News
The good news is that you can use the snowball effect
in a way to achieve health and weight loss by making
incremental improvements to your lifestyle across multiple
areas. This will cause your new weight loss snowball
to grow and gather speed and lead you back to health.
The most important thing to realize is that while you
may not see immediate results from the slight changes
to your lifestyle, the combination of incremental improvements
across multiple lifestyle areas over time will achieve
the weight loss you're looking for.
Here is a list of things you can do
to start your new weight loss snowball rolling:
1. Get Active - To burn off some of
the body fat and strengthen your heart you need to do
some form of exercise. A good starting point is walking
as it is a low impact, low risk activity. Start out
with a short walk at first and aim to walk farther and
for longer each time. Once you have improved your fitness
a little incorporate some star jumps, perhaps stop half
way through your walk and do some star jumps and then
complete your walk.
2. Eat Healthier - Gradually replace
high fat and high sugar foods with healthier alternatives.
First start with perhaps one meal a day and progress
from there. After a while you will be more accustomed
to healthy food and will make better food choices.
3. Eat Smaller Meals - It is better
to have more frequent small meals than three large meals,
so try cutting down your portion sizes and have a piece
of fruit between meals.
4. Cut out Sugar Drinks - Eliminate
soda drinks from your diet as they wreak havoc with
your blood sugar, add body fat, and interfere with your
hormonal system.
5. Reduce Alcohol - Alcohol has the
same effects as soda drinks on your body so try to reduce
your consumption as much as possible.
6. Drink lots of Water - Water helps
eliminate all the body's byproducts and is needed to
flush the body of the waste associated with weight loss.
It also helps give you that full feeling so sip a glass
of water when eating.
7. Get Plenty of Sleep - It has been
noted that a large proportion of the people who get
inadequate sleep are overweight. This can be attributed
in part to the effect that sleep deprivation has on
the body's hormonal system among other things.
8. Eat Slower - Most westerners eat
way too fast, which leads to poor digestion and overeating.
Eat slower and savor your food and you will feel fuller
on less food.
There is no quick fix when it comes
to weight loss, but if you make gradual improvements
across a number of areas, the combined effect will put
the brakes on the obesity snowball and have your weight
loss snowball rolling before you know it.
1howto.com
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