Diet
The art of losing weight is a complex thing for most people, mainly because that's the way they perceive it to be.
But it really doesn't need to be so difficult to get, when you boil it down to its bare bones.
Those bare bones of getting back in shape are a good, healthy diet combined with daily exercise.
That's so your body is able to metabolize your food as efficiently as it can and thereby not storing any excess fat while burning off the store of fat that you have already accumulated that is causing your overweight condition.
In a separate article here entitled: "Weight Loss," I have already gone over the basics of the need to exercise, so in this article I'm going to look at the importance of diet for getting back in shape.
So Many Ways to Get Thin
It's not a surprising thing to know that the vast majority of people who are trying to lose weight are trying through some form of dieting strategy.
There are many different kinds, from those you create and manage yourself to fully convenient types where all the food is sent to your home such as with a meal replacement diet program like Nutrisystem; Jenny Craig; Diet-to-Go or Medifast, for example.
That's good but it isn't the whole picture and why so many of them fail is that they rely totally on the diet without realizing what is going on in their bodies to make the fat store reduce in size.
You see, just eating less on its own is not enough to lose weight and keep it off. Sure, you can lose several pounds in the short term by dieting, but what use is that when you will put all the pounds you lose back on again as soon as you stop the diet?
No use whatsoever and plenty of people get really depressed because they went through all that time of deprivation of the things they liked to eat in order to lose some weight, only to watch it all pile back on again soon after stopping the diet. So how can we get around that and ensure the weight stays off?
The Key to a Slim Healthy Body
Exercise, combined with a healthy diet is the key to long term weight loss and it's exercise that you are going to have to do on a daily basis. A lot of people don't want to hear that, but it's the truth. But it doesn't have to be a chore. You don't have to go to the gym every day and work out like an athlete then eat rabbit food for the rest of your life!
Your diets can be sensible and include most of the things you like to eat, in moderation of course. That's as long as you do some form of daily exercise to make sure that your body metabolizes that food and doesn't store any of it as fat.
That exercise can be things that you like to do, such as going on a long walk every day, or going for a swim. You see it doesn't have to be anything tough, just something that will get your body moving sufficiently to burn off the calories you consume.
Balance and Harmony
To find a happy balance in your nutritional intake and a kind of harmony in your fitness so your physical size is never a problem.
Then your diet can include treats, such as a slice of cake or pie, the odd candy bar or cookie with your coffee. As long as the bulk of what you eat is made up of wholesome, home cooked meals that are made with fresh ingredients, include plenty of fresh vegetable, lean meat (if you're not a vegetarian) and fish as well as pulses, nuts, grains etc to provide all the essential nutrients your body needs.
You can include low GI (Glycemic Index) carbohydrates such as those found in wholegrain cereals like wholemeal bread and pasta, oats (porridge or oatmeal) and brown rice as well as unsaturated fats such as olive oil. Include omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids that are found in oily fish, walnuts and flax seeds.
Drink plenty of plain water in place of soda because all soda is totally bad for you (even the sugar-free sodas) and water is so good for you in so many ways that it will take a separate article to cover all its beneficial properties!
All in all, be sensible about what you eat. Yes, use common sense! If something you are about to seat looks like it has been fried in saturated fats, or deep fried in vegetable oil, don't eat it!
You don't have to!
If that slice of chocolate cake or cream pie looks like it contains a thousand calories per bite, don't buy it! Have a slice of the cake that looks like it's nice but less likely to make you pile on the pounds.
Use your judgement when it comes to health eating. That's because when you start watching your diet more carefully, you'll find that your judgement of telling the difference between what is good to eat and what is good for making you fat will improve to great heights!
Related Articles
There is much more to learn and absorb about the food you eat and the way your body processes all you consume. I've disseminated it into a series of related informative articles which are listed below as clickable links: