The struggle of trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle is real. Very real and sometimes too real for some people. You may feel like you have been to every weight loss clinic in the state, tried all the weight loss programs and work out regimes and nothing seems to be working. We can only go so long without results. It can be frustrated and unless you have ever gone through it, you can’t really understand it. You may be considering going to a medical weight loss clinic or trying some sort of surgery, but the truth is, even that won’t help if something doesn’t change. The reality of the whole struggle is this: if you don’t change anything, you can’t expect to see results. Even if you get weight loss surgery, if you don’t change your eating and exercise habits, you will end up just gaining the weight back and the surgery will have been for nothing. Here are a few practical things that you can do to help yourself that you may not hear at a weight loss clinic.
Stick to One Thing
When you are trying to lose weight, it can be easy to try all different kinds of things trying to get those fast results. However, it is important to make sure that whatever diet or eating plan you decide on, you stick to that for a period of time without wavering. Just one pound of body fat is equal to about 3,500 calories. This means, in order to lose one pound, you need a deficit of that many calories during the day. For example, burning 500 to 1,000 extra calories per day should allow you to lose weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week.
However, it can take your body a little time to register the changes. It may actually begin storing the food and you might even find yourself gaining weight. This is because your body in essence, freaks out and the lower amount of food and will try to conserve it. After a time, your body will realize you are still giving it food and will gradually release its stock pile.
Eat Often and Enough
Any weight loss clinic will tell you that you cannot eat less than 1,200 calories a day if you are a women and 1,800 a day if you are a man. This is because once you go below that, your body will begin to break down muscle in order to use it as energy. You may be losing pounds on the scale, but your body fat percentage will be going up with defeats the purpose.
You should try and eat small meals or snacks every two or three hours, staying within your calorie limit. What you eat matters. You can’t just eat 1,200 calories worth of pizza every day and expect to lose weight. There are other factors at play. Your body need nutrients and minerals and a certain amount of protein and other elements in order to effectively lose weight. Eating a balanced diet will aid your weight loss.
Go Until You’re Confident
There’s no set weight. Medically speaking there is and you should consult your doctor for this, but that goal is just that; a goal. If you find that you are strong, healthy, active and eating a balanced diet and are still considered ‘overweight,’ talk to your doctor. Your bone density and muscle mass also play a big part and you may be just fine. The most important thing is that you are happy with yourself. If you can get to a place where you are confident, happy and at peace with your body, then you will act like that and other people will accept it. What matters is that you like what you see when you look in the mirror.
Society and the media may tell you one thing about how a woman or a man should look or feel but you need to be able to determine in yourself how you should look and feel. Your personal happiness, coupled with your doctor’s weight recommendation are all you need to know that you are healthy.