Author: Graeme Muir | Total views: 5 Comments: 0
Word Count: 1037 Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 5:55 PM

Tips For Weight Loss

Losing weight at times can be difficult and sometimes trying a new diet and the process of dieting is not very fun, it doesn’t have to be like that. Dieting normally implies drastic changes which cannot be maintained thus people end up going back to their old habits and are no better off and more discouraged than before. If people follow some simple steps and make changes gradually then they can start being healthier and start to lose weight and achieve fat loss without drastic changes. I hope to explain some things that people can do to get into shape.

What is weight loss?

Weight loss is caused by the body using more energy than you consume. To change the amount your of energy your body expends you would exercise there are many ways such as running, biking, walking, lifting weights and playing sports. These are all goods way to exercise and boost your energy expenditure, vigorous exercise can expend 500-700 calories per hour exercise alone can help get you into shape even without dieting it may just take a little longer. Energy consumption is provided by the food you eat, the average caloric consumption for a person is about 1500-2500 calories per day, o gain one kilogram of weight you would need to consume about 7000calories above what your body requires and to lose one kilogram you would need to expend about 7000 calories more than what you gain from food. So you need to exercise more to increase you expenditure and then eat less. Below are some tips that you can follow to help you start with your weight loss.

Eat regularly

Some people tend to not eat breakfast and then maybe skip eating until later on in the day where they have a big meal. This is how you can easily store fat. With no food at the start of the day you feel tired and don’t have as much energy to burn and your metabolism becomes slower. Then when you finally eat later on in the day your body starts to store fat as it cannot use all the energy from the food provided. It is recommended that your meals be spread out during the day into 5 or 6 smaller meals, start with a good breakfast and eat during the day and start to taper off the sizes of your meals towards the end of the day. If you eat a lot at night before sleep the only thing the body can do with the energy is to store it. If the majority of food is eaten in the first half of the day it gives you energy to use during the day thus reducing the likelihood of it being stored as fat.

The less processed the food is the better

Today you can by lots of fast food and convenience meals that the food is processed but you want to bring in more food that is not processed such as vegetables and fruit and more grains. Foods with a lower GI mean that the body converts the carbohydrates to sugar slower. This means that you feel full for longer and you body doesn’t try to store the energy as fat as much. As a general guide food that is higher in fibre has a lower GI.

Exercise

Exercising is good for your health it improves the health of your heart and help reduce the chances of diseases such as cancer and diabetes. It is recommended by health experts to exercise for at least thirty minutes three times a week. This can range from going for a bike or a run to playing a game or soccer or tennis going for a swim or going to the gym and lifting weights. The added benefit is that it helps speed up your metabolism so that your body uses more energy to keep itself going. Exercise is a lot better than dieting alone as it promotes faster weight loss and improves your health.

Eat enough protein

Muscle is comprised mainly of water and protein when you exercise it gives your muscles the stimulus to grow however they cannot grow if you do not consume sufficient levels of protein. If insufficient levels are consumed the muscles can start to breakdown and even shrink! This results in the slowing of your metabolism and will increase the ability of your body to burn fat. The more muscle you have the easier it is to burn fat. Even if you are exercising and stay at the same weight if you are burning fat gaining muscle because muscle is denser than fat you can still end up becoming a smaller size. The recommended amount of protein to take is about 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. If you weighed 80kilograms then 120 grams a day would be a good amount to eat. If you spread this out over your five to six meals a day this is 20 -25 grams per meal.

Can supplements help?

Supplements can never replace a good diet and exercise they can only help once they are in place. However they can be a help when they are used properly. The first one is the use of protein powders, when people are trying to make sure their protein consumption is sufficient it can sometimes be difficult to find a good protein source for each meal and sometimes you are short on time. Whey protein can be used as a meal replacement and are especially good after workouts and at night-time to replace a meal where you do not want to be consuming many calories before sleep but want to give your body the protein it needs to help repair itself during the night. Fat burners can also be a help, the main things that they do is help reduce your appetite when you are dieting and also to help boost your energies when you have reduced your dietary intake. They help with the last bit of dieting as sometimes your body will burn less energy because you are eating less.