To lose weight

I am going to try to keep this simple since this is a redundant topic. Turn on the TV for about an hour and you will be bombarded with ads about weight loss. These infomercials make bogus claims and rip people off for a while and then end up getting sued eventually. I had a friend who worked for CortiSlim as a customer service rep. He told me their tactics. When people would call and complain about the product not working, they would simply convince them to take more Cortislim which means buying more. Not a surprise that in January 2007, CortiSlim got fined $1.2 million dollars by the Federal Trade Commission for making unsupported claims in their infomercials. Anyways to get back on hand, these magic pills are not the advised route to take for shedding the pounds.

The main problem is that people get frustrated about their weight and try to make drastic changes in their diet. This results in a high failure rate as eventually people give up on their unreasonable regiment. So, the first thing is that weight loss is a gradual process. We have developed a “pill popping instant gratification” type of mindset yet weight loss is the opposite.

First of all, lets get to understanding of how weight is gained in our body. Simply put, when you ingest more calories than you burn your body stores it as adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is just another fancy way of saying fat. To put a number to things, to lose one pound you need to burn about 3,500 calories more than you are burning currently. Sounds overwhelming but it isn’t as bad as it sounds.

So lets begin with the 8 steps:

1) Set a goal - The first thing is to make a reasonable goal. How much weight do I want to lose? A reasonable goal is to lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks. Calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index) to get a perspective on your weight and where it should be.

2) Mini Meal - Change the way you are eating. It is going to be annoying at first but it is vital for weight loss. Try to eat five or six small meals a day. This is to keep your metabolism up and to maintain normal insulin levels to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels). A meal should contain protein and minimal fat so you feel full. If you try to just gorge on fruits, you are going to get hungry fast and this is going to cause problems with your compliance.

3) Avoid Starvation - A sudden drop in calories will bring out some of our evolutionary traits where your body is programmed to store whatever you feed it. Your body is now unsure when it’s going to be fed again. This will cause a drop in metabolism. You do not need to be a calorie counter simply reduce your portions. If you are eating 2,500 calories to 2,000, just reduce the portion sizes by 20%.

4) Treat Yourself - Your diet regimen should include the occasional nice meal out and treat. If you do not do this you may burn out and revert back to your old ways. Don’t overdo it and start eating a Twinkie a day this will impede your progress.

5) STOP THE SODA! - This should be the easiest step. Remove the soda from the diet. Replace this with tea and water. This is essential. Enough said about that.

6) Exercise - This is needed and it has to be consistent. It is the perfect combination to the changes in your eating. Some of the most effective weight loss exercises which burn the most calories are as follows: Step aerobics, swimming, bicycling, racquetball, skiing, running, walking, rock climbing. These exercises can result in approximately 300 calories burned in 30 minutes.

7) Slow Down - If you eat very fast, it is going to take a longer time from when you had your last bite of food to when the satiety center of the brain is aware that you have eaten. So, eating slower will make you less tempted to continue eating. You will also feel full and satisfied.

8 ) Losing Control - What causes you to lose control? Is it going to the movies or the day before an important work meeting? The first step is to be made aware of the relationship between certain situations and your over eating. Once your aware, you can learn to avoid the trigger or deal with the trigger better.

Another thing I want to mention it is not a step but a motivational element. Take a picture of yourself periodically. You will be able to see your progress by comparing your pictures. It will keep you going as you begin to look better.

As we know obesity has been implicated in many other medical conditions, such as hypertension, osteoarthritis, cancer, strokes, gall bladder disease, infertility, depression, etc. (There are many other conditions but the list is too long.) Patients diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) who are overweight and begin to lose weight notice drops in blood pressure. This means no more taking anti-hypertensive medications and dealing with the side effects.

For further discussion and more issues regarding health matters, please go to http://www.drblogonline.com

Dr. Rajan Chopra provides a free blog online in order to provide current and relevant health related issues for his readers. His blog can be found at http://www.drblogonline.com

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