Following a sensible weight loss plan

1. Following A Sensible Weight Loss Plan
Overview:
By now, you may be riding the fad weight loss plan merry-go-round for quite some time and
are ready to jump off. You have followed one regimented diet after another (the Zone, the
Cabbage Soup diet, or the Atkins diet), eaten prepackaged or powdered foods or MREs
(meals rejected by Ethiopians), counted calories, given up flavor in favor of low fat, gone to
the support groups. And you may have even lost some weight – only to see the pounds
reappear after you went off the program. Every year, 100 million Americans go on a diet and
up to 95% of them gain back any weight they lose within five years.
Such a weight loss plan can be a very temporary way to get started, but recognize it’s not
long-term. Remember, anything you can do in a few days, you can undo in less. The
American Heart Association (AHA) recommends adopting healthy eating habits, rather than
impatiently pursuing a crash diet or quick weight loss plan in hopes of losing unwanted
pounds in a few weeks. Weight loss occurs from expending more calories than you consume.
Therefore, the only rational way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories, than you expend in
daily activities, and this process takes time.
Change Your Lifestyle:
Losing weight permanently may seem a distant dream, too good to be true. But a
combination of a sensible diet and daily moderate exercise can help you fulfill this dream. As
a weight loss plan, exercise alone is not as potent, but when combined with proper dieting, it
can prove lethal for obesity.
Exercise combined with dieting leads to more weight loss than any other weight loss plan.
This does not imply that exercise alone is worthless. Physical fitness is certainly good for you
and is more effective in reshaping your body than it is for shedding flab. Exercise helps build
muscles, and muscles burn more calories for fuel. Exercise helps to burn off excess calories
and starting a regular exercise program is critical for any weight loss plan. For that reason,
those involved in manual labor are rarely obese. In most cases, obesity is the result of a
sedentary lifestyle. Lack of adequate physical activity primarily contributes to causing obesity.
While it is true, that exercise stimulates the digestive system and makes the individual
hungrier, one can easily satiate this increased hunger by consuming large quantities of low-
calorie foods. However, physical activity does not have to be excessive or overly strenuous to
be effective.
Healthy eating is the best way to reach and maintain healthy body weight. A balanced, whole
foods diet – containing a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains, raw seeds and nuts, beans,
fermented milk products, fish, and poultry is the best-prescribed weight loss plan for reaching
your ideal body weight. A good weight loss plan must be based on a well-rounded diet, as a
deficiency in one or more nutrients may interfere with your weight loss goals.
If you have tried to lose weight before, consider what you did in the past that did not work
for you and start from a different place. Establish a pragmatic, healthy weight loss plan for
yourself and be clear about the reasons why you are undertaking this process again and what
you are willing to do to achieve success. Instead of a one-size-fits-all diet, you need to
understand that everyone requires a unique weight loss plan to shed weight and regain
health. You know yourself well, what does and does not work for you. Give yourself the tools,
knowledge, and support to reach your goal. Ultimately, you are the one who must decide if
losing weight and making other lifestyle changes will improve your health.