Don’t Be Misled. The Best Attitude and Action for Weight
Loss
by Hilda
Maria
zone3
Weight loss can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish.
Today’s media and the marketplace can sometimes make the effort of weight
loss even harder. Like it or not most societies in the developed countries
are heavily motivated by the media. Television, radio, newspapers, direct
mail, and the Internet all contribute heavily to our beliefs, our
attitudes and ultimately our actions. So, when it comes to weight loss,
how do you determine the right solution for your situation? Who do you
believe and who do you discount?
Are we as a society obsessed with
weight loss? Or, is there truly reason to take notice and lose a few
pounds? While there are some people, especially females during the teenage
years, who take weight loss to the extremes, for most of us losing some
weight would be the healthy thing to do.
It’s no secret that “thin
is in”, yet turn on the news channel and you’ll see where researchers are
finding more and more of our youth are obese and more and more adults as
well as children are being diagnosed with the chronic disease of Type 2
diabetes, often as a result of obesity. We see hear that thin is better,
yet we keep getting bigger and bigger. What’s the reason?
The
reasons are many. Primarily, our activity levels don’t match the amount of
food we eat. We are constantly being bombarded with quick food and lots of
occasions to eat. For example, some friends invite you over. The chances
are slim that there won’t be food involved. You go to a sports event.
What’s on your mind besides the game? Food! Somehow, we have become
conditioned to equate food with socializing. While that’s not necessarily
a bad thing, the amount of food we consume at these parties and events
often times are a bad thing. If you are trying to lose weight, whenever
you eat, remember; don’t eat more than you will be active enough to use!
Let’s face it! Watching the Super Bowl on television is far less energy
focused, than the guys playing in the game. They’re usually drinking
Gatorade, we’re eating everything in site.
Were The Cavemen
Fat?
Consider this: Our forefathers were constantly working to
simply survive. The men were farming, hunting, and fishing for food. The
women were busy preparing, the food, and the clothing as well as raising
the children. There was constant activity without an overabundance of
food. Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary. Yet, today with
technological advances, and the average lifestyles we live, our activity
levels have all but disappeared.
Let’s explore this a bit further…
We get up in the morning, jump in the shower, drive a car or catch the
subway or bus to work, grab some food at the fast food place for lunch,
come home pop in a frozen dinner, plop down on the sofa, turn on the TV
and our day is done. Compare that to the days of old. First off, you had
to draw the water for the shower, then you had to fire the stove to stay
warm and to cook( the food was hunted and grown by hand). If you left your
home for work, walking was a major way of transportation,…Need I say more?
Our bodies haven’t evolved to the point to where activity is not
necessary. Yet, we are the least active of any society since mankind was
placed on this earth. Food must be matched with activity. To lose weight,
you must consume less food than the body needs. That’s about the only way
you’ll burn off any fat.
Steps to Losing Weight
Enough
preaching about activity. You want to lose weight and have more energy.
First, I strongly suggest if you have more than a few pounds to lose, see
your physician before you begin any weight loss plan. There are some
medications, and diseases that can contribute to weight gain. If you know
the facts before you begin you’ll be able to better determine the best
method for your weight loss.
Secondly, as you think about losing
weight, carefully and honestly evaluate your current situation. Is it just
a few pounds, say 5 or 10 you want to lose? Maybe it’s 20 to 30? These
amounts usually can safely be lost without the help of health
professionals. If you need to lose 50 or more pounds, I strongly suggest
you see your physician before you begin any weight loss plan.
Next, you need to evaluate why you’ve gained the weight. There are
many reasons people gain weight. Some eat more than they need as a mental
pick-me-up. Some eat because they have nothing else to do. Others don’t
really overeat, they simply make the wrong choices of what they eat. Then
there’s those of us who have put on a few pounds each year and now all of
a sudden, nothing fits anymore. Whatever the case, you can lose the
weight. It will take the right attitude, level of commitment and the right
actions. Yes, there are plenty of diets and pills available to help you
along the way. They aren’t all bad, but do keep in mind that unless
permanent lifestyle changes are made, the weight will come back when you
stop the diets and the pills.
Diets and Pills
There are
almost as many weight loss methods and diet pills available as there are
people who want to lose weight.
There are diet pills that stop
your hunger so you eat less and burn more fat. There are diet pills that
cause the body not to metabolize all the food you eat, so it’s passed out
of your system and not stored as fat. Then there’s the combination of
these two. As you begin your search for the perfect diet pill, be careful
as some can have harmful effects on your body.
Diet Pills work by
shifting levels of brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) that control
satiety (fullness) and desire for food. Some also slightly increase your
metabolic rate - the rate at which your body burns calories.
Examples of weight loss diet pills include:
Diethylpropion
hydrochloride (eg. Tenuate)
Mazindol (eg. Mazanor, Sanorex)
Phendimetrazine tartrate (eg. Bontril)
Phentermine hydrochloride
(eg. Adipex-P, Ionamin)
All these can be used to help with weight
loss. Be careful of pills containing ephedra, or caffeine. These can have
negative and sometimes even deadly effects on the body. Use with caution.
Three Steps
Whatever method you choose to help you lose
weight, here’s three steps that will help.
Evaluate your situation and
reasons behind the weight gain honestly. Sometimes it’s difficult to
accept the true facts about why we’ve gained weight, only by realizing and
accepting the truth can you being to deal with it using a positive
attitude.
Make sure your attitude is positive about the changes you
make. Don’t dread the changes or say things like I hate not eating the
cake…. Instead whenever you have one of those kinds of thoughts think
about how much happier you will be with your new slimmer body.
Visualize the positive effects your good actions are having. Get a
mental image of the “new you.” Whenever you’re tempted not to be active or
to eat the wrong things, picture the “new you” you will be if you overcome
the temptation.
Don’t believe the magical ads. You can’t keep
doing the same things, and expect something different to happen. You can
use products to assist you with weight loss, but ultimately you must be in
control for the weight to stay off without taking the diet pills.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hilda Maria is a freelance writer with 5 children who knows the
importance of a balanced diet for
them. She enjoys providing useful knowledge about weight loss and
regular exercise
to her readers as well as to her children.
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