Weight Loss

Healthy Weight Loss

When one wants to, or needs to lose some extra pounds, it should be done using a healthy weight loss plan. And having a plan is one of the most important aspects of losing weight. If you do not have a plan then your chances of being successful are very low. You will have no focus and before you know it you will be giving up on your attempts to lose those extra pounds.

And there should be no reason why you don’t have a plan. There are so many available that it can become a problem trying to choose. But don’t keep choosing new plans each week. Are you a weight loss yoyo-er? Do you lose weight only to put it back on again time after time? Perhaps you even put more weight on than before and your weight is gradually creeping up higher and higher and you don’t know what to do about it. Well, it may help you to know that you are not alone in this and weight loss yoyo-ers are on the increase.

Being a person that goes on and then of a weight loss plan on a continuous basis is not a good idea. Once you get into the cycle of weight off – weight on, your body, not surprisingly, becomes confused. Once upon a time your body had a set point, a weight that was the norm for you. With repeated weight gain followed by weight loss followed by weight gain etc etc, your body is constantly changing that set point until it is at a higher rate than you would like it to be. It can then be very difficult to attain the weight loss you so desire. Your body plateaus and any further weight loss seems like an impossibility. When this happens we often we get frustrated and disheartened and give up on the weight loss diet thinking it isn’t working. This inevitably results in our weight starting to increase once again to an unacceptable level. This is far from being a healthy weight loss plan.

If this is so important what can a person do? How can one regulate their set point in order to control their weight loss attempts. First and foremost, it is important to realize that you are going to have to be far more persistent in your approach to healthy weight loss. One of the reasons you find it difficult to sustain your weight loss is because your adrenal glands have become exhausted. Very often when you have been on a weight loss diet month after month, perhaps not following a well structured diet, maybe cutting calories or missing meals or eating too many carbohydrates, your body is constantly in a fight or flight state. This situation will inevitably leave you tired confusing your metabolism and encouraging it to turn to stimulants such as tea, coffee, and diet drinks as a pick me up to compensate for what may well have been an energy deficient diet. Unfortunately this just activates the sympathetic nervous system to release more stress hormones which in turn requires more stimulants and so the cycle goes on and weight loss becomes less and less likely. This vicious circle can be almost impossible to break without professional help.

Lacking knowledge on how to properly lose weight can hurt you. You can do harm to your body if it does not get the proper nutrients. For example, people who have been on a “not so healthy” weight loss diet will inevitably have lost some muscle as well as fat. As muscle burns energy this will not help your weight loss regime as a decreased muscle mass means a lower metabolic rate. Yet another vicious cycle your body has to find a way to break. This increases your chances gaining weight rather than losing weight and so the yoyo effect continues.

Healthy weight loss is not a game and it must be taken seriously. If not you could develop some health issues. Your future health is dependant on you losing weight so take your diet seriously. If weight loss has been an issue for you for many years then it would be advisable to get the advice and support of a professional weight loss coach who can monitor your progress. You need to be patient and remember it has probably taken you many years to become over weight particularly if you have been a weight loss yoyo-er, so it is likely take time to crack the cycle and achieve permanent weight loss. Remember also that tackling your weight loss problem also means that you are improving your overall health.

Janet Matthews

Make Healthy Choices