You know, I really don't want to be a killjoy or a smart alec, but there are a couple of simple facts about weight loss:
1. It took years to put on, and it won't come
off fast.
2. Rapid weight loss is at best potentially
unhealthy and at worst downright dangerous.
Okay, now that we've gotten the negative stuff
out of the way, let's look at some real weight loss solutions.
First of all, forget drugs, pills, diets,
magic potions, and witches with apples! Oh yeah, that last one was from Snow
White. Those things don't really work for weight loss, rapid or otherwise, and
I am going to assume that you want to lose weight because you want a longer,
healthier, better life for yourself. You may look in the mirror and say,
"I want to lose weight now", but you really want to become a person
who is going to enjoy life, have fun living, live long and prosper, and be
happy to look in the mirror again.
Certain things make us gain weight, and
certain things make us lose weight. We can lose or gain a bit faster or slower
depending on the choices we make on a daily basis, but the basics which control
our weight remain pretty constant.
First of all, if you eat more calories than
your body can use, you gain weight. If you use more calories than you eat, you
lose weight.
Second, if you go on a diet, that diet is
probably not going to work because, to put it simply, diets don't work. Even if
the diet works, and I'd rather bet on horse races, you aren't going to stay on
it, and you know it.
Third, diets, pills, supplements and so on, if
they work at all, will only work as long as you continue to use them. They make
no positive changes to your body, and cause you to lose weight by creating some
condition in your body which is unnatural, unhealthy, or both.
Fourth, if you deprive your body of a certain
level of food intake, either through a diet or through a pill which interferes
with the normal function of the body, not only will you fail to get the
nutrients you need but your body has a mechanism which teaches it to get by on
less food when you do this to it. When you go back to eating as before, and you
will, you not only gain back the weight you lose but gain more because your
body has learned to function on fewer calories.
Fifth, even if you lose weight with a diet
pill or other artificial weight loss product, the only health benefit you
derive is from the weight that is lost. That is often offset by negative
results within the body from the product or process used.
HOWEVER!
If you are willing to change the statement
from, "I want to lose weight now", to "I want to lose weight
permanently in a healthy manner, there are two major things you need to do.
1. You need to become more active. Now, most
people assume that means "exercise". While that is a great idea, I
will settle for taking up some activity which you enjoy which has a physical
aspect to it. Gardening is great, for example. Bike riding and swimming are fun
activities for some which are really just exercise in disguise, but you didn't
get that from me. Personally, I actually enjoy my dumbbell workouts, but that
isn't most people's cup of tea.
2. You will need to become proactive about
eating. Notice that I DID NOT say, "diet". What you need to do is
think before you eat. There is no reason why you cannot lose weight and still
eat apple pie or ice cream. You just need to be a grown up and not eat it every
day and watch the portion sizes when you do have it.
You know, I used to buy pints of ice cream and
eat the whole thing in one sitting. One night, I
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