Quick fix?
It seems that nearly everyday I get asked, what’s the ‘best’ way to lose weight? The answer is maybe a little surprising, and I hope the article below helps to show the way…
The first and most important point I would like to make is that no matter what you see and read on the front of nearly all the diet, health and lifestyle magazines, there are no realistic ‘quick fixes’ or fast ways to lose weight. You also might think that you can ‘turn fat to muscle’ as one particular men’s health magazine once splashed across its front page, this unfortunately will be no more likely than the ability for the average man or woman to ‘sculpt your abs in just 5 minutes a day’.
It would make sense that in order to shed the extra pounds acquired over many years you might have to work a bit longer than 5 minutes a day, or for the mythical 28 days so often quoted, and as simple as it sounds to spell it out here, an ever increasing amount of people are buying into this ‘fast fitness’ revolution. The problem of course becomes visible when quite unsurprisingly, the fat didn’t turn to muscle or the abs haven’t been sculpted in 28 days, this often leads to a feeling of disillusionment and frustration, which in turn results in the unfortunate person rapidly looking to try another miracle cure.
So if the quick fixes don’t work, what should be done?
The most sensible way to lose weight is over a sustained period of time, by gradually reducing the amount of energy you put in, and slowly increasing the amount of activity you perform, both of which will create what scientists call a ‘calorie deficit’. Sounds simple eh? Just eat and drink less and get out doing more and the weight will just drop off. in short, that is the most effective way to lose weight, and more importantly how to keep that weight off, but people constantly look for a catch or think that something that simple can’t work.
Do the maths
Changing the energy balance of your body by something as little as 100 kcal's a day would ‘theoretically’ result in 36,500 kcal's lost in a year, and if we accept that one gram of fat is worth about 9 kcal's, it could give us a weight loss of over 4 kilogram’s in a single year! Not bad for just a slight alteration in what we eat and do, and to help put that 100 kcal's into focus think of something like a mars bar, one of which is around 330 kcal's.
So to sum up
I would make the same recommendation to you as I have done to many people in the past, get more physical, whether that be by planned exercise sessions with friends or a personal trainer, or something as simple as walking more each day. If you are serious about improving your health, fitness and standard of living, and you really tried to put your mind to it, you would find ways to get that extra activity into your day, even if that means spending fewer hours in front of the TV, or less time sitting in the car. Research has shown that the activity does not have to be that vigorous to make serious health benefits, just 30 minutes a day of something as simple as walking for example is all it would take to begin improving your physical condition.
The first and most important point I would like to make is that no matter what you see and read on the front of nearly all the diet, health and lifestyle magazines, there are no realistic ‘quick fixes’ or fast ways to lose weight. You also might think that you can ‘turn fat to muscle’ as one particular men’s health magazine once splashed across its front page, this unfortunately will be no more likely than the ability for the average man or woman to ‘sculpt your abs in just 5 minutes a day’.
It would make sense that in order to shed the extra pounds acquired over many years you might have to work a bit longer than 5 minutes a day, or for the mythical 28 days so often quoted, and as simple as it sounds to spell it out here, an ever increasing amount of people are buying into this ‘fast fitness’ revolution. The problem of course becomes visible when quite unsurprisingly, the fat didn’t turn to muscle or the abs haven’t been sculpted in 28 days, this often leads to a feeling of disillusionment and frustration, which in turn results in the unfortunate person rapidly looking to try another miracle cure.
So if the quick fixes don’t work, what should be done?
The most sensible way to lose weight is over a sustained period of time, by gradually reducing the amount of energy you put in, and slowly increasing the amount of activity you perform, both of which will create what scientists call a ‘calorie deficit’. Sounds simple eh? Just eat and drink less and get out doing more and the weight will just drop off. in short, that is the most effective way to lose weight, and more importantly how to keep that weight off, but people constantly look for a catch or think that something that simple can’t work.
Do the maths
Changing the energy balance of your body by something as little as 100 kcal's a day would ‘theoretically’ result in 36,500 kcal's lost in a year, and if we accept that one gram of fat is worth about 9 kcal's, it could give us a weight loss of over 4 kilogram’s in a single year! Not bad for just a slight alteration in what we eat and do, and to help put that 100 kcal's into focus think of something like a mars bar, one of which is around 330 kcal's.
So to sum up
I would make the same recommendation to you as I have done to many people in the past, get more physical, whether that be by planned exercise sessions with friends or a personal trainer, or something as simple as walking more each day. If you are serious about improving your health, fitness and standard of living, and you really tried to put your mind to it, you would find ways to get that extra activity into your day, even if that means spending fewer hours in front of the TV, or less time sitting in the car. Research has shown that the activity does not have to be that vigorous to make serious health benefits, just 30 minutes a day of something as simple as walking for example is all it would take to begin improving your physical condition.