3 things to remember when trying to lose weight.

People seem to think, at least it kind of feels like it by all the negative reactions I get when talking about weight loss, that losing weight is such an impossible feat. Not to mention the first words out of the individual's mouth is usually something about a diet. I HATE the word diet and I'll get to the reason why in a later post but the honest truth is that losing weight is not that hard, in a sense that the logic is very quite simple. The basic concept is to burn more calories than you take in. It’s that easy. Now the hard part is going to be making the changes to your lifestyle; that are necessary in order to lose the weight. Trust me though it's not going to be anywhere near impossible, or as difficult as common belief. No matter who you are or where you're from you can lose weight it just takes determination and persistence. Below are 3 things to keep in mind when losing weight, following these will help you immensely in your weight loss journey.

1. You are what you eat

We have all heard the old saying “you are what you eat” well I have no idea who said that but they were absolutely right. When it comes to nutrition I believe that a lot of individuals fail because they just don’t understand the science behind the food and what it does to your body. When losing weight it is very important and I cannot stress this enough, it is very important to stay away from refined foods, and sugary foods. Now you may be thinking to yourself well how is it that these kinds of food make you gain weight. Well let me explain to you how different foods affect the body.

Foods that contain simple carbohydrates like candy, soda, refined foods etc. are absorbed by the body at a very quick rate. This causes a spike in your blood sugar and in order to get your blood sugar level down your body releases insulin. The insulin will then lower your blood sugar down to normal, however; insulin also promotes the storage of fat that is why these foods are linked to weight gain.

Foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates have to be broken down by the body into simple carbohydrates before being digested. This is a much slower process and therefore you blood does not get overloaded with sugar. These types of foods also usually contain fiber which helps to slow down the digestion even further so that you feel full longer, thus helping to curb your appetite. Stick to these types of foods as well as foods high in protein and low in fat.

2. Eat 5-6 meals a day

Now I know what your thinking and trust me when I first heard about this I was skeptical as well. This method actually makes perfect sense though. See the idea is that if you eat 5-6 smaller meals a day your body has to constantly work at digesting the food and therefore it causes your metabolism to stay sped up. This in turn burns more calories. The problem with the common way of thinking that the less you eat the more you lose is that if your body has nothing to burn then it will start to slow your metabolism down in order to save food until the next meal, and if you try to starve yourself your body goes into survival mode where it actually will use the bare minimum of the food you consume to keep your body going, and will store the rest as fat for use at a later time. Now as mentioned above you will eat more frequently but the portions will be smaller. Also it’s a good idea to find out how many calories your body needs in a day in order to maintain your current weight. You take this amount and then cut out about 250 calories from that. This will ensure that you are taking in fewer calories than your body needs. Again though don’t take too much away or your body will go into shock and will actually cause you to gain weight.

3. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

This is a huge factor in losing weight, exercising will not only burn off extra calories by speeding up your metabolism, but will also strengthen your lungs, heart, and cardiovascular system. I have seen these programs that advertise that you can lose weight and no exercise is required. That is pure crap, an absolute marketing ploy. Trust me the best way to lose weight is to eat healthy and exercise regularly.

The types of exercises you should stick to are medium intensity aerobic exercises. Now again use good judgment when starting on a fitness program. I would recommend getting your doctors advice and recommendations first. Exercises that would fall into this category are jogging, speed walking, riding a bike, swimming, Pilates and so on. These types of exercises will get your heart rate up and this is what is going to cause your body to start burning calories. It is suggested that you do about 30-45 min of this type of exercising 4-5 times a week.

There you have it, using these 3 steps as guidelines you will without a doubt start to lose weight. This is because they are based on scientific facts.

For more information of the basics of food visit:
http://www.healthandfitnessfocus.com/foodscience.php

To calculate your daily caloric needs:
http://www.marathonguide.com/FitnessCalcs/Caloricneeds.cfm