A Healthy Guide To Weight Management
In a time when you can do everything online: work, play, shop, pay your bills, or even meet new people, it’s no wonder patients come in sick with heart disease due to a sedentary lifestyle. And the food nowadays don’t help. EVERY single food item is either laced with sodium, fat, sugar, or all of the above. In our generation, if cancer won’t kill you, your lifestyle will probably do the trick. One of the things we can do to live a healthy life is manage our weight. So here is a guide on the basics to weight management.EXERCISE
NO EXCUSES! Working is not an excuse to leave out exercise in your life. Dieting is not the only way you can manage your weight. Simply increasing physical activity will complement that diet. 30-45 minutes of exercise a day is recommended for weight management. So MAKE TIME. Squeeze it in your busy schedule to jog, brisk walk, bike, or even dance around like a complete nut in your bedroom before going to the bed. My boyfriend works in a family business so he’s working 24/7. But he manages to sneak in some exercise in the bathroom. Before he takes a shower, he jogs in place in his bathroom and does a few minutes of push-ups as well. It’s like working out and having a sauna all in one.
DIET
There are no short-cuts. Fad diets that promise “quick” results are never reliable. Weight loss takes time, especially if you weigh 200 lbs! Just remember that the process of losing (and gaining) weight is a function of the amount of calories (energy) taken in versus the amount of calories burned through exercise. Excess calories in the body will be stored as fat. On the average, the body requires at least 1,200 calories a day to maintain vital functions like breathing, thinking, and keep your heart beating. Consuming less than that actually causes weight gain as your metabolism slows down, and the body begins to store as much fat as it can.
TIPS
Keep a vision board with you. Posters of that ideal body are a good motivation to weight management. I use apps like Pinterest to keep me motivated and remind me to stay fit. My vision board serves a double purpose as well. Aside from motivating me to exercise, I also use it to satisfy my food cravings. I look at photos of delicious food while enjoying a cup of non-fat yogurt.
To sum up, opt for a balanced diet of 1,200 calories a day and keep yourself active at least 30-45 minutes as well. The key to keeping it up is all in the attitude. Choose food that is healthy but doesn’t sacrifice taste. Pick an activity that you enjoy doing and isn’t too complicated that you can keep doing.
