Good nutrition and activity are the key strategies for healthy weight loss. This is not referring to crash diets or simply starving yourself or working out at the gym. The strategies have to do with eating healthy and making sure your portions match the number of calories you need daily. It is believed that if you can create a 500-calorie deficiency every day between exercise and nutrition, you can lose up to a pound (0.45kg) a week.
Dr Debbie addresses nutrition issues for daily living and well-being “7 simplest ways to healthy eating”
Your calorie intake
Those calories should not be subtracted off of your recommended daily amount. It should be taken from the number of calories you eat daily right now. For example: If you were an adult male eating 3,500 calories per day you can drop 250 calories from your diet and increase your energy consumption from exercise by 250 calories. If you can do this every day, you will create a 3,500-calorie deficiency over the entire week – and that is the equivalent of one fat pound (0.45kg).
To lose weight you need to find a 500-calorie deficiency every day. Do it through exercise and reducing what you eat.
Minimum calorie intakes as one of the strategies for healthy weight loss
Women should not consume less than 1,200 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value (how many calories you need to keep your weight steady). A dietitian or nutrition expert can help you to calculate your maintenance value. Men should not consume less than 1,800 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value.
If you try a crash diet, where you are only consuming 1,000 calories per day and working out, or getting exercise, sure, you will lose weight. But, it isn’t going to stay off for long. When you don’t give your body enough fuel, it starts to consume the muscles in your body, whereas the muscles are an important part of being able to metabolize your foods.
Eating too little is not consistent with the strategies for healthy weight loss. You will lose weight but it may not be sustainable in the long run. You risk burning muscle of your crash diet by not eating anything. Your body will consume your muscle tissue, actually making it more difficult to keep the weight off down the road. Eating much less slows your metabolism. You aren’t eating enough food to keep your metabolism running on sufficient energy.
Tracking your calories
It might take a bit of effort, but each food has a written caloric value on the packaging. If you take the time to notice what is on the package you will be able to monitor what your calorie intake is. Then you will see that you actually take in far more than the calorie you need per day. When you can do this, you will be able to keep track of what you are eating and whether you are meeting your target intake levels or overshooting it.
If you want to be serious about losing weight, then you need to take the matter into your own hands. Don’t just grab a portion of lasagna, burger or a bowl of rice with steak and start chowing down. Calculate how many calories are in a reasonable serving and go from there. Remember there are probably high-fat salad, dinner rolls, and probably another vegetable on your menu list. You are going to have to monitor each of those to come up with a good caloric value from your meal. You wonder if this is not a task on its own. The step by step practical guide to weight loss by Dr Debbie is now out.
Most meals will have you in between 300 and 800 calories. This is a good target area. If you can calculate where you fit in there with each particular meal, you will be able to get a better idea of your plan for losing weight.
The types of food we eat
Aside from the actual caloric intake of a person, the type of food we are eating plays a large role in how we can lose weight. First of all, 100 grams of broccoli has far less fat and calories than 100 grams of doughnuts.
Some foods are high in fat, high in calories, processed, natural and more. Each one of these is going to affect your ability to lose weight. It doesn’t mean that you can’t eat a lot of these things, and you have to give up your favourite foods, you just need to be aware of how much of it you are eating. Details are described in the book “Natural weight loss revealed” which is offered you free. GET IT HERE
Why shed unwanted weight – Health concerns
You have no doubt heard the numerous health-related problems that come from being overweight. Even being 20 lbs (9kg) overweight can start to cause hidden health problems. Instead of that lower back pain being from yesterday’s squash game, it’s because your body isn’t used to carrying an extra 20 lbs (9kg) on the front end. Imagine right now if you were to strap a 20-pound (9kg) weight to your belly and walk around with it all day long.
Extremely high weight can put considerable stress on your joints, especially if you do not have the height advantage to handle that sort of weight. The biggest part is the high risk for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure etc. These are pretty serious players in the health world. They are among the largest killers of human beings.
Why shed unwanted weight – Physical appearance
For many people, physical appearance is linked directly to their self-esteem. If they believe their body is undesirable to others, they can become depressed or stressed and it causes serious emotional problems. Worse yet, in some, it can trigger the impulse to eat, even more, making the problem worse. The emotional side of being obese is only just being charted in the medical world. It is already understood that a person’s self-worth and self-confidence can be shattered if they gain excess weight. But the emotional toll it can take over an extended period might be considerably more damaging.
Conclusion
Effective strategies for healthy weight loss are not far-fetched; however, they are entrenched in discipline and determination. The value you place on the outcomes of excessive weight will determine your motivation level. Consistently practising good nutrition matched with an appropriate activity level will get you there. Dr Debbie has developed a step by step weight loss plan to practically guide you through. Access the E-book here.
Weight loss is a very hot topic among the readers and n this article, you point out the importance of healthy weight loss which most of us totally neglect. I hope each and every individual should estimate their calorie intake and they should track their calorie intake, then they can plan their diet appropriately. This article gives us valuable insights to do that. Thank you very much for sharing this valuable ideas with us.
Thank you for this wise and sensible approach to losing weight!!!! There are so many fads and gimmicks out there, it’s no wonder that people have given up even trying to reduce their weight. I’m also happy that you acknowledge that people will still want to eat their favorites foods. We hear it all too much, don’t we? “Well, if you would just give up (insert favorite food here) then you would lose weight.”
I would like to add one easy way to cut calories in a relatively painless way. There are so many calories hidden in our food that we don’t even think about. A big one for me was cooking with oil or butter which adds over 100 calories per tablespoon!!!! Did I have to give up cooking? No, but I can reduce the amount I use in the pan or (if applicable) use a cooking spray instead. Sometimes I will forgo the oils altogether and just use a bit of broth. Little changes like this can shed 500 calories without you even noticing!
Hello there, thanks a lot for sharing this amazing piece of information here with us. I must say I really did enjoyed going through your review as it contains valuable information one needs to be aware of. As the saying goes ‘we are what we eat’, people need to start watching what type of food they take in and how much calories they consume a day in order to achieve their weight loss goals, this is a great piece here.
Fitness is a very vital and essential. To keep fit one has to lose weight. There are lots of exercises and diet plans that can help one lose weight. Reading this article and getting to know more strategies that are okay for healthy weight loss is an added knowledge and advantage for me. I did learn quite a lot from reading this article.
Hi Cynthia, thanks for the valuable comment. I totally agree with you.