The Science Behind Losing Weight!
An interesting conversation in our staff room yesterday, led me to write today’s post.So often I heard the words “No matter what I do, I cannot lose weight!” If this is you, I ask you to reflect on the following:1) Are you trying? Like seriously making conscious decisions on what you are eating and your level of activity, that is working towards changes? Losing weight is not going to be easy. It requires dedication, commitment and a heap of self-control!2) What are you eating? When are you eating?3) How often are you being active? and How are you being active?4) How badly do you want to lose weight? Are you willing to give up temptations and discipline yourself?There are many lifestyle habits and cultural changes that contribute to weight gain and obesity, including the following:- overeating: (which is often related to stress, portion sizes and value perceptions and high-caloric density foods)- proliferation of microwavable and ready-to-eat high-fat foods has worsened the average diet- people doing less in-home cooking and eating out OR eating on-the-go more frequently- marketing entices people to choose foods that are higher in calories and fat- most people do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity with some reporting no physical activity- people spend excessive amounts of time doing sedentary activities- jobs have become more sedentary- many cafes and lunch options offer a variety of unhealthy food choices- many people no longer walk or bike to work or schoolSo, of the areas above, how can you “clean up” your lifestyle to make it more active and healthy?Exercise aids in the reduction of excess body weight and in achieving weight stability.Aerobic exercise in the range of 150 minutes per week has been shown to aid modest weight loss of approximately 2-3kgs over 12-18 weeks. This is 150 minutes of aerobic exercise that gets your heart rate up and breaks a sweat. A slow, casual walk is not going to cut it! The best way to test if you are working in your aerobic range is the gold old “talk test”. If you can exercise and talk without difficulty, chances are- you are not working hard enough!After a little more weight loss than 2-3kgs? Up the anti to 225-420 minutes per week to lose results of up to 5 - 7.5kgs in 12-18 weeks.The combination of exercise and a SENSIBLE eating plan provides the best long term weight loss and weight maintenance results. Individuals taking part in supervised weight loss initiatives can be encouraged to reduce energy intake by 500 to 1000 calories per day to elicit weight loss of approx. (0.5-0.9kgs) per week.So for those of you trying to make excuses for not being able to lose weight (presuming you are not on medications and relatively healthy to begin with) the excuses are not fooling anyone….except for maybe yourself!If you need help designing a Nutritional Program plan that works for you, feel free to contact me by filling in your details below!