Fat Lane
How can you lose weight fast? That is a question that millions of people worldwide are asking. Many people are not completely satisfied with their body appearance and feel a need to lose weight, whether it be a few pounds of fat, lose 10-20 pounds or lose upwards of 50 pounds of fat or more.
What is contributing to people gaining weight? Well, today many people do not have time for nutritious meals and suppers. Many people haven’t seen vegetables and fruits for a long time, as fast foods, food on the go and other quick fixes have replaced healthy meals.
Therein lies much of the problem as to why people gain weight. Year after year, day after day, many people are subjecting themselves to poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles. Kids today are not as active as they were in my day, and I’m only 36 years old! Today there are all sorts of video game gadgets, new movies, cartoons and other distractions that keep us indoors and on the couch.
As a kid, I was always outside running, playing in the forest, playing tag, tobogganing in the winter, ice skating and more. Today, kids sit and watch television, talk on cell phones, text message and play video games for hours. Adults often are couch dwellers, or have jobs that require little exercise if any at all. Many adults sit behind desks all day everyday for hours, with no exercise.
I worked in an office for a few years and could not stand the environment. It had some of the heaviest, overweight women and men I had ever seen that worked there and sat all day. These people would often have soda drinks (1 litre bottles) on their desks at 8:30 am! When break time came, they would go to the dollar store, grab handfuls of chocolate bars and candies, chips or more pop to have on their break.
The remaining candy would become part of a candy drawer that almost everyone had in their desks and they would nibble and snack on throughout the day. These same individuals would be the ones lined up at the elevator if the escalator was out of order. Would they consider taking the stairs? NEVER!
My point is simple, people today need to make more time for some simple exercise! If you are sitting all day on the job, why not take advantage of your breaks to go for a short walk, take the stairs, walk to work if you are close or ride your bike. When snacking on break, bring healthy snacks like almonds, walnuts, carrot sticks, celery, low fat yogurt and drink some water?
Start reading food labels. They say that the average person should get no more than 40 grams of fat daily.
Do you think you are under that level or even close to it? Well, if you are eating a lot of fast food everyday, lots of candy, chocolate bars, potato chips (which are terrible for you by the way) I have bad news for you! You are probably well, over that amount!
Then consider all the calories you eat daily. You should, over the course of a few days, write down all calories for specific foods that you seem to eat on a regular basis over a couple days. By doing this, you will have an idea of how many calories you are eating daily.
DO NOT FORGET LIQUID CALORIES!
Many soda drinkers who drank many cans per day found they had major weight loss just by cutting soda out of their daily routines. I believe it was that are 16 teaspoons of sugar in a can of cola. 16 teaspoons! WOW!
DITCH THE SODA-DRINK LOTS OF WATER!
You should be drinking lots of water daily! A nice cup of coffee first thing in the morning will give you a boost of caffeine which will help get your circulation and metabolism going. Green tea is also good for getting those digestive juices flowing, boosting your metabolism and great for your mind and body.
BEWARE OF FRUIT JUICES!
Many people may say, “I drink lots of juice everyday, this should be good for me and help me lose weight”. Fact is that many fruit juices are full of sugar and are as bad as soda pop. Again, read your labels and watch for sugar content.
WATCH FAT PER SERVING!
When eating anything, you should be aware of the fat content. Again, remember the recommended daily intake of fat? It’s 40 grams of fat daily.
If you are eating, 60 grams, 80 grams or more-you are of course going to gain weight and store body fat, as well as affect your health in other areas if you continue down that path every day.
THINK SMALLER MEALS MORE FREQUENTLY!
Most of us eat 3 meals daily. During that time, many eat too many calories per meal. When it then comes time to eat our next meal, our bodies have not finished digesting the first meal we ate, now we are adding more food, more calories and chances are, the excess is going get stored as fat.
If you are working out or being active between or before meals, you are going to metabolize your food faster and use it as fuel. If not, it will burn what your body is capable of burning on it’s own and store the rest as fat.
This is where the belly fat, fat thighs, love handles etc all come into play.
Instead of 3 meals per day, try to make them much smaller, healthier meals. Aim for 5-6 small meals daily.
Example:
*An apple, a small amount of almonds and a glass of white milk could count as a meal.
*Other meals may consist of small, palm sized, lean protein with some vegetables or a healthy salad.
*Fruits and veggies are always good! You just have to be careful with some really sweet fruits. If you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, that’s great! They are packed with fibre and this will help you feel full longer.
*Remember, it’s OK to feel hungry sometimes. A quote my doctor once used.
What he means is it’s OK to be hungry sometimes. It gives your body a chance to start burning some fat. Obviously, we don’t want to starve ourselves, and we need food for energy, but some people are never hungry because they are always eating.
EXERCISE REGULARILY!
Exercise for weight loss? Of course. My exercise level and your exercise level are not going to be the same. It all depends on your level of activity in your daily life. A simple brisk walk for 20-30 minutes every day or night might be a huge step for you.
Like I said before, take the stairs at work. Park the car further away, ride your bike or jog.
Go outside and work in the garden, clean out the basement or garage-heck, even vacuum the house 3 times a week to get moving, baby steps..take baby steps.
There are some great low impact cardio DVD’s and work out programs for you out in stores. Get a few light to moderate weights (dumbbells, etc) Get in the habit of doing simple basic muscle building & fat loss exercises 4 times a week in the early morning, at lunch or after work.
Building muscle is a major component to helping you to lose fat. This effect is increased greatly with aerobic activity or weight lifting exercises.
1 Pound of fat burns only 2 calories of fat a day. 1 pound of muscle burns 6 calories or more daily. This is why it is so important to get all your muscles working and building in order to ‘turn up’ those fat burning fires in your body and get losing weight faster!
Here are some other benefits of weightlifting for you to consider:
· Lifting weights prevents loss of lean body mass that happens from dieting and/or aging.
· Weight training workouts burn lots of calories to help you lose fat.
· Weight training helps change your body composition, which helps shape your body, keep you healthy and make you physically stronger.
· Weight training strengthens bones, connective tissue and muscle.
· Helps keep you active as you get older and can help prevent injuries.
*Stay tuned for more fat loss information and the best ways to lose weight!
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