Lose Weight Fast!
Lose Weight Fast! Part 1
It seems that everyone is interested in losing weight these days. Just look at all the information on the Internet regarding weight loss and you get a good idea of just how popular it is. The sad part is, as with anything else, a lot of these surfers are looking for a magic pill to drop excess pounds overnight. The reality is that it will take work and perseverance to get the results wanted. To this end, this article is written to those serious about losing weight fast and KEEPING IT OFF! It discusses increasing metabolism in a doable way, eating for weight loss, and exploring the roadmaps to the human body in body mass index (BMI) and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Without these components, weight loss attempts are nothing more than pipe dreams.
Turn Up The Heat!
The best way to start increasing your physical activity is to start out slowly. Doing housework burns calories as does playing with the kids. By Combining several of these activities throughout the day, exercise becomes enjoyable and not a burden.
Try walking more. This is one basic activity that almost anyone can do to increase metabolism. Form a walking group in the neighborhood for a community program. Or, just get a group of friends together and go to the mall. Not only will the shopping be good for the soul, the activity will help burn unwanted calories. At the office, try taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Make an effort to park farther away from the front door. Maybe even assemble a lunchtime walking group for the office employees.
Watch The Calories
When being calorie conscious, remember:
· Don’t starve yourself (This puts your body into survival mode and it hoards calories for later)
· Snack on fresh fruits and vegetables (These are lower in calories and filling, making you not feel so hungry during regular meal times)
· Eat more lean meats like fish and chicken (These are a good source of protein and low in fat and cholesterol. In other words, Heart Healthy!)
· Try eating smaller, more frequent meals and not filling up for the "Big Three" (This serves two purposes. It makes you feel less hungry throughout the day and the calories consumed are burned off quicker during regular activity.)
Be aware of BMI and BMR
Body Mass Index, or BMI, is "a relationship between weight and height that is associated with body fat and health risk (Bumgardner, 2008). What the BMI does is calculate the relationship between height and weight into determining whether or not a person is overweight. Typically, a BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight. The formula for this calculation is: "Body Weight in Kilograms/Height in Meters Squared". This does sound confusing, but there are many calculators online to help with the conversion. Here is a great example of one at the National Institute of Health web site.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) on the other hand determines a person’s caloric needs for 24 hours. These are adjusted for amount of activity throughout the day as well. For example, an Olympic athlete will need more calories than an office worker. This said, there are many factors that affect BMR such as:
Genetics. Some people are born with faster metabolisms; some with slower metabolisms.
Gender. Men have a greater muscle mass and a lower body fat percentage. This means they have a higher basal metabolic rate.
Age. BMR reduces with age. After 20 years, it drops about 2 per cent, per decade.
Weight. The heavier your weight, the higher your BMR. Example: the metabolic rate of obese women is 25 percent higher than the metabolic rate of thin women.
Body Surface Area. This is a reflection of your height and weight. The greater your Body Surface Area factor, the higher your BMR. Tall, thin people have higher BMRs. If you compare a tall person with a short person of equal weight, then if they both follow a diet calorie-controlled to maintain the weight of the taller person, the shorter person may gain up to 15 pounds in a year.
Body Fat Percentage. The lower your body fat percentage, the higher your BMR. The lower body fat percentage in the male body is one reason why men generally have a 10-15% faster BMR than women.
Diet. Starvation or serious abrupt calorie-reduction can dramatically reduce BMR by up to 30 percent. Restrictive low-calorie weight loss diets may cause your BMR to drop as much as 20%.
Body Temperature/Health. For every increase of 0.5C in internal temperature of the body, the BMR increases by about 7 percent. The chemical reactions in the body actually occur more quickly at higher temperatures. So a patient with a fever of 42C (about 4C above normal) would have an increase of about 50 percent in BMR.
External temperature. Temperature outside the body also affects basal metabolic rate. Exposure to cold temperature causes an increase in the BMR, so as to create the extra heat needed to maintain the body's internal temperature. A short exposure to hot temperature has little effect on the body's metabolism as it is compensated mainly by increased heat loss. But prolonged exposure to heat can raise BMR.
Glands. Thyroxin (produced by the thyroid gland) is a key BMR-regulator which speeds up the metabolic activity of the body. The more thyroxin produced, the higher the BMR. If too much thyroxin is produced (a condition known as thyrotoxicosis) BMR can actually double. If too little thyroxin is produced (myxoedema) BMR may shrink to 30-40 percent of normal. Like thyroxin, adrenaline also increases the BMR but to a lesser extent.
Exercise. Physical exercise not only influences body weight by burning calories, it also helps raise your BMR by building extra lean tissue. (Lean tissue is more metabolically demanding than fat tissue.) So you burn more calories even when sleep in (Shape Fit web site, 2008)
This may sound intimidating at first, however BMI and BMR are great places to begin if you’re serious about losing weight fast. They give you starting points; a baseline to gauge your progress with. They are basically roadmaps of your particular body. There is also a great BMR calculating tool at the Discovery Health web site.
In conclusion, the three components necessary to really lose weight and keep it off are 1. Increasing metabolism by becoming more active. Try to enjoy the activity and it will be less of an albatross. 2. Eat right and be calorie conscious, not obsessive. Start small at first and begin the lifestyle change gradually. Before you know it, it becomes second nature. 3. Know the roadmaps of your particular body by calculating body mass index, or BMI (height-to-weight ratio) and basal metabolic rate (BMR). By manipulating the BMR (increasing physical activity and cutting back on caloric intake in small increments) one can effectively produce a favorable BMI outcome.
0 comments:
Post a Comment