Diet fads come and go, yet 97 million Americans are still overweight. So what is the answer.
Gain knowledge about the wasted calories in your diet. Decide which ones to work on.
Adapted from "Running Dialogue" by David Holt
Avoid “Protein” or “Fat” diets which try to make carbohydrates the villain in weight gain. The villains are on both sides of the absorbed versus used equation. The only guaranteed ways to lose weight are to absorb fewer calories than you use, or, burn more calories than you absorb. If you absorb more calories than you expend...you will gain weight. Decrease your calorie intake by 100 calories a day to lose another 10 or 11 pounds. Finding 100 calories is easy for most of you--check the calories per serving of your: * Ice cream compared to iced milk, sherbet, or low fat yogurt. * Current milk product versus non-fat milk. * 8 ounces of orange juice versus a more filling orange. * Cream of soups...please look at the label. * Potato chips V pretzels. * Regular beer over lite beer, or fewer beers--be aware that alcohol increases the affect of drugs like Ibuprofen...increasing the gastric irritation also. On the plus side, a drinker can use fewer pills for a desired analgesic affect. Fast food eaters...look at: * Jacket or baked potato (without butter) instead of fries. * Soda...at least go fifty percent diet. The second glass or can, or the refill you always get. Or drink more water. * The chicken sandwich usually has fewer calories; but *Take the Mayo and cheese from your hamburgers and it will be close. Request extra veggies on those sandwiches to make them more filling. * Take fruit into the “restaurant” instead of eating two sandwiches. You’d think a fast food chain would be able to stock apples and or¬ anges for a quarter each...as a gesture to their patrons’ good health. * Few foods are bad--consume the so-called unhealthy ones in modest amounts. * Choco’holic--accept it, eat the stuff on a regular basis. It’s the same as skipping meals if you don’t. You’re more likely to pig out.
Need half a cup of sour cream for those nachos or fajitas. Regular sour cream will be about 250 calories. Low fat sour cream 150 calories. You will have saved your 100 calories for this day, and for as many days as that jar of lower fat sour cream lasts.
Don’t attempt to lose weight with diet alone. If you’ve decided exercise is good for you...why wait until you’ve lost weight. You don’t have to start with running. If you lose weight by diet alone, 25 percent of the loss will be from your muscles. The human body is 50 percent muscle...retain most of it by exercising while losing weight--then you’ll lose only 5 percent from your muscles--mostly the fat which was stored in them anyway. The act of exercising can increase your muscle mass. It’s the muscles which burn most of your calories.
HOW CAN YOU LOSE WEIGHT? More exercise is an option for some--for those under the injury threshold. A mile of walking or running uses about 100 calories. Go from 14 to 21 miles a week, and this one hundred calories per day will take off a pound of fat every 35 days. Keep your food intake unchanged, do the extra mileage, and every five weeks you will lose a pound--ten or eleven pounds per year until you reach your goal.
One or two small food modifications will not take enjoyment out of your food, but they can shed pounds from your body.
As Dr. Sheldon Margen, professor of public health at UC Berkley, and Dale A. Ogar, managing editor of the UC Berkley Wellness Letter recently wrote: "Instead of jumping on bandwagons...why not make peace with the fact that losing weight is difficult...there are no shortcuts.
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