With increasing cases of excessive weight gain, weight loss has become a much-talked-about discussion. Weight loss has improved life survival and reduced risks of developing chronic health conditions such as hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, and stroke.
Moreover, weight loss has been made easy by the availability of affordable weight loss systems. However, losing weight may be difficult for smokers, hindering weight loss while favoring weight gain.
Consumption of high-energy diets without proper exercise or interventions that helps to burn fats also contributes to weight gain. Therefore, one needs to ensure proper regulation and reduction of calories, fats, and carbohydrates intake. Moreover, other factors such as genetics and lifestyle, metabolism, and hormones play a role.
What is Obesity
Normal body mass index ranges from 18.5-25. One is said to be overweight when their BMI is from 25-30. But when your BMI is above 30, you are said to be obese.
Having too much fat puts you at risk of developing various morbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases, stroke, and vascular diseases.
Why Weight Loss
There are several reasons why you should lose weight, this includes
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Improve Joints Health And Functioning
Excess weight makes it difficult for your joints to move freely or carry the extra weight. In such cases, the adjacent bone ends up rubbing against each other, causing loss of cartilage on these bones. This results in a degenerative bone disorder known as osteoporosis characterized by extreme joint pains.
Weight loss means reducing the amount of weight your joints have to bear, thus less joint pains and reduced chances of osteoporosis.
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Enhance Your Immune System
Fats are stored in the body in the form of lipids. Lipids secrete hormones that have various roles in your body. They also secrete cytokines which play a vital role in inflammatory reactions.
You must maintain a balance between hormones and cytokines. Excessive production of these factors causes an imbalance that may be harmful. Increased body fats may increase the risks of infections such as herpes, gum infections, and gastrointestinal infections.
Losing weight helps improve your immune system by creating a balance between hormones and inflammatory factors that helps to keep you healthier.
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Improves Fertility
In women, obesity may cause hormonal imbalance interfering with their menstrual and ovulation cycle. This is caused by excess leptin production, a hormone produced by the fat tissues that suppress ovulation hormones production, leading to infertility.
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For Fitness And Better Appearance
Losing extra fats from your body makes you lighter and healthier. It may also make you feel fitter and more attractive.
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Improve Sleep
Excess fats may accumulate in your airway, obstructing as you breathe while sleeping. This leads to sleep apnea. Moreover, excess fats in your chest may press the lungs, leading to dyspnoea, resulting in lung collapse.
Methods For Weight Loss
Although there are no scientifically proven methods of losing weight, different companies have come up with countless strategies that can greatly impact your goal to lose weight. Let’s look at a few methods that you can apply.
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Drink Water
Frequent water intake and at different intervals will greatly boost your weight loss target.
Drinking water also helps boost your metabolic reaction, keep you dehydrated all day and help you burn body calories.
It is also important that you set realistic targets for the amount of water you take each day. Even as you remain consistent with your water intake, always ensure that you give your body enough time to rest between mealtime and adhere to a strict healthy diet.
The reward will be a fit and healthy body. Water also works as an appetite suppressant. It helps you maintain good concentration and help in food digestion.
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Maintain a Good Eating Schedule For Weight Loss
Intermittent fasting has gained popularity and, at the same time, attracted both positive and negative reactions due to its effectiveness.
One good side that the program provides is the time window for eating. On the downside, it has an intense restricted eating period.
When you have a clear eating schedule, it also allows you to think of what you will eat and give you time to prepare the food well and properly.
An eating schedule will also limit your calories intake to a period of 12 hours a day.
A good eating plan should run between 9 am, and the last meal should be at 7 pm. You are allowed to drink herbal teas and water only outside that time.
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Increase Your Fiber Intake.
Fiber intake has loads of benefits, including weight loss. Fiber is a natural appetite suppressant as it expands in your gut like a sponge to reduce your hunger and cravings.
On the other hand, a good gut will produce hormones that will communicate with your brain and tell it what you’ve eaten is enough.
Therefore, your fiber intake target should be at least 25 grams per day, and it should come from food like beans, whole grains, and vegetables.
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Cut Your Calorie Intake For Weight Loss
There is no scientific way to prove this, but your body will reach for your fat reserves to balance the deficit it has.
Therefore, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Doing this frequently will see you lose weight naturally.
For a bonus, the average calorie male adult should take is 2500 kilocalories while female adults should take 2000 kilocalories per day.
However, this may differ from person to person depending on different factors such as metabolism, age, and physical activity.
The best way to know what amount of calories you need to take based on these factors is to input your weight, BMI, and height on a calorie calculator.
Once you get the results, you can gauge the number of calories, eating habits, and any other change needed, and you’ll be sure to burn that fat.
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Exercise, Exercise Exercise.
Exercising will help you burn abdominal fat. This is because it reduces circulating levels of insulin.
What amount of exercise should you do per day to lose weight? This entirely depends on your goal.
30 minutes of vigorous exercise can work wonders to some, while to others, 60 minutes of moderate activity is just fine.
Also, include aerobic exercises such as jogging, running, brisk walking, hiking, and swimming. These activities have been tried and tested methods for weight loss.
Aerobics also improves your cardiovascular health, increases your lung capacity, and keeps you in good physical and mental shape. For a more admirable result, combine aerobic exercises with low-calorie intake.
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Sleep, Sleep, Sleep.
Depriving yourself of enough sleep will lead to excess weight gain. When you deprive yourself of enough sleep, you produce more ghrelin hormones which act as an appetite-stimulating hormone.
The vice will be that your body will produce less leptin, the hormone that tells you when you’ve eaten enough.
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Go Slow On Fast Foods For Weight Loss
Endeavor to overcome the temptation of fast foods simply because it’s cheap and convenient. You could be eating your health down the grave.
Fast food’s effects are dangerous to your health. These fast foods are often made from processed products, which are not as thoroughly digested as fruits, vegetables, unrefined carbs, and proteins.
Their fats are stored particularly around the waistline. So, eating junk like dairy products, ice cream, burgers, and fries will pile on the fat already in your waistline.
Bottom Line
Weight loss can be an uphill task, but a slight lifestyle change can help you achieve tremendous results.
But am sure that you will also agree with us that dieting is not only unsustainable due to its tough restrictions, but it also creates chaos on your mental health and metabolism.
Stick to a routine that you can easily maneuver. Even if you only lose one pound per month, that’s still commendable progress.
