way of eating that stops weight gain, leads to weight loss, and keeps it off. It is fast, convenient, and inexpensive. So—why are people still looking for a magic pill? This tastes better!
| Why do I need to be physically active? |
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TIP:
To burn the calories you eat. We gain weight when we take in more food energy than we use up. Being physically active makes you healthier because all your systems—heart, lungs, circulation, and digestion—get exercise, too. But being active is particularly helpful to people who want to lose weight, because it burns calories. You get a 1-pound weight loss for every 3,500 calories burned. Exercise also helps you build muscle. Building muscle is good because it burns calories even when you are at rest. People with diabetes benefit from exercise, because it lowers blood glucose, too.
Exercise benefits are many and include:
Please remember muscle weighs more than fat. While you are building muscle and losing fat, don’t wail at the scale. Measure the inches you’re losing on waist, thigh, and biceps to see your progress at weight loss.
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How can I burn more calories? |
TIP:
You may be surprised at how many of your daily activities burn calories. This table shows the calories burned by a 150-pound person doing 30 minutes of each activity. If you weigh more than 150, you will burn more calories.
| What about the popular fad diets—do they work? |
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TIP:
Not really. At the beginning, these diets may produce some weight loss, but you are losing water weight. The other reason they work at first is that these diets are, basically, low-calorie diets indisguise. When you follow them closely, these diets typically provide 1,000–1,600 calories daily. For most Americans, this is fewer calories than they usually eat. However, the problem is maintaining the weight loss. These diets are hard to stick with. You soon miss carbohydrate foods and wander back to old eating habits. Almost all the popular diets promote eating high protein and low carbohydrate. The authors claim that you can eat unlimited amounts of high protein and high-fat foods, but they severely limit fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grain and milk products, breads, cereal, and crackers. Hey folks, those are the healthiest foods! There is a long list of serious health risks associated with these diets, such as poor nutrition, increased blood pressure, increased blood cholesterol, cancer, osteoporosis, gout, and kidney stones. For people with diabetes, these diets are particularly bad because eating lots of saturated fat puts you at risk for heart attack and stroke.
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What can I do instead of the popular diets to lose weight successfully? |
TIP:
There are no quick fixes to losing weight. Simply put, you need to burn more calories than you take in. To help you do that, follow these guidelines:
Seek help from a registered dietitian (RD), preferably one who is a certified diabetes educator (CDE), if you have diabetes, to develop a meal plan based on your likes and dislikes, daily schedule, and health concerns. This is a very important step in creating a healthier lifestyle.
| What should I consider when choosing a weight management program? |
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TIP:
Ask yourself these questions about the program:
