Losing weight: the right way

Losing weight: the right way

Written by: Emma Anius

There are so many options to losing weight around, various diets such as the Atkins where you

cut out carbs, the grapefruit diet which comprises of eating a grapefruit with every meal and the Hollywood Cookie diet which is when you eat mainly cookies for the day.  This is just to name a few; there are many more crazy ways out there advertised to lose weight quickly.  All of these I’m sure work, but where is all the information telling you how to lose weight the right way?

Losing weight

and keeping it off is a problem for over 1.4 billion adults worldwide and with all this information on quick fixes and fast diets no wonder so many people are finding it hard to keep the weight off and stay healthy.

Your body prefers slow changes in terms of food and exercise, so if you haven’t exercised for years your body will struggle to handle it if you decide to start running miles a day. Not only will your body struggle to cope, it will also leave you feeling disheartened and demotivated, and with an increased risk of suffering from an injury, which could set your fitness levels back further.

This also goes for people that suddenly decide to go on an extreme diet which leaves you eating very little and cuts out certain types of food which can cause you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that are essential to keep your body going.

The equation for losing weight is very simple, the food you take in is used by the body as an energy source and the energy you do not burn off is stored as fat.  This means that if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities, you’ll gain weight.  To lose weight it is simply the reverse; you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. The most effective way to do this is to reduce the amount of calories you eat and increase your levels of activity.  If you are wondering how much weight should be lost in a week without any risk of having complications.  Experts state a weight loss of two pounds per week is the maximum you should aim for.

A common misconception people have of losing weight the right way is by removing a food group from their diet.  The Caribbean has 6 food groups; staples, dark green, leafy and yellow vegetables, fruits, legumes and food from animals.  To maintain healthy eating habits and to have a balanced diet, it is important to utilize these food groups with special emphasis on the healthier options within each group.  The amount of each food group is also paramount to maintaining your health; the largest percentage should be ingested from the staples group and the smallest amount from the fats and oils group. Having a balanced diet is one that contains all the six food groups in adequate quantities to provide all essential nutrients.

Looking after your body is the key to healthy living.

If you have no time to exercise or don’t know where to begin:

Beginner

Side lunge x 15, Plank x 30 sec, Push ups x 10, Tricep dips x 10, Sit ups x 10

Advanced

Side lunge x 25, Plank x 60 sec, Decline Push ups x 15, Tricep dips x 15, Sit ups x 20

• For help with the exercises go to www.facebook.com/cyanfitness and view the photos