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People
who are overweight risk various ailments such as heart disease, high blood
pressure and Type II (noninsulin-dependent) diabetes as well as for gallbladder
disease, gout, some type of cancer and osteoarthritis.
Weight loss is more complicated than a simple equation. Overweight is not a simple disorder of willpower, as sometimes implied, byt is a complex disorder of energy metabolism. Many diets just don't work for the long haul. If you really want to keep the weight off for the rest of your life, you have to change your lifestyle. You have have tollok at weight loss as a lifetime management issue. A weight problem is not like having pneumonia where you can take a course of anti biotics and cure it. You have to keep working on your weight. Dieting becomes a way of life for some people, partically women, who lose and gain weight over and over again in a syndrome of "yo-yo" dieting. How do you lose fat wisely and increase your chances of keeping it off? The experts suggest: Decide first if you truly need to lose weight. Look at your shape, height, weight, and history of abesity-linked diseases and the history of those factors in your family. Then consider when your weight problems began: Have you gained weight recently as the result of a marital separation or is this a gradual pattern since your teens? Analyze your eating and activity patterns. If you're starving and bingeing, you first have to learn how to eat normally. Numerous people on low-calorie diets who persist in gaining weight, despite how much they cut down on what they eat. This is due to constant dieting and erratic eating habits for reducing their metabolic rates, forcing their bodies into a starvation mode that hoards fat. Keep a food diary for two weeks. Write down everthing you eat, when you eat it, and how you're feeling at the time - bored, angry, or hungry, for example. A food diary can be illuminating to a lot of people. They don't realize they eat automatically. If you decide to visit a registered dietitian for assistance, take your food diary along. Make a plan. Once you decide you're ready to change your lifestyle to reach a desirable weight, you'll have to figure out how to do that. Most experts recommend learning to make nutritionallysound food choeces, eating an adequate amount of food each day, and increasing your physical activity. You may find the advice of your family physician, a registered dietitian, or an exercise physiologist helpful. Don't plan to lose too much too soon. Rapid weight loss generally means a rapid weight gain down the road. Don't try to lose more than half a pound a week. Pick a good time. Don't decide to start this the week before your wedding or right after you lose your job. You don't want to choose a period of high stress only to add additional stress. Don't try to change everything at once. It's unrealistic to think that tomorrow you'll completely redo your food habits in some 180-degree shift. Make changes gradually. |
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Dieting and
Pregnancy Don't Mix One time not to diet, say experts: At the beginning of your pregnancy, even if you are overweight. "If you weigh 400 pounds, you still need to gain 20 pounds during pregnancy," says Gabe Mirkin, M.D. "It's important to eat regularly and not skip meals," adds Barbara Deskins, Ph.D., R..D. Skipping meals can cause the body to break down its fat reserves, which create certain by-products known as ketones that may harm the fetus. |
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