“How Do I Lose Weight?”
The question “How do I lose weight” and “how do I lose weight fast” is typed in to Google about 50,000 times per week. Unfortunately, many of the so-called answers range from ridiculous to outright dangerous.
The first problem is believing “weight” is the issue. Body weight is complex, consisting of basically two things: fat mass and fat-free mass. The first we want to limit to a healthy range for our own body and the second we want to hold on and maybe increase. Both are necessary in the right balance. So the question we need to be asking is “how do I lose any excess body fat while maintaining, or increasing, fat-free mass?”. Now we can talk.
Fat-free mass includes your muscles, organs, bones, and connective tissue. Basically everything except your fat cells. Muscle is a major component of fat-free mass. Muscle has a huge positive impact on your metabolism or “your metabolic rate”, which is how many calories your body uses to burn for energy. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even while resting.
Muscle is the physical engine that powers your through your day, both in the gym and in life. It supports your joints, helps to improve balance and reduce the risk of injury. Holding on to and increasing muscle, especially while dieting, should be a huge priority.
Body fat is often associated with a negative connotation but it is essential to overall health. The percentage of healthy body fat will depend on age, body type, sex and physical activity. There is a big range of healthy body fat percentage. The established healthy range is only a guide. You can be above the range and still have a healthy body. It depends on each individual.
It is possible to re-distribute your body composition, or burn fat while adding muscle. Restricting calories and focusing on eating less is not the answer. What you eat, when you eat and your lifestyle are all factors in a healthy body composition. The good news is, it is not difficult! You simply need to know the right balance of food for fuel for your body type.
How Do I Eat for Weight Loss?
50 millions North Americans will go on a diet every year. The results speak for themselves. Diets are NOT working for so many reasons. Diets have a negative association, they are considered short-term/fast solutions and often leave people feeling tired, depressed and right back to square one or worst within a short period of time.
Eating less or restricting certain food groups while on a diet often leave people feeling tired, dragging yourself through the day and feeling like a failure for not being able to stick with it. You need to re-focus your thinking from weight loss to living a life with vitality.
You need to start thinking of what you eat as decisions to fuel a body for energy to live an optimal life daily.
How Do I Lose Weight Fast?
First, cutting your daily calorie intake too low brings a lot of risk with little reward. In addition, cutting calories/certain foods will ultimately cause cravings to rule your food choices instead of your health. You may lose weight fast but will you lose the “right” weight? Most likely, no. You may lose quickly only to regain that weight back and, in many cases, add even more extra pounds.
Yo-yo dieting, or the repeated cycle of loss and gain end up making it harder to lose fat and easier to gain in back on. This process also has a damaging effect on your metabolism over time. You may end off with a slower resting metabolic rate, in other words, the amount of calories you burn while resting.
It is far more likely you will have lasting success by losing excess body fat slowly, particularly when it comes to stubborn belly, or mid-section, fat. Another bonus in losing body fat slowly is your metabolism will work for you instead of against you.
How Fast Should I Lose Weight?
The general rule is a moderate weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is a good measure. But sometimes, and particularly if you have increased your daily exercise, the scale may not budge for a while. For this reason, it is important to measure your progress using non-scale methods. Non-scale methods are a much better indicator of your progress since you may be gaining muscle while losing excess body fat. Your results may not appear on the scale, and if this is your only measure of progress, you may get discouraged and sadly give up even though your body is changing.
Real change takes time. Setting yourself up for long term health and vitality is the real goal, the number on the scale is secondary but will come with consistent healthy habits.
How Do I Exercise for Weight Loss?
Many people believe the best way to lose weight is lots of cardio for as long as possible. People will walk and/or run for hours each week to lose weight. This doesn’t have to be the case!
If you are new to exercise, simply moving more each day will help achieve your goals. Doing something you enjoy that requires movement is great! Whether you like walking, hiking, racquetball, skiing or playing with your kids or dog in the backyard, the important thing is to move everyday. Whatever keeps you active will help you fell good and you will experience success.
As you progress, adding in some strength training will increase muscle mass and help to boost fat burning. Increasing muscle mass will also help to maintain your health goals over time. This doesn’t necessarily mean long sessions at the gym, although if that’s your thing, go for it! Doing Pilates, yoga, gentle body weight exercises will help you reach your health goals just as well.
EnergyGlow’s Take on Weight Loss
At EnergyGlow we focus on using food as fuel for your body so you can life your optimal life daily. Your body weight is a result of a healthy lifestyle centered around whole nutrient dense food, daily movement and a positive lifestyle attitude. Weight loss is not a goal by itself. We want to focus on how you feel each day and how what you eat impacts your energy levels and mental focus/health.
Our mission is to educate people and get people excited about eating whole foods to fuel their unique body to live their optimal life daily.
Are you ready to live a life of vitality and feel energized? Join our growing community where we support each other and learn to love to eat good food mindfully.
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