To eat what you want and lose weight you must make a committed effort to exercise to burn those calories.
Remember to check with your doctor before starting any exercise plan.
Losing weight has been a daily focus for many people as long as they can remember, for some it has become an obsession. Eating, especially eating out, is Americans favorite activity and they continue to indulge and often overindulge. There are the diets, the meal plans, the promise of quick weight loss programs and the amazing exercise equipment which has flooded the market for years (and has been quite profitable) in an effort to help you lose weight. While diets and meal programs may prove to be successful, many are very expensive. It is actually quite overwhelming!
Let’s make it simple, it all comes down to the calories you intake and the amount of daily exercise. When you are young, your metabolic rate is high and as you age, your metabolism slows down. If you consume more calories than you burn you will gain weight. If you burn, more calories than you consume you will lose weight.
You MUST exercise daily and stick with it. However, the challenge is finding an exercise you enjoy and making it a part of your daily routine. Activities such as walking, running, dancing, using the treadmill or any form of exercise that gives you a cardio workout is excellent. Exercise is necessary to strengthen your heart, tone your body and your overall health.
The amount of time exercising will depend on what you eat, your age, gender, height, and current weight to enable you to eat what you want and lose weight. You need to build your body’s muscle mass, muscle burns more calories than fat. Listen to music or watch television to pass the time and occupy your mind while exercising.
Drinking water before meals often gives you a head start on feeling full. This results in eating less, which means you have fewer calories to burn during your exercise routine. Focus on one day at a time in your diet and exercise plan; this is the best method to eating and weight loss. If you eat too much and exercise too little one day do not give up, in the words of Scarlett O’Hara, “After all, tomorrow is another day!” (Scarlett O’Hara is the character from Margaret Mitchell’s 1939 American novel “Gone with the Wind.”)
My experience with weight loss and maintaining my weight has been a long, successful journey. I started out as a size 22 and lost weight to a size12. I never went on a diet; I did not want to be told what to eat. I do not own a scale; I use my clothes as a measure. Muscle weighs more than fat therefore; constantly weighing yourself can be counterproductive. I began to exercise on a treadmill slowly (wondering sometimes if the machine was even on -LOL) then gradually worked up in speed, distance and time. I learned to enjoy walking on my tread climber, using my exercise ball and a little yoga at least 4 days a week. I recently added a dance warm-up workout to the song by Mary J. Blige, “Just Fine” – the lyrics are fantastic “So I like what I see when I’m looking at me, when I’m walking past the mirror!” Find something that motivates you and no matter what LOVE YOU!
Let’s look at relationship of calories to exercise; this is where you will have to do a little research. If you eat a hamburger with all the trimmings, you may have consumed 350 calories and would have to run at least 30 minutes to burn 400 to 500 calories (this was an example from a pamphlet included in my exercise equipment). I loved potato chips, I would count out 10 chips, and that would make my day. I had my chips and ate them too! I would exercise and burn off the calories from those fattening chips and more. Your research will let you know how much exercise you need based on what YOU eat.
Keep in mind there is some truth to, “You are what you eat.” Select healthy food choices even with exercise it is not good to have a constant diet of junk food. Your body needs all the foods from the food pyramid (mypyramid.gov) to ensure good health and energy. Athletes are a perfect example of eating what you want. Their weight is maintained and they can easily lose weight by altering their caloric intake and continuing their exercise regiment, which is already very rigorous.
Yes, you can eat what you want and lose weight. However, it requires DISCIPLINE not to eat as much of what you want and NEVER give up that daily exercise. If you skip a day, pick it right back up the next day. Everyone deserves a day off.
What makes this successful is consistency and adapting this as a permanent way of life!
Reference:
- Food Pyramid (mypyramid.gov)
