Weight can YO-Yo, But Can You Make It GO-go?!
There are two parts of Weight control: weight-loss and keeping weight “lost.”
There is no magic formula and no one way that works for everyone, and even for anyone all of the time. You need to find your methods and move between them depending on what you feel and what you need. Yes, “METHODS” (plural) – find what you like and do it, find another way and do that one also until you find the patchwork of ideas and methods that work for you.
Perhaps you are lucky and can find the ONE that works for you and works every time. You are the rare one – most of us find a few that work and we go between them.
I do want to stress one idea that I have written about before: you have to like yourself enough to want to do this (“why should anyone love you if you don’t like yourself?”). Weight control is both eating control and exercise and you have to be devoted to yourself to follow through.
Liking yourself is not the same thing as liking others less – you can like yourself and love your children, spouse, family, and friends. What I am asking is that you “be selfish” and take time to be good to yourself.
So let’s start with some basics:
Researchers have created the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a collective of long-term weight-loss maintainers, which is defined as losing 10 percent of your body weight and keeping it off for one year. The registry accounts for weight-loss through diet and exercise as well as weight loss surgery. Members have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for 5.5 years.
Only 20 percent of people who lose weight are able to keep it off, research shows. Hormonal factors that affect fullness and hunger cues may partially explain the yo-yo syndrome, experts agree.
Dieters are some of the most disciplined people I’ve seen. My patients have collectively lost thousands of pounds. They know food labels by heart; they’re experts on proper portion sizes.
1. Eat breakfast
Seventy-eight percent of NWCR members do. According to one study, participants who ate breakfast reported significantly more physical activity than non-breakfast eaters. Breakfast works as an alarm to awaken your metabolism, which helps you burn calories. Opt for a balance of protein, carbs and healthy fats to keep hunger at bay and prevent spikes in blood sugar. One meal idea: a bowl of oatmeal with one tablespoon of almond butter.
Dr. Lane: I eat my “Lentils Sylvia” dish (find it in my blog entries), fruit, coffee, yogurt. I eat enough to get me through to my 2:00 PM lunch. Read back what I eat: no carbs, easily digested, some caffeine.
2. Exercise daily and watch less TV
Ninety percent of successful dieters exercise about an hour daily, and 62 percent watch less than 10 hours of TV weekly, research reveals. If those numbers don’t motivate you, this should: Sedentary behavior (think: sitting at your desk all day), in addition to watching TV excessively, have been linked to a higher risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Many NWCR members choose walking as their vice, so turn off the tube, grab a friend or your dog, and hit the pavement.
Dr. Lane: TV is fun and entertaining! It is a reward for spending your free time either exercising outside or hitting the gym. The best thing: go outside and exercise with your spouse or with your children. The time you spend with the people you love is priceless. (Maybe you don’t get along and this is a way to do something together and build bonds.) One thing for certain: for your children, this time together is a way to give them lifelong good habits that they will incorporate into their lives – message received, “TV is ok but outside exercise is better.”
3. Weigh yourself often
Opinions vary about whether stepping on the scale is beneficial, but according to the NWCR, monitoring your weight weekly is a sign of long-term success. It keeps you honest and accountable. Step on the scale every Monday morning, so you stay on track over the weekend. Not a numbers person? Use a pair of reference pants that fit you like a glove, and try them at the same time each month.
I read a very interesting interview with celebrity trainer Bob Harper, of the weight-loss TV show “The Biggest Loser,” who has built a career putting very obese people through some grueling fitness paces but if he’s learned anything from the experience, it’s that diet trumps exercise every time.
Honestly, I can’t say he is right but his ideas are based on experience.
“It is all about your diet,” Harper, 48, “I used to think a long time ago that you can beat everything you eat out of you and it’s just absolutely not the case.”
In addition to promoting a healthy diet, a big part of his exercise routine includes lunges and other core-strengthening moves to burn enough fat to let the inner six-pack shine through.
Harper said the workout is aimed at getting the heart rate up because that’s when people are going to be able to burn fat and when fat is burned off, the abdominal muscles are exposed.
FAN OF CROSSFIT
He also adheres to the no-frills strength and condition program called Crossfit, which is a series of timed, ever- changing physical challenges that he says are suitable for everyone.
“To me Crossfit just completely makes sense (as long as) you work at your level doing the things you can do with proper coaching,” he explained.
Crossfit has very ballistic training. You’re asking people to move fast through a large range of motion. Even with coaching, the foundation of stability, mobility and psychomotor skill has to be laid (first).
Diet is the main factor that can lower weight, but it’s exercise that allows that lower weight to stick.
He cited the National Weight Control Registry, a research study that includes people 18 years or older who have lost at least 13.6 kg (30 lb) of weight and kept it off for at least one year. Ninety percent of those in the study exercised regularly.
via Blogger http://chiropractic-lane.blogspot.com/2013/08/weight-can-yo-yo-but-can-you-make-it-go.html
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