There are physical, psychological and behavioral factors that are keeping each of those extra pounds around our tummies. Addressing them all will produce the quickest weight loss. The diet industry would like for you to think that it's only about finding the right diet--but that's just part of the solution.
At least 30% of Americans are concerned about losing weight. They know that the extra pounds sap their energy and add to the likelihood that they’ll have heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and joint problems; the list of ailments goes on and on.
The reason that we have trouble losing the extra pounds, and the reason that they come back when we lose them, is that the problem has several causes, and each must be dealt with. To try to simply “diet" – to cut back on calories alone – will be a struggle, and even if the target weight is achieved, the pounds will return.
The quickest way to lose weight and keep it off is to do all of the following:
- Create a good self-image: A person who’s been overweight for a while needs to develop a vision of herself as a healthy and vibrant person. Improving the self image is a spiritual process that can take many forms; meditation, yoga, dance, or sports may have a role. Counseling may even be necessary to correct a poor self-image that relates to relationship problems with others.
- Eat a healthy diet: The Standard American Diet (SAD) produces obesity. The large portions in most restaurants produce obesity. Americans should eat a Mediterranean Diet. This is a delicious and satisfying diet that you can happily eat for a lifetime.
- Eat less and slow down: We often eat for emotional reasons that haven’t been dealt with. Eating a small amount of a treat makes one feel good. Eating a great deal of the same food makes one sick and fat. Eating slowly can help the body to feel satisfied without overeating. Counseling can help with unresolved psychological problems.
- Stop eating close to bedtime: Don’t eat for the last five hours before you lie down to sleep. Don’t drink for the last two hours. Digestion systems need down time to recover. Many of us are used to eating throughout the evening while watching TV. This is a recipe for diet disaster.
- Exercise more: The energy output through exercise must always be greater than the energy that is taken in through food and drink. No diet can compensate for a sedentary lifestyle. There’s no way to have quick and sustainable weight loss without sufficient exercise. Increasing the metabolism through exercise is critical. Besides, without muscle tone, even if you lost all the extra weight, you'd just look skinny; the body needs muscle to look beautiful. A doctor should approve changes in an exercise routine, especially if one is obese.
- Manage stress: Find something--prayer, meditation, yoga, exercise--whatever works for you, but reduce your stress. As the western economies are destroyed by corporations sending their work overseas, stress has become epidemic. The poor and middle class who have had their jobs evaporate are more likely to be obese than the wealthy. People who are underemployed are afraid of falling behind in their bills. People who have better jobs are afraid of losing them. There is a huge amount of change in society and people are turning to food as an escape from the fear that unmanaged change creates.
- Manage underlying diseases: Hypothyroidism and other diseases can lower the metabolism and contribute to stored fat. This is another reason to talk to a medical professional about problems with weight loss.
- Stop blaming genetics: Blaming your parents is a cop-out. There is a slim chance that there could be genetic factors that keep people from losing weight. A few people have genes that lead to extra pounds, but mostly we inherit a poor self-image and the habits of overeating and under-exercising from our parents.
The quickest way to effective and long-term weight loss may include the latest fad diet, but it also has to address the issues in this article. While addressing all these issues will not guarantee success, not addressing them will almost assuredly mean that the goal weight is not achieved or if achieved, it will not be maintained.
