Natural weight loss is the most effective way to lose – and keep off – excess weight. It’s not a “diet” in the traditional sense, but a change in the way you have been eating and moving that brings lasting weight reduction.
The weight-loss industry boasts over half a billion dollars in annual sales. Yet, their success rate would put most companies out of business. Sure, you may lose the pounds. But here’s a dismal figure: over 95% of overweight and obese people are not able to keep the weight off by the 2-year mark.
That leaves a 5% “success” rate. Would you buy a car with a “success” rate of just 5%?
That’s one of the biggest problems with weight-loss programs: they’re built on temporary success with a lot of sacrifice thrown in. But the lousy success rate won’t slow those weight-loss companies down when it comes to taking your money. They’re peddling false hope with no long-term plan to help maintain the weight loss. If they truly helped you to lose weight and keep it off (the true measure of weight-loss success), they’d be out of business in short order. That’s how they’ve stayed so wildly successful – they’ve mastered the idea of “repeat” business.
According to one recent study, overweight and obesity now affects 66% of the adult population here in the U.S.1 And as the obesity rates have climbed, there has been a push to consider a little leeway in being overweight: the idea that a few extra pounds is fine as long as you exercise.
But when it comes to carrying weight on your frame, the old adage of “less is more” is only too true. Research continues to show a direct correlation between obesity and the increased risk of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis.2 To cut risk, the pounds need to come off.
The vast majority of people who lose weight and kept it off are those who evaluate their lifestyle and habits, and then make healthy changes. Quite a few of them have found they suffer from a food addiction – and we’re not talking about apples and celery sticks – we’re talking about all of those high-carb options that leave the body starved for nutrients and in a constant state of craving and hunger. Still others find they have emotional reasons for eating. There’s a lot more to consider than just the scale when it comes to losing weight.
Natural weight loss is a healthier long-term solution because you steadily and consistently make lifestyle changes without feeling deprived while doing so. It’s successful habits that count – not the ability to work a blender to make a weight-loss shake or put a boxed dinner in the microwave.
Your body can be set to burn fat naturally. It takes some healthy exchanges, permanent changes, and new ways of thinking about food. That’s why many of those TV-commercial-touted diets fail: they don’t teach you how to eat once you’re off their program, nor do they resolve underlying issues.
One way to make permanent changes is to focus on adding in “healthy” rather than immediately eliminating “unhealthy.” When you begin to add healthier foods, you’ll find them to be more satisfying because they tend to have more fiber – a natural stomach-filler. You can gradually edge out the junk because you won’t have room for it.
Many times you can substitute with a healthier equivalent. For example, when you go to the store to pick up bread, avoid the high carbohydrate variety and choose a low-carb option. A quick way to find out if a particular brand of bread is low-carb (if the packaging doesn’t say it) is to look at the grams of fiber in a slice. Highly processed breads have had the majority of their healthy fiber stripped, and will have just a gram or less of fiber. Breads that are healthier are those with several grams of fiber per slice – a simple, but effective, exchange.
The following foods can be easily incorporated into and should form the basis of your meal plans.
Lean protein: Boosting your protein intake can help you feel full longer. That’s because high-protein foods slow down the food-moving process between the stomach and the intestine. Choose lean meats. For example, 3 ounces of regular raw hamburger meat can have 23 grams of fat, 9 of which are saturated. If you choose the 91 percent lean equivalent, the fat grams drop dramatically to 8, with just 3 of those grams being saturated.3
Nuts and seeds: These are another high source of protein, and you don’t need a lot of them to feel full.
Vegetables and fruits: They’re filling, and they supply a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Eating better will also boost your energy level. Now, what to do with all of that newfound energy?
Exercise, which will do two things: continue to boost your energy levels and help burn fat naturally.
The most effective exercises you can do are short-duration, intense bursts of physical activity, such as running or power walking, with periods of rest mixed in. A new study shows that vigorous aerobic exercise releases a hormone that’s a natural appetite suppressant.4
A number you’ll want to know is your level of body fat. A lot of people rely on Body Mass Index (BMI) as a measure of their body fat level, but it’s an imperfect system. There are athletes with high levels of muscle mass and minimal body fat that have been pegged as having too high of a BMI. A more accurate measure is your body composition with skin calipers. You can pick them up at exercise equipment stores. Or, many fitness clubs will be able to take this measurement for you.
You can also measure your waist and hip girths with a simple tape measure. Wrap it around your stomach at the level of your navel, and then around the widest part of your hips. Your waist measurement should be less than your hips.
References
- PUBMED Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Jan 5.
- http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/.
- Willett Walter C. Eat, Drink and Be Healthy. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Source p. 193.
- Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. Published online November 5th 2008.
