Obesity is one of America's largest health care concerns. Statistics released by the Center for Disease Control in 2010 indicate that approximately 35.7% of adults and 17% of children were overweight at that time. The rate continues to grow daily. Today I would like to present different options that should be considered when attempting to lose weight.
I chose to first research the issue of diet and exercise. One of the articles that I read was written by Tim Crowe. He is the Associate Professor in Nutrition at Deakin University. Professor Crowe had several observations:
*** Both diet and exercise are essential components of an effective weight loss plan.
*** A person's genetic makeup and rate of body metabolism both play a significant role. If someone lowers the amount of food that they are eating, it is a given that weight loss will occur. However depriving one's self of food to the point of starvation will not work. This lowers the rate of your body metabolism and is difficult to continue for an extended period of time. If the process if continued, the person will eventually die.
*** There is no singular diet that will be 'the magical solution' for everyone.
*** Diets that are low in carbohydrates (sugars) will result in weight loss. However, it is extremely difficult to continue this diet once you have been on the diet for 6 months.
Professor Crowe's results were based on a diet study that was conducted over a 2-year span. Over 800 adults that were overweight participated in the study. Each person was randomly placed on one of two diets. These two diets were a high carbohydrate/low fat diet and a low carbohydrate/high fat diet. The average amount of weight that each person lost was 7% of their initial body weight. Half of the participants were able to remain at their new weight for two years. The other half, unfortunately, regained much of their weight loss.
*** It is imperative to implement a nutritious diet plan, and adhering to the plan is what matters most.
*** Exercise will reduce body fat modestly even if the person exercising is not following a diet plan.
*** 60 minutes of any type of daily physical activity may not be effective in stopping weight gain. One study focused on people that had followed a weight-loss program for 12 months. After that 12 months, the people that lost the most weight actually exercised for 90 minutes or more daily.
*** If you want to be successful in losing weight and not regaining the weight that was lost, it would be helpful to use Professor Crowe's advice:
* Increase fruit and vegetable intake
* Increase exercise
* Decrease fat
* Decrease sweets and junk food
* Decrease portion sizes
* Decrease the total amount of food that you eat daily
You can choose to incorporate foods that are effective in burning body fat. This information was taken from Health & Wellness Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 7, March 2013. Free copies of this magazine are in various places throughout UK Hospital here in Lexington. Listed are top fat burning foods:
* Nuts
* Berries
* Fish
* Eggs
* Green tea
* Lean meats
* Grapefruit
* Whole grains
* Coffee
* Good fats like olive oil & avocados
* Hot peppers
* Low-fat dairy products
* Oranges
* Cinnamon
To help obtain the goal of sufficient exercise, you can become a member of any privately-owned gym in Lexington by paying an annual membership fee. Often this fee is quite expensive. However, numerous churches are beginning to build on-site exercise areas. The membership fees to join are much more affordable. Below I will list local churches that do contain gyms and exercise areas:
*** Consolidated Baptist Church at 1625 Russell Cave Road - phone 859-299-8559. Annual membership feels are $50.00 for members of Consolidated and $100.00 for nonmembers.
*** Immanuel Baptist Church at 3100 Tates Creek Road - phone 859-266-1402. I do not know the annual fees at Immanuel Baptist, but you can obtain that information by simply placing a phone call.
*** Calvary Baptist Church at 150 E. High Street - phone 859-254-3491. I have been told that staff at Calvary make every effort to assure that the gym membership fee is affordable and will allow some people to perform chores in exchange for use of the gym.
Remember, you have only one earthly body. Take care of it!!
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