Obesity

//Obesity

Are you ready
to lose weight?

Is your figure in the shape of an apple or a pear?

If you are overweight, the area on your body where the excess fat is stored can affect your risk of having heart diseases. If the excess fat is deposited around the waist, it takes the shape of an apple. That shape is directly connected to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, but also of high blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

If the excess fat is deposited in the hip area, the body will have the shape of a pear, which is less harmless for the health.

Use a tailor’s meter to measure your waist and then check the table below to estimate the degree of risk:

Table for waist measurement:

Risk Women/ Man
Moderate risk From 80 to 88 cm / From 94 and 102 cm
High risk Over 88 cm / Over 102 cm

Are you ready to lose weight?

There are 3 important things that you have to do so that the weight-loss process be successful:

  • Find your motivation to lose the extra pounds/kilograms! Keeping a food and exercise diary will help you remain focused and motivated.
  • Be prepared! Planning in advance helps you feel more in control over the weight loss. Be sure to have enough healthy food in your fridge fruit, vegetables, low-fat snacks such as skimmed yoghurt.
  • Have your training suit and shoes prepared for your walks and physical exercise. That will make it easier for you to start the new diet and de sport plan.

Motivation

Motivation is what matters most when it comes to getting the ideal weight. Motivation is what makes you start down that road and also what keeps you going.

  • Start by making a list of reasons for which you like to lose weight. Keep that list and look at it any time you feel like you don’t have enough motivation.
  • Keep a diary for an evidence of what you eat and of the time allocated to physical exercise. That method will help you focus on what you eat and on what you need to change. The people who keep a food and exercise diary are more successful in losing the extra weight.
  • Set yourself realistic goals that you will be able to reach in time  for instance: one or two kilograms a week. This way, it is very possible that you reach the desired weight and at the same time maintain it.
  • Put your favorite picture of you on the fridge. That will make you think before you open the fridge door: “Do I really need to eat that?”.
  • Lose weight with a friend or within an “acknowledged loss weight group” this way, the chances of success will increase.
  • Relax! Try to control your stress level  you are more likely to eat and drink more when you are tense.
  • Imagine you have lost weight. Visualize that 3 or 4 times a day. Creating a mental image on the way you would like to look can make you more confident in reaching your goal.

Best Advice on Weight Loss

Pay an increased attention to the size of your food portions, especially when you are eating out.

Guide yourself by the recommendations in “The food pyramid”. Focus on what you can eat, rather than on what you cannot eat. Be strict and limit your food choices. For lunch and dinner use a smaller plate and rather fill it with vegetables.

Take three regular daily meals. Research has shown that the people who regularly eat their breakfast maintain their weight within the normal limits.

Some people think that eating two smaller portions instead of a larger one makes them feel more full. Try to choose fruit, vegetables or salad as appetizers or fruit for dessert.

Learn to recognize the hunger sensation. If you’re not really hungry around your meal time, eat smaller portions.

Every week, make a list of healthy foods you need in order to lose weight. Take the list with you when you go shopping. Try not to go shopping on an empty stomach.

Replace high-fat foods with healthier ones. You should choose the following:

  • skimmed products instead of butter;
  • skimmed milk instead of non-skimmed milk;
  • skimmed cheese or cheese lower on fat instead of fat cheese;
  • lean meat, chicken (but without the skin), instead of beef, sausages or bacon;
  • salad dressings with no fat, instead of mayonnaise;
  • fruit instead of cakes or cookies;
  • small quantities de of boiled fruit to replace sweets sometimes.

Choose cooking methods involving the use of a low quantity of fat:

  • Cooking in the oven or on the grill, boiling, using steam or microwave, instead of frying;
  • Boiled, steamed or baked potatoes, instead of fried potatoes;
  • Removing any trace of fat from the meat, as well as removing the chicken skin;
  • Let the meat and sausages drain off fat on a paper towel;
  • Choosing tomato sauces instead of creamy sauces for pasta or rice dishes.

Emergency Reserves

  • Try to have frozen food without fat, made at home or bought;
  • Try to have enough vegetables and fruit;
  • Home-made soup is particularly helpful, especially during colder days;
  • Freeze food in special microwaveable recipients, so that they are easy to unfreeze and reheat, as the case may be. Form yourself the habit of having a bottle of water nearby. It is important to drink at least 8 glasses of fluids a day. Water can also help you feel “full” in between the meals.

Alcohol

If you really want to lose weight, you will be more successful if you completely give up alcohol until you reach your desired weight alcohol has many calories and can also give you the sensation of hunger. If you really need to drink an alcoholic beverage, try spritzers or a  low alcohol beer.

Do not exceed the upper limits when drinking alcohol: 14 standard doses a week for men and 7 standard doses a week for women.

Support and Rewards

Ask for the support of your family and friends  they can help you maintain your motivation, become more active and limit the consumption of high-fat foods.

Reward yourselves when you make a significant progress. In order to measure your progress, use a tailor’s meter, scales (remember that your weight may vary if, for various reasons, you retain water. Thus, the scales will not show you the real progress made) or guide yourselves by how your clothes look on you. Weigh yourselves once a week, while wearing the same clothes. Choose a reward having nothing to do with food – for instance: a magazine, a movie, a CD, a football game, a new haircut, even a new blouse or a new shirt after you lose some weight.

Be active during the entire weight-loss process

Regular physical exercise is equally important as the diet. Exercise helps you burn calories, tone your muscles and control your appetite. To lose weight, you need to consume more energy (calories) than the body takes from food and drinks. The best method to lose weight is a combination between:

  • Low-calorie food diet;
  • Burning a higher number of calories through physical exercise.

To lose weight, any activity is better than a sedentary life, so you can start by being more active in your daily routine. Just do more chores such as house cleaning, car cleaning, gardening. For better results, try to establish certain activities for several days of the week. Exercise can range from daily activities to leisure activities such as walks, dancing etc.

There are a series of weight loss programs and products  many of them do not work and they can sometimes do harm. Forget about magic diets and follow a weight loss plan that you will later on adopt as your lifestyle.

Daily Menu Plan

Regular meals prevent you from being hungry and assure you the daily needed dose of nutrients. For instance:

Breakfast:

  • a bowl of whole meal cereal, cut fruit and skimmed milk;
  • a slice of whole meal bread or toast;
  • tea or coffee.

The snack at 10:00 or 11:00:

  • raw fruit or vegetables, tea, coffee or water.

Lunch:

  • vegetables cooked in the oven, on the grill or raw, in abundance;
  • 25-50 grams of lean meat, chicken, sardines, salmon, eggs or skimmed cheese;
  • two slices of whole meal bread or toast;
  • skimmed yoghurt or a glass of skimmed milk;
  • fresh fruit;
  • tea, coffee or water.

The afternoon snack:

  • Fresh fruit and raw vegetables;
  • tea or water.

The main meal:

  • 75-100 grams of lean meat, chicken, fish (preferably fatter fish), eggs, skimmed cheese, or a few teaspoons of peas or beans;
  • skimmed yoghurt or a glass of skimmed milk;
  • fresh, cooked or canned fruit;
  • water.

Dinner:

  • fresh fruit;
  • water or tea.

If you’re hungry in between the meals, choose snacks made of fresh fruit or raw vegetables.