Lose Fat and Maintain a Healthy Weight

Losing fat, shedding inches, dropping pounds and looking thinner are popular New Year’s resolutions.  Maintaining a normal weight  is also a healthy choice because overweight and obesity are both associated with illness and disease.  Overall, that is probably more important than how we look even though that is important to us as well.

Diets, weight loss programs and even various kinds of cleanses are started and stopped, restarted and dropped – the results often referred to as a yo-yo effect because what happens is that when you lose weight you also lose muscle but when you stop your diet and gain back the pounds you don’t always recover the lost muscle.  Next time you start and stop a diet you also gain fat back but not the same amount of muscle.

Since muscle burns fat, we need our muscle to maintain a healthy weight.

So why do diets not work so well?  Why are we starting and stopping them all the time?  Many times it is because we are depriving ourselves of a certain food group or cutting too many calories and we can’t do that for too long.  There are many reasons but most of the time we are asking ourselves more than what we can deliver on an ongoing basis.

One of the reasons I started using Shaklee nutrition 29 years ago, and still do, is because it is something I can stick with very easily on a daily basis AND because I am not depriving myself.  Early on I remember learning that we can be most successful if we think in terms of balance and moderation.

We can eat things that may not be the most healthy choices, but we do it in moderation.  We can have days where we eat too many calories but we balance that with a regular daily diet that is within our calorie range and includes nutritious foods.  It helps us ‘treat ourselves’ but still do good overall.

Those of us that are extremely overweight or obese may need to take some more serious measures to get to a healthy weight and keep it.  Many of us can make smarter choices and get some great results with some easy changes.

Have you been told or have you read about the fact that you don’t have to ‘go on a diet’ to lose weight?  There are lifestyle factors that you can practice that can help you lose weight, shed inches, burn more fat and get to where you desire to be.

Many of us think that is too hard.  We think it is easier to try the newest diet because that is the one that is going to work.  But year after year there are new diets that don’t work.  WE – each one of us – is what has to work.  And it is WORK!

The more I study about healthy weight, experiment with it personally, and observe others struggle, the more I believe that the lifestyle changes are what can work the best – at least outside what’s called a calorie restriction diet that scientists say is the most effective way to maintain a healthy weight but that few people can accomplish.  That’s because it involves cutting 30 percent or more of our daily calories and maintaining that practice.

Healthy Weight

Lifestyle factors are what we have heard over and over again from our doctors, health publications, etc.

Exercise – yes, regular exercise has been proven to help us lose weight and keep it off.  Plus it has lots of other health benefits.

Eat Healthy – yes, eating less fat, cutting sugar and white flour as much as possible, and eating more fruits, vegetables, healthy fiber choices, low fat protein and drinking water instead of sugary or diet drinks has been proven to help us lose weight and keep it off.

Rest – yes, getting adequate rest can help us lose weight and keep it off because it also helps us manage stress so that we don’t eat for stress, gives us energy to keep exercising daily, and even improves our mood and our commitment to building good health.

Exercise, Eat Healthy and Rest.  Are these really so hard to do?  If we have to schedule them at first to make them part of our daily habits, so be it.  If we commit to these three things for a month or so there’s a very good chance that we are going to see results.

Will those results be enough to keep us going?  I guess that requires an individual answer but it is a more balanced way to get to a goal.  Moderation doesn’t deprive us.  We still have choices:  choose how we exercise each day, choose from a lot of healthy food choices and most of the time adequate rest feels good to all!

Losing fat and maintaining a healthy weight does not require a fancy diet or the newest diet fad.  It can be as simple as starting to exercise daily or several times per week, evaluating your diet and making adjustments, and getting another hour or two of sleep every day.  These seem manageable enough to me to tackle the 10 or so pounds that I would like to lose in 2011!

To learn about some nutritious foods and supplements that are very ‘easy’ and can help you reach your goals, visit the page below.  One example is to integrate a protein shake as your breakfast each morning.  Not only is it low calorie and nutritious, it balances your blood sugar levels and helps keep you alert and focused all morning until lunchtime.  Another is to eat a protein snack bar that is only 100 calories and tastes just as good as a candy bar but is so much healthier for you.  Last, you can sip a special tea that helps curb your appetite so you don’t eat junk food between meals and at the same time gives you energy to help keep you productive all afternoon.

Shaklee 180 -it’s a plan or it can be individual pieces that you can choose to help with your daily healthy weight plan!