Post Natal Weight Loss
February 10, 2009 by John Neyman
Filed under Weight Loss AND You
A huge amount of women begin to diet following pregnancy. As carrying a child is traditionally associated with weight gain – and is utterly necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy and child – the problem arises when the child is born. Suddenly, that weight gain that had once been so crucial is suddenly restrictive. Many new mothers make their new goal post-pregnancy to be to lose weight and return to their pre-pregnancy weight.
Most often, doctors and dietary specialists advocate the following principle; nine months on, nine months off. Essentially, as it takes the standard nine month pregnancy term to gain the weight, losing it will take roughly the same amount of time. You will not snap back into your pre-pregnancy body as soon as your child is born; if only nature was so kind!
Losing weight after pregnancy is a little more challenging than losing weight at any other time in a woman’s life. This is mainly due to the time consumed by having a new child, and the associated exhaustion which leaves many women feeling unable to exercise due to a complete lack of energy.
Most post natal nurses advise a target of 2lbs per week, which may sound frighteningly little if you have bloomed during your pregnancy, but is actually a full stone of loss in less than two months. To do this, follow a low fat and high fibre diet, as the fibre will hopefully help keep energy levels high enough to exercise.
The other step is to enjoy the time as a new mom, and enjoy the weight loss possibilities associated with babies. Walking gently while pushing a stroller burns 150 calories an hour, and allows baby bonding time as well as weight loss. This combined with the aforementioned eating plan should have you back to your pre-pregnancy weight before your child’s first birthday.
The Dreaded Weight Loss Plateau
February 10, 2009 by John Neyman
Filed under Weight Loss AND You
During any concerted effort of weight loss, most dieters find that they will reach a plateau at some stage. This is when, after a steady period of weight loss has been going well, you reach a weight in which you don’t seem to be able to lose anymore. Suddenly, despite continuing the exact same good habits established in the first few months, you don’t seem to be able to lose any more weight. At this stage, most commonly, people are a couple of stone from their target weight.
This stage of weight loss is known as a plateau and is a recognised medical part of weight loss. It happens because your body has now had time to adjust to less calories and the sudden change has stopped shocking your metabolism into action. So while frustrating, when you hit the plateau do try and remember it’s actually just your body adapting to the changes it’s been through, and is completely natural. It is also because the lighter you become, the less calories are burned by exercise.
This does not, however, mean it is unbeatable. It simply means you need to tweak your eating or exercise habits a little to combat the plateau. Try decreasing your calorie intake by around 150 calories per day, or do 20 minutes more exercise than you usually would. This should mean you begin to lose weight again, until you reach your goal. Be persistent and keep working at it; the plateau is irritating, but ultimately manageable. Don’t fall into the trap of giving up and wasting all that earlier work – see this as the final push before you reach your dream.
Weight Loss: It’s Not Just About Food
February 10, 2009 by John Neyman
Filed under Weight Loss Tips
The word diet has become associated with food, eating plans, restricting the intake of fatty foods and even eating smaller portion sizes. For many, this is the principal concern of a diet and what the entire weight loss industry tends to revolve around. It’s all about food in the weight loss field, but in actuality, what you drink can be just as important.
Many drinks that are considered acceptable and are consumed on a regular basis are actually extremely fattening, yet few diet plans actually take them in to account. Wine, the relaxing drink of so many, is actually full of calories; a 125 millilitre glass of sweet white wine, for example, contains more calories than a bag of Maltesters. Yet this little known fact means that many people who are watching what they eat with precision, are still consuming many calories on an average night out without even realising it.
It becomes, then, incredibly important to know what calories are in which drinks. These calories, should you plan on consuming any of the beverages, should they be factored into any daily eating plan and calorie allowance. Some of the worst offenders for calories in drinks are liquors; there are 150 calories in a 50 militate amount of brandy, and sweet cider racks up 110 calories in a half pint measures.
These amounts are, like all things, printed on labels on any purchase. It is therefore an extremely good idea to take these amounts into account when planning your daily or weekly calorie consumption, perhaps even substituting some of the drinks with high calorie content for those that are a little more diet friendly.
How Portion Sizes Can Help You Lose Weight
February 10, 2009 by John Neyman
Filed under Weight Loss AND You
It has become the way that people use the terms ‘large’ and ‘extra large’ without really thinking. They appear on menus – particularly for takeaway restaurants – and no one really considers what these mean. A large portion to some people may be a medium portion to others; there is no universal standards.
Portion sizes, for those that are trying to lose weight, can be crucial. This is in keeping with that ever present dietary phrase; everything in moderation. There is no harm in having the occasional curry or a plate of chips – in fact, removing this entirely from your diet leads to quicker wagon falling than anything else – but what is important is the size of the portions.
If you cannot resist the Friday night curry or the occasional slice of chocolate cake, don’t worry. Allowing yourself little indulgences is all part of dieting; it helps remove that horrific restricted feeling that causes so many people to abandon their diets only a few weeks in.
Yet you can still remove a lot of the issues associated with treats by just having smaller portions. Look at what you’d usually have and half it; a smaller amount of curry, or a slimmer size of chocolate cake. You still get the indulgence and taste you crave, but you don’t destroy your diet. Employ this trick on a regular, even bi-weekly, basis as just a standard part of your eating plan as well as incorporating full-sized treats every few months. It should really help with motivation, which is arguably the biggest battle when it comes to shedding those excess pounds.
Medical Aids For Weight Loss
February 10, 2009 by John Neyman
Filed under Weight Loss AND You
In today’s society, the want-it-all mantra has become all too familiar. Many people who decide they wish to lose weight simply do not want to wait for it; instead, demanding almost instantaneous results. The concept of slowly and gradually losing weight, combining a restricted diet of fatty foods exercise, seems to have been lost in the midst of time, swallowed by demands for an almost immediate effect.
The medical profession has, to an extent, helped bolster this. There are a range of pharmaceutical drugs available via prescription, which do indeed help people lose weight quickly. The companies producing these drugs are smart; they often take doctors and general practitioners on expensive weekends away to showcase their product, and this leads to an increase in prescriptions. The weight loss industry is worth billions, after all.
However, prescription medication should only be a last resort and – according to most experts – should not even be considered then, unless there is a real medical reason for a failure to lose weight. Many of the drugs are extreme lifestyle restrictive; they have side effects like extremely unpleasant and unpredictable diarrhoea. This may be a quick answer, but it isn’t pleasant.
A doctor will prescribe these medications and request the patient continues to follow a healthy diet and exercise plan while taking them. Unfortunately, as is obvious on online forums, many people don’t; they continue eating junk and let the medication take care of the problem. Nothing is learned, nothing is really changed, and a cycle of yo-yo dieting begins in earnest. These medications can usually only be prescribed for a year at a time; at the end of the cycle, people just gain weight again.
So the answer is simply to be patient. Alter your diet and lifestyle, take more exercise and use natural supplements if you need a helping hand. The prescription medication may seem like the answer to a prayer, but they are actually only going to defer the problem for up to 12 months.
