It is normal for a person to dream of regaining the youthful shape that they had when they were younger than they are now. But do you really need to go that low? The truth is that you can weigh more than your ideal weight and still be healthy.
It is healthier for a person to lose a couple of pounds and does not require a person to drop a lot just to feel better. A person will have more success if this is what they strive for. Small losses can also add up to larger losses over time.
Just as your body temperature is programmed to stay around 98.6 degrees, your body weight is naturally regulated to stay within a range of 10%-20%. A complex set of hormones, chemicals, and hunger signals help your body naturally maintain your weight within this range, but it is not just a matter of genetics as your eating and exercise habits can also help to determine your set point and some people have to search for ways to achieve rapid fat loss among other things.
The problems occur when a person consistently over does it. The body adjusts to the higher weight and resets the body to defend the new weight. It is difficult, but not impossible, to set your range lower.
Research suggests that maintaining a 10% loss for six months to a year helps your body adjust to the lower weight and thus reset the set point. It is been suggested that when a person finds a program that promises to show them what is the quickest way to lose weight in 2 weeks they set up an internal struggle and hormones spike to make you hungrier as your body tries to defend its comfortable range, so instead, a person should try losing 10% the old-fashioned way, by slowly changing eating and exercise behaviors, and then maintain this new weight for a few months before trying to lose more. Your body gets the signal to lower its set point. It is possible to get used to eating smaller amounts of food and working out your body in such a way that you want to keep it up.
Most people overestimate how much weight they can realistically lose and try to find out how to slim down fast, which leads to frustration when instead they should try to find their happy or healthy weight, which can be accomplished by looking back on your weight history as an adult and identify a weight you were able to maintain naturally and fairly easily.
Losing weight is not about how many pounds you take off, but rather doing the right things to achieve the goal. Stick with these behaviors for 3-6 months and they will become part of your life. Follow a diet that gives you a calorie deficit of about 300 calories less taken in than you use every day. Get regular exercise. Keep track of how much weight you are losing. Eventually you will reach your first goal. At some point, the pounds will stop falling off. This is a good time to maintain the weight loss. Once your body is adjusted to maintaining the weight, than you can start top try to lose more weight.
There are a couple of keys to a successful dieting.
1. Do not skip meals. People who eat regular meals consume fewer calories than those who eat irregular meals.
2. Do not eat too fast, give yourself a chance to feel full.
3. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity each day.
4. Celebrate you victories and make sure that you keep a smile on your face.
Follow these rules and a healthy weight loss will occur.