The Best Way To Start Losing Weight

By: Rebecca Christensen

These days, new fad diets are popping up like flowers in spring and there “gurus” that have the answer seems to be everywhere. Being a health care professional myself, I have noticed an increasing trend of obese patients over the last decade. Most of them complain of either lower back pain or knee pain, both which often result of carrying excess weight. However, the problem with the kinds of people is that due to their excess weight, there are a lot of exercise they can not do and as a result, losing the weight becomes hard work. There are also a group of people that use their pain as an excuse for not exercising. These people are very unlikely of ever losing any weight as they always focus on the problem, not the solution.

Losing weight is a simple equation and does not have to include complicated “shake only” diets or starvation. If you want to close weight you simply have to burn more calories through physical exercise than you are putting in. If you do, the body will start utilizing your fat stores as a source of energy and hence, you lose weight. If you eat more than you burn, you just put the excess weight on. It is that simple.

To get this equation right you have three options for losing weight. If you are only after losing a few pounds, you can get away with just eating smaller portions and substituting pre-packaged foods and take-away with fresh fruit and vegetables as well as lean meat and fish. Option two if you only want to lose a little would be to just increase your current exercise regime by 2 hours per week. The third and final option would be to combine these two. If you change you diet around to consist of fresh fruit, vegetables as well as lean meat and fish, plus you increase your exercise to at least 30 minutes per day for at least 6 days per week, you are on your way to a leaner and healthier life.

As far as exercise go, I recommend starting with a cross trainer and swimming. They are both non-compressive exercises that will not put unnecessary stress on your joints. Reebok elliptical, Livestrong Elliptical are both great brands, whereas I would advise you to steer clear of “as seen on TV” brands, such as Orbitrek Elliptical trainer. Try and vary the swimming as much as you can to include both backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke if possible.

If you get this simple equation right, you are on your way to a better you. Your greatest challenge will be trying not to listen to all the “latest and greatest” in weight loss. If there is one thing I have learnt being a health care professional for over a decade it is that no one can lose the weight for you. At the end of the day it is up to you