15 Tips to Prevent Weight Gain
You would be better off not having to lose 50 pounds. Prevention of weight gain is always easier than trying to lose 50 pounds.
Weight gain prevention would also keep you from the yo-yo weight loss and regain (weight cycling) habit. Going in circles is hard on your mind and body.
According to Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, "it's better not to gain weight than to try to lose it."
I know this is easier said than done. Afterall, who wants to gain 50 pounds? And, weight gain usually happens over time.....so, it can "sneak up on you." Its easy for you to respond to weight gain by trying to lose it as fast as possible. But, your best option would be to start burning fat as fast as possible.
According to a Medicinenet.com article, "Weight Cycling...Facts About "Yo-Yo" Dieting,"
"Weight cycling is the repeated loss and regain of body weight. When weight cycling is the result of dieting, it is often called "yo-yo" dieting. A weight cycle can range from small weight losses and gains (5-10 lbs. per cycle) to large changes in weight (50 lbs. or more per cycle)."
"Some research links weight cycling with certain health risks. To avoid potential risks, most experts recommend that obese adults adopt healthy eating and regular physical activity habits to achieve and maintain a healthier weight for life. Non-obese adults should try to maintain their weight through healthy eating and regular physical activity."
"Some studies suggest that weight cycling may increase the risk for certain health problems. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gallbladder disease."
Here are 15 tips to help you prevent weight gain:
1. Make a commitment to a lifetime of fitness. This commitment trumps all other fitness commitments. Without it, you will always fall prey to the inevitable obstacles and pitfalls along the way.
2. Be willing to change your eating habits. Since you must eat to survive, get ready to change. Get rid of the fad diets. Start planning your own meals using a mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
3. You MUST change your body's composition. You must increase muscle mass to become a “fat-burning machine.” You don't need to be a body builder but you need to replace the fat (to an acceptable body fat percentage) on your body with muscle mass.
4. You must do more than cardio exercise to change your body's composition. "Cardio only" will not lean out your body. Too much cardio will waste away your valuable muscle mass.
5. Make a commitment to full-body strength training. Among other things, it builds muscle mass, speeds up your metabolism (the body has to work harder to maintain muscle) and helps improve your bone density. And, you’ll look great!
6. If you severely limit candy, donuts, cookies, sugary drinks, calorie-packed desserts and other sugary products (while continuing to exercise), you will burn belly fat and lose weight.
7. Walk as much as possible (i.e., stay active during the day), exercise 4-5 days a week, stay with your meal plan at least 90% of the time and you will burn fat and lose weight.
8. If you don't replace bad foods (like sugary foods) with good foods like fresh fruits, you will probably continue to eat massive amounts of sugary foods. Try the replacement method--it works.
9. If you don't REALLY COMMIT to improve your quality of life with exercise, healthy nutrition, active lifestyle, etc., you probably won't change your bad habits for very long.
10. If you continue to try every new fad diet that hits the market (to get quick weight loss), you will continue to see your weight yo-yo and your health worsen. Make the commitment to fat loss with regular weight training and cardio exercise. In time, this will burn fat, give you a lean body and good health.
Boost Your Metabolism to Burn More Calories and Fat
If you want permanent fat loss and weight loss, continually boosting your metabolism will help you burn more calories and fat. Metabolism is basically the rate at which your body burns calories. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories you'd burn if you did nothing all day (or the amount of calories your body needs to maintain itself). You will use this rate, your activity and goals to determine how many calories you need each day.
Although you don't need to strictly count calories, you do need a good idea of how many calories your body needs every day.
11. Do not skip meals. Eating every 3-4 hours keeps your metabolism and energy humming during the day. Starving yourself or severely cutting your calories will only slow your metabolism and cause you to store fat (your body's survival mechanism). Eating only 1,000 calories a day for too long will damage your metabolism.
Here are some things you can start doing today to improve your eating habits:
--Drink only water or unsweetened drinks for beverages
--Severely limit candy, cookies, pastries, junk food and processed foods
--Eat at least one fruit or vegetable with every meal
--Eat protein with every meal, such as eggs, fish, nuts or lean chicken/beef/turkey
--Eat small meals, every 3-4 hours
--Start writing down what and why you eat to hold yourself accountable
12. Regular exercise (cardio 2-3 days a week/weight training 3 days a week). Building muscle mass will speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain muscle. A higher metabolic rate helps you burn more calories during the day and at rest.
The more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn during and after your workout. So, high intensity interval cardio and circuit weight training will give you more fat burn and calorie burn. Breaking up your workouts also works well to speed up metabolism (i.e., two 20 minute workouts instead of one 40 minute workout).
13. Eat protein with every meal. Your body has to work harder to digest protein. This burns more calories and also helps you eat less during the day. Protein is also critical to repair and build muscle after a tough strength workout.
14. Eat good carbs like fresh fruits and veggies. Again, your body has to work harder to digest these foods and you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
Eating fresh fruits can help you cut out the excess sugar in your diet in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist, who is widely cited by obesity researchers, says that sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain. "Highly concentrated starches and sugars promote overeating, and the granddaddy of them all is sugar-sweetened beverages," said Ludwig, who runs the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.
15. Get enough sleep and stay away from long-term stress. These two imposters will wreck your metabolism and health.
Are you afraid to set goals for fear of not reaching those goals? Since you need to take action, set a temporary goal of "just getting started exercising." You can set an appointment with a trainer to help figure out the rest.
Do these type things on a consistent basis and you will get the fat loss and weight loss you want--without yo-yo weight loss and regain.
Weight gain prevention would also keep you from the yo-yo weight loss and regain (weight cycling) habit. Going in circles is hard on your mind and body.
According to Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, "it's better not to gain weight than to try to lose it."
I know this is easier said than done. Afterall, who wants to gain 50 pounds? And, weight gain usually happens over time.....so, it can "sneak up on you." Its easy for you to respond to weight gain by trying to lose it as fast as possible. But, your best option would be to start burning fat as fast as possible.
According to a Medicinenet.com article, "Weight Cycling...Facts About "Yo-Yo" Dieting,"
"Weight cycling is the repeated loss and regain of body weight. When weight cycling is the result of dieting, it is often called "yo-yo" dieting. A weight cycle can range from small weight losses and gains (5-10 lbs. per cycle) to large changes in weight (50 lbs. or more per cycle)."
"Some research links weight cycling with certain health risks. To avoid potential risks, most experts recommend that obese adults adopt healthy eating and regular physical activity habits to achieve and maintain a healthier weight for life. Non-obese adults should try to maintain their weight through healthy eating and regular physical activity."
"Some studies suggest that weight cycling may increase the risk for certain health problems. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gallbladder disease."
Here are 15 tips to help you prevent weight gain:
1. Make a commitment to a lifetime of fitness. This commitment trumps all other fitness commitments. Without it, you will always fall prey to the inevitable obstacles and pitfalls along the way.
2. Be willing to change your eating habits. Since you must eat to survive, get ready to change. Get rid of the fad diets. Start planning your own meals using a mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
3. You MUST change your body's composition. You must increase muscle mass to become a “fat-burning machine.” You don't need to be a body builder but you need to replace the fat (to an acceptable body fat percentage) on your body with muscle mass.
4. You must do more than cardio exercise to change your body's composition. "Cardio only" will not lean out your body. Too much cardio will waste away your valuable muscle mass.
5. Make a commitment to full-body strength training. Among other things, it builds muscle mass, speeds up your metabolism (the body has to work harder to maintain muscle) and helps improve your bone density. And, you’ll look great!
6. If you severely limit candy, donuts, cookies, sugary drinks, calorie-packed desserts and other sugary products (while continuing to exercise), you will burn belly fat and lose weight.
7. Walk as much as possible (i.e., stay active during the day), exercise 4-5 days a week, stay with your meal plan at least 90% of the time and you will burn fat and lose weight.
8. If you don't replace bad foods (like sugary foods) with good foods like fresh fruits, you will probably continue to eat massive amounts of sugary foods. Try the replacement method--it works.
9. If you don't REALLY COMMIT to improve your quality of life with exercise, healthy nutrition, active lifestyle, etc., you probably won't change your bad habits for very long.
10. If you continue to try every new fad diet that hits the market (to get quick weight loss), you will continue to see your weight yo-yo and your health worsen. Make the commitment to fat loss with regular weight training and cardio exercise. In time, this will burn fat, give you a lean body and good health.
Boost Your Metabolism to Burn More Calories and Fat
If you want permanent fat loss and weight loss, continually boosting your metabolism will help you burn more calories and fat. Metabolism is basically the rate at which your body burns calories. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories you'd burn if you did nothing all day (or the amount of calories your body needs to maintain itself). You will use this rate, your activity and goals to determine how many calories you need each day.
Although you don't need to strictly count calories, you do need a good idea of how many calories your body needs every day.
11. Do not skip meals. Eating every 3-4 hours keeps your metabolism and energy humming during the day. Starving yourself or severely cutting your calories will only slow your metabolism and cause you to store fat (your body's survival mechanism). Eating only 1,000 calories a day for too long will damage your metabolism.
Here are some things you can start doing today to improve your eating habits:
--Drink only water or unsweetened drinks for beverages
--Severely limit candy, cookies, pastries, junk food and processed foods
--Eat at least one fruit or vegetable with every meal
--Eat protein with every meal, such as eggs, fish, nuts or lean chicken/beef/turkey
--Eat small meals, every 3-4 hours
--Start writing down what and why you eat to hold yourself accountable
12. Regular exercise (cardio 2-3 days a week/weight training 3 days a week). Building muscle mass will speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain muscle. A higher metabolic rate helps you burn more calories during the day and at rest.
The more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn during and after your workout. So, high intensity interval cardio and circuit weight training will give you more fat burn and calorie burn. Breaking up your workouts also works well to speed up metabolism (i.e., two 20 minute workouts instead of one 40 minute workout).
13. Eat protein with every meal. Your body has to work harder to digest protein. This burns more calories and also helps you eat less during the day. Protein is also critical to repair and build muscle after a tough strength workout.
14. Eat good carbs like fresh fruits and veggies. Again, your body has to work harder to digest these foods and you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
Eating fresh fruits can help you cut out the excess sugar in your diet in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist, who is widely cited by obesity researchers, says that sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain. "Highly concentrated starches and sugars promote overeating, and the granddaddy of them all is sugar-sweetened beverages," said Ludwig, who runs the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.
15. Get enough sleep and stay away from long-term stress. These two imposters will wreck your metabolism and health.
Are you afraid to set goals for fear of not reaching those goals? Since you need to take action, set a temporary goal of "just getting started exercising." You can set an appointment with a trainer to help figure out the rest.
Do these type things on a consistent basis and you will get the fat loss and weight loss you want--without yo-yo weight loss and regain.
Get your FREE DOWNLOAD, "Fat Burning Foods, Spices and Meals," and start eating better, burning fat, losing weight and building the lean body you want and need!
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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