Summer, winter, spring or fall, we seem to find ourselves becoming more conscious of what we eat and how we look. A wide variety of ways and techniques on how to lose weight seems to occupy large portions of magazines, food labels, outdoor advertising and commercials. First, let us look at the factors that could lead to this major concern of gaining weight.
Whether you consciously watch what you eat in order to be skinny, there is just one vital fact that we have to remember. The body and how it looks like is due to the result of a simple mathematical statement; calories in and calories out. When the body consumes more calories than it can burn then weight gain happens, making it important to have a proper diet and religiously follow an exercise regimen.
Sleeping Habits
Lifestyle habits must be taken into consideration since it is one of the contributing factors in gaining weight. We all need the required 6-8 hours of sleep each night. When you sleep less, you are more likely to be overweight or obese. What is the physiological explanation behind this? The body releases more ghrelin when it is deprived of sleep. Ghrelin tells your body that you are hungry and the body releases less leptin that curbs the appetite. So, the less you sleep the hungrier you feel. If you are someone who always has a hard time getting to sleep, there are various ways to remedy this problem. Below are some of the ways how you can achieve the 8 hours of sleep you need each night:
- Drink warm milk before going to bed
- Avoid long naps in the afternoon
- Make sure your business phone is on silent or turned off to avoid disturbance of sleep
- Make sure your room is clean and your bed sheets are fresh since it makes your room more conducive for sleeping
Nourishment
Eating habits must be monitored, too. The more your body gets stuffed with processed food, the more it slows down your metabolism.
Avoid Stress
Stress is also one factor that contributes to weight gain. It is better to verbalize those feelings of stress than sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night and indulge in binges.
Fighting the Temptation
The workplace must be taken into consideration especially if it’s surrounded by tempting fast food lunch options and dessert counters. Stress management can be done by setting aside “me” time that allows you to engage in some activities that alleviate your stress. You see, with the aid of technology, one really has no excuse for not being able to exercise. A person who has no time to go to the gym can just opt for gaming consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 for burning excess calories.
The Health Connection
Some cases of hormonal problems may cause you to gain weight or worse, lead to obesity. An under-active thyroid can lead to uncontrolled weight gain regardless of how much you follow a strict diet.
The body must maintain a certain level of activity to make sure that you shed those extra pounds and burn the calories you consume to avoid calorie surplus. Instead of driving to the nearest convenient store, it will be better stretch those calves and walk. More often than not, we make weight loss seem much more difficult than it needs to be with unnecessary diets that leave us moody and starving, unhealthy lifestyle choices, and emotional eating habits that stop us before we get started. There is always a better way and you can lose weight without feeling deprived.