Are we as a society obsessed with weight loss? Or, is there truly reason to take notice and lose a few pounds? While there are some people, especially females during teenage years, who take weight loss to extremes, for most of us losing some weight would be healthy thing to do.

It’s no secret that “thin is in”, yet turn on news channel and you’ll see where researchers are finding more and more of our youth are obese and more and more adults as well as children are being diagnosed with chronic disease of Type 2 diabetes, often as a result of obesity. We see hear that thin is better, yet we keep getting bigger and bigger. What’s reason?

The reasons are many. Primarily, our activity levels don’t match amount of food we eat. We are constantly being bombarded with quick food and lots of occasions to eat. For example, some friends invite you over. The chances are slim that there won’t be food involved. You go to a sports event. What’s on your mind besides game? Food! Somehow, we have become conditioned to equate food with socializing. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, amount of food we consume at these parties and events often times are a bad thing. If you are trying to lose weight, whenever you eat, remember; don’t eat more than you will be active enough to use! Let’s face it! Watching Super Bowl on television is far less energy focused, than guys playing in game. They’re usually drinking Gatorade, we’re eating everything in site.

Were The Cavemen Fat?

Consider this: Our forefathers were constantly working to simply survive. The men were farming, hunting, and fishing for food. The women were busy preparing, food, and clothing as well as raising children. There was constant activity without an overabundance of food. Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary. Yet, today with technological advances, and average lifestyles we live, our activity levels have all but disappeared.

Let’s explore this a bit further… We get up in morning, jump in shower, drive a car or catch subway or bus to work, grab some food at fast food place for lunch, come home pop in a frozen dinner, plop down on sofa, turn on TV and our day is done. Compare that to days of old. First off, you had to draw water for shower, then you had to fire stove to stay warm and to cook( food was hunted and grown by hand). If you left your home for work, walking was a major way of transportation,…Need I say more? Our bodies haven’t evolved to point to where activity is not necessary. Yet, we are least active of any society since mankind was placed on this earth. Food must be matched with activity. To lose weight, you must consume less food than body needs. That’s about only way you’ll burn off any fat.

Steps to Losing Weight

1. Do your homework. As you start your weight loss plan, take time to carefully evaluate your situation. What caused weight gain? Pregnancy? Inactivity? Overeating and binging? Emotions? There are many triggers in our lives that will cause us to gain weight. Some can be prevented or eliminated, some can’t. It’s important as you begin your weight loss to understand and come to grips with cause of your weight. Be honest with yourself. Don’t cheat on this one. Obviously, you want to have your weight loss become permanent.

In order to keep off weight in future, you may have to make some lifestyle changes to stay slim. Don’t give up before you start. There’s usually more than one solution to any weight gain reason. Just remain open-minded, and be willing to change to get results you desire. Don’t hesitate to read and learn as much as you can about weight gain. It’s really easy to understand, and you may be surprised at what you learn.

2. Avoid Hidden Calories. Here’s an over simplified version of weight loss and weight maintenance… if you eat more than your body needs, you gain weight. If you eat less (reduce calories) than your body needs, you lose weight! While it sounds simple enough, just eat less ….Right? Basically that’s true. Yet, there are other things that come into play as one is trying to lose weight. One common mistake many people make as they diet is fact they don’t really understand how much is provided by food they are eating. This is especially true with eating out and eating snack foods and beverages.

A serving as defined by scientific communities on weight loss and a serving that your local restaurant provides is most often very different. For example, one serving of bread is typically one slice. Yet, average bun in a fast food restaurant is actually almost three servings. A single serving of French fries is 15 fries. Just take a guess at how many servings are in a “Biggie” French fry container.

Also, don’t be fooled into thinking just because a bag of popcorn is small, that it’s a single serving. The same thing goes for beverages. The bottle may contain16 oz. Yet, serving size may be 4 ounces. Pay attention to actually how many servings of food and beverages you are actually consuming. The amount may surprise you.

I’ll give you an example, my son-in-law who’s 28 was had put on several pounds. His favorite cola is Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew has higher sugar content than most other cola’s. He didn’t have a clue as to how may calories he was consuming by drinking 3 or 4 24 oz bottles a day. When my daughter told him, he was amazed. He replaced cola with water and went from a 38” waist to a 34” waist in about two months. Be careful, you may be consuming more than you think.