Today our lives are sedentary; we sit at our desks to do our work, mostly. We don’t need to consume as much energy so we don’t need to eat as much. We were meant to be active and exert our bodies to consume the energy from our food.
We have to remember that, in terms of evolution’s time-scale, we are a recent event. We have created an environment for ourselves which, to a very large extent, is unnatural for us. So our bodies have not had the time to naturally cope with the changed conditions.
Being Over-weight
Over-weight people store an amount of fat which is not necessary for survival. Being over-weight is not necessarily being obese, but obesity is an extreme case of being over-weight. As we age, we tend to eat the same amount of food that we ate when we were more active, and we are also less able to do the same activities. This produces the weight gain that most adults see when they age every ten years.
The amount of over-weightness can be measured by the Body Mass Index (BMI). This number basically tells us if we have just enough fat to be healthy or if we have too much excess fat. A normal or healthy range for your BMI should be 18.5 to 25.
Someone who is over-weight tends to have a BMI in the range 25 to 30. An obese person has a very high BMI, usually above 30. Anything above 40 is dangerously high and the person runs the risk of premature death.
Some people may have a fat gene which predisposes them to store more fat than others. However, having a gene does not excuse a person from poor eating habits. People who are overweight tend to have poor eating habits, such as irregular meals, undisciplined fasting. These patterns of eating were never meant to be imposed on our bodies. Such people also tend to neglect exercise.
The Health Risks
As countries become more affluent the incidence of obesity and over-weight people has increased, and this is not without its risks. Some of the increased health risks associated with being over-weight are:
heart diseasetype 2 diabetesback troublejoint problemsosteo-arthritispremature deatha higher incidence of cancerskin problems (such as stretched skin and scars)and the list goes on.
ExerciseWhen we exercise our bodies produce and strengthen muscle tissue. The overall result of exercise is that we feel better, healthier and stronger. This feeling occurs not just in the mind; it is an actual physical consequence of exercise. It is a well-known fact that exercise causes the body to produce the feel-good endorphins, which are directly related to weight control. Higher levels of endorphins in our bodies actually reduce our craving for sugar.
Perhaps the most important benefit we get out of exercise is a healthier heart. A healthier and stronger heart is more efficient and makes better use of oxygen. People with stronger than average hearts are more likely to survive major surgery or falling into freezing waters.
A person who exercises regularly and naturally controls her weight. Her body immediately burns whatever calories she has eaten recently, but also burns fat for sometime after the exercise stops. Such a person cannot get fat if she eats a healthy balanced diet.
Weight ControlWhen we want to control our weight what we really want to see is ourselves slim, healthy, agile and active as we once were. To achieve that vision we will have to burning up the energy stored in the excess fat on our body. However, we need to control weight carefully and with insight. We can’t just stop eating or radically reduce our sugar and starch intake because we can’t burn fat as readily. We also can’t reduce the necessary vitamins, minerals, enzymes and so on that are so essential to re-generating our body without causing harm to our bodies.
There are many effective supplements that can aid weight loss, but some of these have side effects which are harmful to health. For instance, Ma Huang has been used for a long time in Chinese herbal medicine to aid slimming, but its abuse led to being withdrawn on markets. When taken excessively Ma Huang causes palpitations because it contains ephedrine. Other miracle supplements include a compound called hydrocitric acid (HCA) which reduces appetite and increases fat burning.
No magic pill can cause our bodies to always burn up the fat we don’t want. Supplements can aid weight control but they cannot replace the need for proper diet and exercise. Weight can only be controlled safely and effectively through a long term diet and exercise plan, but it takes great effort and discipline because we have to contend with the incessant chatter in our minds.
Permanent weight control requires us to change our eating habits and our reaction to foods. When we trade away our health for the convenience of snacks, quick sugar fixes and so on, we are bringing ourselves closer to major illness. It takes a lot to control what we eat when we have been habitually sloppy with what we eat.
The biggest obstacle to successful weight control is the emotions we attach to food. We derive great pleasure out of what we eat, and there is no stopping a person from going back to eating fattening foods even if she succeeds in reducing weight.
Set Your Weight Management GoalsBefore you achieve any measure of success in weight management you have to set your goals, and all you need are three goals, which are to have and maintain:
a proper healthy dieta regular exercise plana target weight to maintainYou should aim at eating healthy food at regular meals throughout the day, exercising regularly and achieving your desired target weight. Plan your daily regimen, and then go and do it. To aid you’re your execution there are a couple of ways you can do this – self-affirmations and hypnotherapy.
Self-affirmations require some time for you to “get into the groove”, and it does take a lot of will-power and effort to make it work. That is mainly due to the fact that it is taking place at the conscious which has that filtering analysing effect. Most of the affirmations will end up hitting a brick wall due to this behaviour of the mind.
Hypnotherapy and Weight ControlA more effective approach to weight control is through Hypnotherapy. Permanent changes are needed in your attitudes and mindset, which can only take place in the sub-conscious where our emotions lie. This is why Hypnotherapy is a very effect aid to weight control.
Before we begin to use Hypnotherapy we need to have our three goals clearly laid out before us. We should see ourselves achieving these three goals and then program this into our sub-conscious. There are self-hypnosis weight control audios and CDs on sale on the Internet that can be effective, and you can try them out.
Hypnosis in SingaporeOr you could consult a qualified Hypnotherapist and discuss you weight control goals, and get her to help you through Hypnotherapy. If you are open to Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy you can achieve very good results by working with a Hypnotherapist. Call Regional Hypnosis Center 62727118 for an appointment with Nancy Ho now, if you need help with weight control. Or visit our web for more details: /
