How Bad Do You Want to Lose Weight?

 I started this blog in 2009, to try to help people who have had problems losing weight.  I had to stop posting for several months but got serious about the blog last year.  Losing weight is not just an isolated problem that affects a small percentage of people. Sixty-six percent of adult American are overweight and half of those are serious overweight. So, what is serious overweight exactly. I’ll spell it out. The British Healthcare System has a good handle on this. Much of the best research has been done by the British and Canadians. I may not agree with the whole formula but it has merit.

They developed a formula to find your Body Mass Index and from there they can calculate your percentage of body fat. It’s the ratio between body Mass Index and Body Fat. If the percentage of fat is between 20 and 24 you are in the normal range. If your percentage of fat is between 25 and 29 you are overweight and if your percentage is 30 or more you’re obese. You can still be relatively healthy between 25 and 29 but more than that and you have a serious health problem.

You should know your number and there are several medical websites that will calculate your number for you. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t agree with all of the system used to calculate BMI and you’ll see why if you go to a website and try to get your number. The best way I know and use is the BMI caliper. I got one on Amazon for less than $10. You can measure this yourself. If you belong to a gym, most gyms have a caliper and they will do it for you. If your dieting and exercising you don’t have to use a scale to measure your success. The caliper will tell you the truth. The only thing to worry about is losing inches. If you drop two pants sizes you’re on the right track. You only use the scale occasionally the make sure your not gaining.

And you can gain when you’re exercising a lot. You can increase your appetite. And then you start to reward yourself for having a good workout. Stopping for a smoothie or a Latte. There is protein shakes that can help your muscles recover from a hard workout, but be careful for the calories. Even a normal one hour workout will only burn about 300 calories unless you run a 10K or something just as strenuous.

So when I considered all the adults that need to lose weight and the number of adults that keep trying over and over, I decided to write an ebook about how I lost my excess body fat and was able to keep it off and how I’m doing today as a senior.

Reblogged from MedicineNet.com. I wrote about this same subject in a previous post and then I found this article that confirms my findings. Most people don”t realize that whatever you eat will affect your health either in a good way or bad way.

Unhealthy diets may have contributed to as many as 400,000 premature deaths from heart disease and strokes in 2015.

And, it’s not just the things you should be avoiding — such as salt and trans fats — that are contributing to these deaths. The excess deaths may also be caused by what’s missing in your diet — namely, nuts and seeds, vegetables and whole grains, the researchers said. I’ll also add that carrying the extra body fat is wearing out your body parts and also straining your organs.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, killing more people in 2015 than any other cause,” said lead researcher Dr. Ashkan Afshin of the University of Washington in Seattle. He’s an acting assistant professor of global health at the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The study results suggest that nearly half of heart disease and stroke (cardiovascular disease) deaths in the United States might be prevented with improved diets, he explained.

Debates on dietary policies in the United States tend to focus on cutting out unhealthy foods and nutrients, such as trans fats, salt, and sugar-sweetened beverages. But this study shows that a large number of heart-related deaths may be due to a lack of healthy foods, Afshin reported.

Looking at deaths in the United States from heart and blood vessel diseases for 2015, the investigators found unhealthy diet choices and lack of eating healthier foods had a part in the deaths of more than 222,000 men and over 193,000 women. The study could not, however, prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Low intake of nuts and seeds likely accounted for nearly 12 percent of deaths. Too few vegetables probably contributed to as many as 12 % of the heart disease and stroke deaths. And, low intake of whole grains may have been responsible for more than 10 percent of those deaths. Too much salt likely accounted for 9 percent of deaths, Afshin said.

Samantha Heller, a registered dietitian, said, “If someone’s diet is low in nuts, seeds, fruit, fiber, whole grains and vegetables, then they are likely replacing those foods with less healthy options, such as deli meats, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, sodas, boxes of mac-and-cheese, sugar-sweetened beverages and other highly processed, junk, fast and prepared foods.” Heller is a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

“A crummy diet means the body has to work at Mach-10 speed to battle the onslaught of biochemical, physiological and inflammatory consequences. No wonder so many of us complain about being exhausted all the time and suffer from very serious and oftentimes preventable cardiovascular diseases,” she said.

A more plant-based, whole food approach to eating reduces internal inflammation, which in turn helps protect and heal “junked up” arteries and an overworked heart. It also enhances the immune system, improves gastrointestinal and brain health, and boosts energy, Heller explained.

Heller recommends simple swaps, such as sliced avocado, tomato, and hummus on whole grain bread instead of a ham and cheese sandwich; a veggie burger topped with salsa instead of a cheeseburger; brown rice, vegetable-edamame paella instead of mac and cheese; a salad pizza instead of a pepperoni pizza. Grocery stores today have a big selection of healthy foods and even healthy, fresh meals in the deli section. There’s really no need to cook anymore. In fact, there’s little need to shop for groceries when you can buy fresh food ready to eat in the deli section. Buy some bottled water, red wine, some nuts or seeds for a snack and your set.

I buy the basics: oatmeal with fruit in the morning, salads every day, prepared fresh meals with seafood or chicken, no fried food and no red meat, fruit, plant-based Protein Powder in the two-pound containers and plain Greek yogurt to make protein shakes for between meals and nuts, seeds and red wine for snacks and that’s it.

“The good news is it is never too late or too early to ditch unhealthy foods, dig into a plate of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains, and watch how our bodies respond by getting healthier and happier,” Heller said.

MedicalNews

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If you want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my first book at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.