Ah, weight loss – that Holy Grail!
Your body weight is the simple calculation of calories in,
calories out. Here are 6 areas that you must include in
your weight loss plan.
1. Calories
Calories are in food. Watch your caloric intake. When it
comes to food, write it down. You’ll be amazed. It helps you
realize the reality of how much you’re really taking in. It
helps you to self-police. You see a cookie. “Do I or not?”
If you think of all those little nibbles, keep track of
them. It’s a lot! Be passionate about what you’re putting
into your body.
If you find some foods you like and know the calories that
are in them, you can use it regularly and you’ll find those
people lose weight. You’ll never get stuck hungry. You
should eat small meals throughout the day. If you skip a
meal, your metabolism goes down. It’s the last thing you
want to have happen.
2. Fiber
Fiber is essential to weight loss. Approximately we eat the
exact same weight of food. One of the best things you can do
is eat heavy foods – fruits, veggies – all high in fiber.
They are the key to your weight-loss program and they are
also high in antioxidants.
3. Protein
Think of your body as a sponge full of water. That’s how a
sponge operates and cleans well. Protein robs your body of
water. That’s why high-protein diets are terrible for your
body. You get terrible constipation, bad breath, ketosis,
and you’re more lethargic. Have a little bit of protein at
every meal.
Yogurt and calcium are good on vitamin C. If you consume 600
mg of calcium a day, you will effectively lose weight.
4. Water
Water is the engine of your body. Body fat is more
efficiently metabolized in the presence of water. Sodium
robs body of water. In a lot of non-fat and low-fat foods,
sodium is very high.
5. Exercise
Exercise burns additional calories. Cardiovascular gets your
heart rate up. Muscles need oxygen. What determines how many
calories are burned is intensity. Get on there and move!
High intensity reduces the chance of cardiovascular disease.
Strength and resistance stimulates muscle to grow. Muscle is
the most metabolically active tissue. After age 20, the
average person loses 1/2 pound of muscle per year. at
menopause, it doubles. Then you couple that with bone loss.
Get the muscle back with strength and resistance training.
Wearing exercise clothes does not constitute a workout.
6. Planning
This body is the only one you’ll ever get. At any time, any
age, you can make significant changes in your body. At age
70, people lose 3 pounds of muscle a year. It’s critical
that we consider how we can rebuild our muscle and get our
bodies back.
Source: Weight loss for women over 40
Have a question? Please email me at vidzword at gmail dot com
Stay healthy!
Vidya Sury
6 comments
But wouldn’t one need about 50-60 grams of protein a day normally and about 70-90 grams of protein if (s)he is an athlete? Generally you would need about 0.4 grams of protein for every pound of body mass you have.
So what exactly is a “high” protein diet?
An extremely interesting article. I did know that sodium causes water retention but I never realized that it would cause an isolation of the fat metabolism process by stealing water away from that!
Thanks for the info!
Personally I can assert that combining a regular exercise regime with properly spaced and timely protein intake does result in gains as against exercise followed by NO protein.
Now Sodium is a micronutrient (if I remember my biology correctly) and I am assuming that for proper functioning of kidneys (osmosis particularly), we’d need Na+ or K+ ions. So how do we get this into our diet without compromising fat metabolism? Or am I overestimating the importance of sodium?
Yes, Sodium is a micronutrient – and this is it’s role:
Sodium is necessary for proper water balance in the body, transition of fluids across cell walls, and proper blood pH.
Sodium works in conjunction with potassium for extracellular fluid balances. Sodium is easily absorbed in the small intestine and stomach and transported through the blood to the kidneys where it is filtered out of the body.
Sodium is important for proper digestion in the stomach, nerve function, and muscle contractions. Also helps keep the blood soluble, and aids in the cleansing process of carbon dioxide from the body. (Source:
That said – nutritionists advise going easy, or even doing away with sodium intake, as they claim it is an acquired taste – and our body can get all the sodium it needs through food. Also – there’s that silent killer – Diabetes – when diagnosed – that rules out excess sodium as it affects kidney function and causes high blood pressure. 🙂 And oh – people with impaired kidney function (CKD) MUST go on a low-Na and practically nil-K diet.
So I guess – it is again back to qualified advice.
By satan’s spinchter! So there is this awesome balance that is constantly maintained in the human body unless vital functions are somehow (god forbid) impaired!
And I thought the human body was generally an inane design concept — we’ve got a waste processing plant right next to a recreational area! 😛
🙂 You’re welcome. The jury is still out over whether body builders and athletes really “need” a high-protein diet. So I guess it all comes back to doctor’s advice, based on individual constitution. Ultimately, everything that has an “effect” also has a “side-effect”
😀 With plenty of spare capacity, to boot!