Losing weight is the desire of several people, but there are several factors that must be taken into account before starting this process, and for this reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed what they are the steps to get started.
1. Commit: Many people find it easy to put their commitment into a written contract. This contract may include things like the amount of weight you want to lose, the date you want to lose it, dietary changes to be made to adopt healthy eating habits, and a plan for regular physical activity.
2. Locate reality: a health expert should be consulted to evaluate weight, height, and weight-related risk factors. After analyzing the reality, the obstacles must be identified, such as the hours available to exercise, the food tastes that must be modified, among others, and the ways to overcome these challenges.
3. Set goals: Setting short-term goals and rewarding yourself for achieving them is a way to get results. The most effective goals are: concrete; realistic; understanding (we are not perfect). For example “exercise more” is not a concrete goal, but if you say “I will walk 15 minutes, three days a week in the first week”, you are setting a concrete and realistic goal for the first week.
4. Identify information and support resources: Seeking support from family and friends will make it easier to make lifestyle changes. It may also help to join a weight-loss support group or see a health professional, such as a registered dietitian.
5. Keep track: reviewing goals regularly and adding new goals is the best way to get results.
For its part, it is important to point out that the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit organization dedicated to clinical practice, education and research, revealed that the basis for achieving weight loss continues to be a healthy, low-calorie diet (which is when people consume fewer calories than they expend on a day-to-day basis), combined with an increase in physical activity.
Cardio exercises, also known as aerobic exercises, are the most implemented when looking to burn calories and reduce body weight. However, those involving weights help the body burn fat while building muscle mass, which also works to speed up metabolism.
However, People wonder what is the best time to exercise, for this reason, experts say that it is a matter of preference, taste and schedule. The important thing is to meet the daily goals and new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, which recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity per week for all adults, including people living with chronic conditions or disability, and an average of 60 minutes a day for children and adolescents.
Regarding food, some tips to start losing weight:
- Eat at least four servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit daily.
- Replace refined grains with whole grains.
- Eat moderate amounts of healthy fats, such as olive oil, vegetable oils, avocados, nuts, nut butters, and nut oils.
- Reduce sugar intake as much as possible, except the natural sugar in fruit.
- Choose low-fat dairy products, lean meat, and lean poultry in limited amounts.