Diets

It is interesting that many people think that a diet is going to really make a difference. Sure, you can lose weight by going on a diet, but so what? The main concept behind a diet is that it is something which you go "on", which means that eventually you go "off" the diet. What do you think will happen when you go off the diet? Your body will find the balance it once had, which means gaining back the weight.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off then you have to change your eating habits. This does not mean that you can't eat anything that you want, but it means that you need to moderate what you eat and how often.

One prime example is the all you can eat buffet. How many people do you think try to get their money's worth? This means eating to the point of being painful. The fact is that you will never get your money's worth since you will pay the price in other ways, like not feeling good. Instead of trying to stuff yourself like a Thanksgiving Turkey, why not view the buffet as a means of having a little bit of many types of food? In the end, you will feel far better.

I have to laugh at some diets which are basically an attempt to make a person's food intake be out of balance. While you might lose weight, there can be many other side effects which are not good for you and could kill you. A friend of mine tended towards no fat food and got to the point where he really liked non-fat food. This was to the point of eating almost no fat. He did it not to lose weight, but because he thought it was healthy. Due to this he had serious problems and could have died because the body needs some fat in order to process food. His diet was completely out of balance. You need to balance what you eat in order to be healthy and weight is not the only issue.

Speaking of weight, weight is not really the issue that most people think that it is. It is important to realize that fat weighs less than muscle, so that a person who is in good shape may weigh more than a person of the same size who is out of shape. Instead of focusing on weight, it is important to consider size and body fat.

Another important aspect is exercise. It is very easy for people to get more exercise, yet often people are lazy. I have to laugh when I see people taking an elevator to go up one floor. It takes longer than just walking up the stairs and in many building the stairs are also closer. Try to get in the habit of taking the stairs instead of an elevator whenever possible. Not only do you save energy, you will get in better shape. Next, instead of trying to find the closest parking space, which can often take a longer time, instead try to find a parking space with more shade in the summer to keep your car cooler. Park away from others, which might help to keep your vehicle from getting as many door dings. So what if it is a slightly longer walk, it will do you good.

There are many other examples of this which you can put into your daily life. It all adds up and will make you feel better.

One aspect to exercise/working that I don't see discussed is proper hydration, or more specifically how do you know that you are properly hydrating. If you drink when you are thirsty, then you have waited too long and you are partially dehydraded. A slight amount of dehydration really negative affects your ability to do any work. If I recall correctly, a 3% dehydration will result in an 80% reduction of your ability.

To check to see if you are drinking enough water you want to see if your weight before and after is the same, but you need to deal with sweat soaked clothes. So, weight yourself before you start and after you end and see what the weight difference is. You can use a second set of dry clothes to ensure that you are not weighing your sweat soaked cloths. You should also try to dry your hair a bit. If you weigh less than when you started, then you need to drink more.