Fitness is the Key To Reducing Expanding Waistlines

Each year it seems as though there are more an more people that could be described as obese, worse still morbid obesity is on the increase. Putting on weight may not be particularly detrimental if only a few pounds, large and long term obesity seriously impacts your health creating a whole host of diseases and conditions, not to mention social problems. People are becoming lazy, many would rather pay for someone else to make their food, the result is poor quality food that is rich in fats and sugars. Many so called ‘quick fixes’ exist that claim to massively reduce peoples weight. Diets are the chief culprit here, a vast array are on offer often with little or no real scientific knowledge behind them.

What follows are the small modifications to your every day actions that will make a positive difference to your health.

Changing your lifestyle shouldn’t be difficult

Amongst people who don’t exercise much, if at all, the perception of a fitness lifestyle consists of salads, tiresome and long workouts often in expensive healthclubs or out on the street in all weathers. Thoughts are of having to completely alter your lifestyle which can put people off the whole idea for good. When they start to get fat they then wish they had made the necessary moves a lot earlier.

Drastic changes need not happen to your lifestyle. Simply eating more healthily and exercising are the two major aspects to consider. You should try to allot time for them into your life. Healthy eating and exercise can actually be quite enjoyable and at the same time help you to look great and feel a lot better.

Create a healthy diet

Healthy eating doesn’t mean totally avoiding the meals you most enjoy. Eating sensibly partly involves consuming smaller quantities of your favorite food in addition to other healthy foodstuffs. There is truth in eating less more often, commonly termed ‘grazing’. Grazing acts to keep your metabolism going and so more calories burning. You should not go hungry by eating nothing, a bad idea perpetuated by people who haven’t thought it through. Eat a medium amount of food that only maybe leaves you feeling a tiny bit hungry after every meal. Avoid excess or too little food. Extreme low levels of food consumption lead to the body getting very efficient at utilizing every nutrient that it encounters. As is typical of people who quit/ finish diets, any increase in fatty or energy rich foods after a diet leads to their increased storage as fat!

Tips on eating less are:

• Aim to slow your eating pace, chew your food more often and really savor the flavors. Remember it takes an average of around 20 minutes for your body to realize it has eaten enough.


• Smell your food a lot more, this helps speed up the satiation process.


• If you can, mix in some high carbohydrate foods that take a while to digest so that you remain satiated for longer.

You will find you get used to your new diet over time and begin to really wonder what all the fuss was about.

Drink water frequently

Try to consume 8-10 glasses of water each and every day. Water is the medium in which all your bodies chemical processes occur, dehydration lowers the body’s efficiency causing damage. Drinking water actually helps you to reach satiation quicker during meals, as it takes up space in the stomach. Try to consume a glass of water before each meal. With more of a grazing style of eating you will be able to achieve you water drinking goals faster than you probably anticipated.

Exercise correctly

Exercise is vital to any fitness plan and does not need Herculean efforts, start small and build on what you’ve achieved e.g. go for a 20-30 minute walk after your evening meal initially. You can then proceed to jogging, then increase your speed. Before you realize it you may well be running for 30 minutes every other day, and so on.

Remember to stretch before and after your workouts to reduce the chances of injury.

If walking is not so easy to do try small modifications in your daily activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Remember something is better than nothing!

Try these steps for two weeks and see the improvement.