The only way to remain overweight is to consume more calories than you burn.
Overweight people often mistakenly believe that their weight is due to
large bones. This is an easily-disproved myth. The
entire skeletal system of an adult female weighs an average of 2.8KG (6.2 pounds) and 4.0kg (8.8 pounds)
for men. Even if a woman's bones were twice the size of the average woman (an extremely rare
occurrence), this would only account for an extra 6 pounds.
Then why do we remain overweight? There are only 2 primary reasons for staying overweight:
- Eating when no physical hunger is present. Learn to listen to your body. Only eat when you
are truly hungry. Ingesting calories when the body is not really hungry adds excess weight to
your body. Learn to use hunger, not your eyes or nose, as your signal to eat. Whenever your body
feels hungry, it is burning stored fat. Learn to enjoy that feeling of fat melting away. Allow
yourself to feel hungry for at least 30 to 60 minutes before you eat. The more often you allow yourself
that hungry feeling, the more stored fat you will burn.
- Eating past the point of satisfaction. Once again, learn to listen to your body, and know
when you have had enough to eat so that you will stop when satisfied. Eating past the point of
fullness increases that spare tire around your waist.
How to feel less hungry: A very successful way to curb hunger is to replace meats and
fat with beans (legumes) such as pinto beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans (chic peas), black beans,
and other beans. Great recipes with beans can be found at:
RecipeTradingPost.net. Type
bean into the text box then click the "Submit" button.
How to eat more food without gaining weight: Some people are simply "volume
eaters" who enjoy eating frequently or eating large portions. Avoiding "calorie-dense"
foods allows us to enjoy eating frequently or eating larger portions without gaining weight.
Calorie-dense foods to avoid are: meats, butter, processed oils (cooking, vegetable, olive, etc.),
and other fats such as margerine or other processed or refined fat or oil. Fried foods are very
calorie dense because they contain lots of oil which remains in the foods after frying, even
when it is not very visible. Frying causes oil to penetrate food, adding huge amounts of
calories. Foods that are NOT calorie dense are: vegetables, fruits, grains (oatmeal, whole wheat,
brown rice, corn, barley, and other unprocessed, unrefined grains), and legumes (beans such as
pinto, garbanzo (chick pea), kidney, black, navy, or other legumes), and seeds (sunflower, sesame,
etc). Other foods that contain higher amounts of healthy fat, which should be eaten in limited portions
are nuts (peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, cashews, etc.).
Avoid processed foods such as store-bought puddings, pastries, and other foods containing high
fructose corn syrup, which causes your pancreas to flood your body with insulin, causing a
disruption to your blood sugar levels, leading to false hunger and further overeating.
Frequent disruption of blood sugar levels can eventually lead to diabetes.
Daily Calorie Requirement Calculator determines your daily calorie requirement.
Staying under this calculated number will cause you to lose weight. 3,500 calories = one pound.
BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator determines your BMI and advises you as to whether
or not you are within a healthy range.
