A guide to living a healthy lifestyle

By Katie Matteson
Western Herald

The weather is warming up and the sun is coming out – summer is on its way.  But with thoughts of summer comes panic.

It’s time to scramble to get that “perfect” beach body you’ve been dreaming about.

Please, be careful.

The only good way to lose weight and maintain it is to change your lifestyle by eating healthy and working out regularly.

Weight loss does not come easy for most people, which can be frustrating.  After weeks of exhaustion spent in the gym or starving yourself on things like “the lemonade diet” or “the cabbage soup diet,” not seeing results can be heartbreaking.

These are not good ways to go about weight loss.  Focusing only on dieting or only on working out won’t get the results you hoped for.  On top of this, they won’t help you keep that weight off.

Think about it: if you lost weight because you were on a very strict diet, then once you get off that diet, won’t things go back to the way they were?  Unless you want your summer completely void of the occasional hamburgers on the grill, ice cream, chips and sodas, then you can’t depend on those diets alone.

Maybe you shrunk your stomach for now, but in time you may not only gain the weight back that you lost, but add on more.

According to Thedietchannel.com, if you have been on and off diets for years, you are actually tricking your body into thinking you’re just going through a famine.  After a while, it will become more efficient at absorbing calories.

However, let’s say that you do stick with the diet.  According to Mirasol.net, an eating disorder treatment center, 35 percent of “normal dieters” will progress to pathological dieting and about 25 percent of those will go on to have full-syndrome eating disorders.

On the flip side, only working out won’t get you very far either.  In Time magazine’s article “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” from 2009, author John Cloud said it’s true that exercise burns up calories, but that calorie burn causes hunger.

From my own experience, after I go for a 12 mile run, sometimes I like to treat myself to Thai food, followed by a Mocha and once I get home, I would probably eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s AmeriCone Dream.

According to WebMD.com, weight loss is quicker and easier than maintaining weight.

The best way to look and feel great is to start changing your lifestyle to one that is healthier.

You don’t have to go to the gym every day, but you can incorporate exercise into your everyday plans and routines.  Go for a bike ride with friends or walk a little extra distance.

Don’t make your summer miserable by constantly counting calories or exhausting yourself in the gym.  Enjoy yourself and enjoy being healthy.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=15426

Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 10 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

http://HeraldStaff