| Change your Mind to Change your Weight People who consult me, ask if methods of weight reduction such as liposuction, stapling of stomach surgery, heat belts on abdomen, and vibration machines placed on various parts of the body help in weight reduction. Besides this they also enquire about various methods of dieting such as no carbs diet, blood group diet and the concept of going to a weight reduction farm or centre for 10-15 days.
My reply to this is that all these methods may surely help us to reduce 5-10 kgs in one go and may make us feel like a new person in a short, quick period of time. It is so easy to achieve and we feel that we don’t mind paying any amount of money for this method as long as we loose weight. Besides the above methods are various powders and pills which people recommend which also seems quick and easy. Although we may lose a lot of weight, much of it will be muscle and not fat. Quickly lost weight will be back.
What we have to understand is that being overweight or obese is not a short term problem.
If we have ever been 10kgs more that our ideal weight, then we have a weight problem. If we have parents or grandparents, uncles or aunts (brothers and sisters of your parents) who have diabetes or thyroid problem then we have a 50-80 % chance of becoming overweight or obese. Once we have been over weight or obese then the fat cells have formed in our body and they will be with us till we die.
The good news is that anybody and everybody, young or old, boy or girl can lose weight and come to their ideal weight at any time or age in their life. However we have to work very hard to stay thin because the tendency to put on weight and the fat cells already formed cannot be permanently removed. So what is the permanent solution to our weight problem.
The permanent solution lies in our mind. We have to make up our mind to accept this problem and then we have to decide to take up the healthy way and the correct way to solve this problem.
The first step is to know that we have to walk daily for the rest of our life. 25-30 minutes time in our 24 hours day must be set aside for walking, not only during weight reduction time, but now and forever, as long as we live. Those with a tendency to gain weight easily have some problem with their metabolism. This condition will get corrected when we walk daily and regularly. However even after we have reduced weight to the ideal weight, if we do not walk for a period for 5-7 days continuously then the metabolism slows down again and we will rapidly gain back the lost weight. The second permanent change is to drink more water. Those of us who are over weight need to drink 2-3 litres water daily for the rest of our lives. When we drink plenty of water our bodies are fresh and hydrated and our muscle movements are quicker so we move faster and burn more calories. Thirdly we need to eat three carbohydrates plus protein balanced meals daily so that we are healthy, strong and active. We need to eat plenty of fiber daily in the form of fresh fruits, salads and whole cereals like oats, cornflakes, whole wheat bread and roties. Fiber helps to increase the metabolism.
Lastly the most important point in weight reduction is that anybody who wants to take out excess fat from their body must not eat any food items which contain excess fat.
- All deep Fried food
- All Nuts
- All Sweets & Desserts
- All Bakery products such as cookies, cakes, puffs, etc.
- Cream, butter, ghee.
The nice part is that this restriction is not for life but for a short period of time. It must be followed very strictly and not a bite, not a lick, not a single teaspoon of the above foods must enter our mouths for 3 months. Then we can lose 8-10 kgs of fat. After 3 month we may eat any of the above, one item once a week. So don’t run from treatment to treatment but discipline your mind and body and change your weight and life.
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