Losing weight and keeping weight off can be a real challenge especially as we get older and our metabolism slows down, but in America we’re seeing a trend where people of all ages are overweight. What do we do? We take action. We listen to the experts tell us to eat; eat less fat, eat fewer carbohydrates, don’t eat before bed, some even suggest eating more chocolate will be the key to a slimmer waistline.
We get so much advice, and so much of it is contradictory, we don’t know what to believe. I will tell you that exercise is the key to being healthy, but it actually doesn’t really have that much to do with how your body stores fat, or at least not directly. After all, there’s plenty of overweight bodybuilders and they work out constantly; big arms, fat belly!
The truth is, a diet needs to be balanced and well suited calorie-wise to match your lifestyle and body size. If you’re overweight cutting overall calories and watching where the calories come from is important. If you starve yourself, you will binge, and that is the worst thing for your body. The reason they say chocolate is good is because people who allow themselves to satisfy their cravings are less apt to binge on sugary snacks later.
Fat isn’t any worse than sugar or carbohydrates. Your body needs a balance of fat, sugar, salt, carbs, and all that stuff. Figuring out what time of day you can get away with certain foods can be instrumental in losing weight. For instance, I can get away with eating a heavy lunch because I have the entire rest of the day to keep my metabolism going and burning all those calories. I typically eat dinner late at night so it has to be on the light side or I’ll lay awake all night with a full belly that isn’t going anywhere.
The next day I wake up, eat breakfast and my belly’s twice as full, because it’s still working on the food from last night. So for me, it’s light breakfast and light dinner. That way I have over twelve hours where my body doesn’t have to work so hard on digesting food. Combine this with a balanced diet and you shouldn’t have trouble at least maintaining the same weight.
This next infographic on carbohydrates from MassiveHealth.Com can do a lot to help us understand why eating too many carbohydrates can be just as bad as eating a high fat diet, and in some instances, worse. Remember, no matter what trendy diet comes along, balance and an appropriate amount of calories from the right sources is the best diet.
Check out what Massivehealth came up with:
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