Keep Your Weight Down

If you are not too overweight at this present moment and want to shift a few pounds to get you back to somewhere close to your ideal weight, then this lens is for you.

It also links to some great weight loss resources making it an invaluable tool in achieving your goal.

So have a browse through and see if there is something here that can help you in your quest to keep your weight down.

What exactly is the definition of overweight? Lets look at what we have to measure this term.

No two people are the same and measurements like the hated MI (Body Mass Index) are not very helpful as they don't take into account an individual's personal physical makeup, just relying on height vs weight.

Well because we are not all the same, we're likewise not all built the same. Where one man who is who is 5ft 10in and weighs say 160 pounds may be considered at close to his ideal weight according to his BMI might actually have a large beer gut and be very flabby and unhealthy - whereas another man of the same height and weight who exercises regularly and is nicely toned and has good muscle definition.

Each man is the same weight, so on paper they are the same. But they are not the same and are in fact poles apart!

This lens is here to take these individual peculiarities that differentiate people into account when talking about what is overweight and what is not.

So now we can get a better picture of what we see as overweight and what is not.

A person who is relatively fit and healthy can be several pounds heavier than an unfit, flabby and unhealthy person and yet look much lighter. Why is this?

Simple.

Muscle weighs more than fat. Once you know this simple difference, then you can see why a fit person looks leaner or thinner than an unfit person.

A fit person carries more muscle density and volume making them tip the scales at several pounds more than a person who is unfit that carries more fat. The fat contributes to greater body bulk or volume than muscle so makes a person of similar size to a fit person look a whole lot larger, or fatter.

So what is the simple answer to reversing this?

Exercise and exercise alone is what is needed to tone up a body. Dieting won't do it, no matter if you starve yourself for a week then revert back to your normal diet. It won't work because you don't have the muscle density necessary to burn off any excess fat. This is how it works:

When you increase muscle density by prolonged exercising you increase the number of muscle cells. The body needs to feed those muscle cells in order for them to keep working efficiently and gain further strength and density. The body takes nutrients from sugars in your bloodstream (in the form of glucose) and these are burned up when the muscles exercise.

When the body has depleted the available sugars in the bloodstream, usually after about 20 minutes of continuous exercise, more sugars are produced by the liver to replenish the supply in the blood. As this process continues, the body begins to take stored fat and converts this into the sugars that are needed by the muscles doing the work.

When this happens, your fat stores start to get used up and your body shape improves as the "fat" look is reduced.

The good thing is that once you get to an advanced state of fitness then even when your body is at rest, with greater muscle volume and density, your body is still burning more sugars to keep the muscle cells healthy.

Now to get to this state takes time and effort, there is no denying that. But the exercise you need to do to get to this stage does not have to be heavy, hard or seemingly unpleasant. Any exercise that significantly raises your heart rate and causes you to sweat is enough to make your muscles use up the available blood sugars and after 20 minutes of this then your body will begin to burn stored fats.

This exercise can be as simple as walking fast - not strolling but walking at a good, determined pace especially up and down hills. The muscles being used are mainly in your legs (which, incidentally contain some of the largest muscle groups in the body) as well as your back and torso and as long as you find yourself breathing harder and breaking into a sweat, then you are doing enough to set the process into motion.

After 20 minutes your body will start using up your store of fat and you will begin to lose body bulk. Now that doesn't mean you're going to lose weight right away. In fact you will either remain at the same weight or even gain a couple of pounds in the beginning as your body's bulk shifts from being predominantly (lighter) flab to (heavier) muscle.

This is a good thing and after more time has passed with you doing your exercise on a daily basis, say a week or so, then you will begin to lose weight.

Not an earth shattering amount, but a steady pound or two per week which is the best way to do it.

Now I know there are many diet freaks out there who will wholeheartedly shake their heads in disagreement with this, citing that food is what makes you fat. Well they're right about that up to a point.

If you eat too much and don't burn it off, you will gain weight and keep gaining weight until you reach obesity. Fact.

But when you exercise daily for more than 20 minutes, then every minute after that is fat burning time. It is a slow process, admittedly, but the healthiest way to do it. What you eat after than still makes a difference, of course it does! You can't go stuffing pizzas and burgers down your throat washed down with fizzy, sugary drinks and expect to lose weight. It ain't gonna happen that way!

But as long as you eat sensibly and exercise at the same time you must get fit and thereby lose weight. Fact.

Now does any of that sound like hard work?

If you're looking for some more weight loss information, here is a something you might find useful. There are plenty of other places to learn how to lose weight easily, so here are some of them. To begin with, we'll send you to a relevant topic and source of information at Wikipedia talking about weight loss. But this is only one of them.

There are many great sources of information online to be found so here is a few of them that I have scoped out.

First up, if you are looking for a healthier you, this excellent site is a really good place to start reading up on all kinds of useful stuff on getting yourself into a much healthier state.

If that's not enough, then there's another one here if you want to get slim and trim with these weight loss ideas you'll do well so make some time to visit there and see for yourself!

Of course, if you're counting on achieving some great healthy weight loss and are looking for some of the better ready made and easy to follow plans to help you through, then this blog will surely benefit you in many ways to help you to shift those extra pounds.

On the side of getting physical and active, there are always the fabulous weight loss camps to get to know in order to get rid of the flab. This is a way of approaching your health from a more intensive and focused direction, but one that works well if you have the gumption to see it through.

All of this contributes to your overall levels of fitness and its mostly down to a healthy living program and getting plenty of fitness and exercise.