How to lose weight naturally?

Many people are concerned with their body weight for reasons of health and personal appearance. The amount of time, effort and money spent on losing weight is tremendous. For some people, the goal is merely to look better, and the inevitable health problems associated with being overweight are often neglected. Any simple and fast method toward achieving a slim figure is in great demand. Weight loss pills and programs for rapid weight loss become popular choices on the market. Attempts to solve the problem by reducing food intake are well known. The basic principle of this theory is that if food intake is less than energy expenditure, stored calories will be consumed, mainly in the form of fat. However, the sheer complexity of mechanisms involved in the control of body mass allow little room for external weight manipulation, thus by damaging body reserves through diminished energy intake is not an ideal solution. Once the diet regimen is broken, body weight is quickly regained. There’re also methods directed towards controlling overweight using pharmacological and surgical treatments. However, potential complications are present with each of these procedures, in particular, pharmaceutical intervention may result in drug dependence and side effects. Thus safe and healthy weight loss options are desired.

It is generally known that the body fat is associated to caloric energy balance, which is the difference between caloric intake (calories consumed from food), and caloric expenditure (calories that are burned during base metabolism and physical activity). The core fundamentals of any weight loss program or obesity intervention involve reducing calorie intake (dieting) and increasing calorie utilization (exercise). In other words, the essential factors in losing weight and keeping ideal body weight are motivation, proper dieting and exercise habits, and most importantly, a strong desire for better health. Not all people that desire to lose weight have the self-discipline, motivation, desire, etc. to follow through with a particular dieting and exercise regimen. The theory behind weight loss may be simple, but statistics show that executing and maintaining a weight loss plan is a different story. There is no magic weight loss formula. Losing weight permanently or the success of a weight loss plan depends on your personality and lifestyle.

It is widely recognized that diet is important to the health and psychological well being. Choice of types of food and amounts of intakes is an important factor in maintaining or modifying body weight. In fact, a good diet plan makes it easier to lose weight because you’ll feel better, and you’ll have more energy to stay active. So a diet plan for losing weight should not try to radically change your eating behavior. The plan should adapt to your daily activities and eating behavior. It is understood that the body tends to store excessively absorbed fat for future use rather than eliminate it, and it is this factor which tends to lead to weight gain. A large portion of the calories that a person consumes is associated with the amount of fat that is consumed. A high fat intake diet associated with the inability to match that intake with the expenditure of the consumed fat derived calories is proved to be correlated with overweight. Further, high fat intakes have been shown to be associated with a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, strokes and a number of other health problems. In a diet plan an excessive fat intake is obviously strictly avoided. Selecting food and counting the consumption of food calories is a necessity of many weight control systems. Decreasing the absorption of carbohydrates by inhibiting the digestion of starch is a very effective strategy in weight loss.

Setting and observing daily target calorie consumption levels can be useful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, a serious problem of weight control is an acute one in modern society where a large proportion of society has been unable to balance their energy expenditure with their intake of calories. This is due in part to the unhealthy lifestyle adopted and in part to the ready availability of foodstuffs, especially ‘fast foods’ which are high in fats and sugars. It is known that exercise combined with a well balanced diet is important for maitaining ideal weight and keep good general health. In fact, this is the key to a sucessful plan for safe, natural and healthy weight loss. Many people’s lifestyles have become less physically active due at least in part to the increasing demands of modern society. A natural result of a sedentary lifestyle is the increasing tendency to gain weight. Health and fitness professionals agree that exercise is an important part of staying slim. Without adequate exercise, excess calories are converted and accumulated as body fat.