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Maintaining the right weight has always been a struggle for me. What is the healthiest way to lose weight and keep it off?
You are not alone in your struggle to maintain a healthy weight. Between the ages of 20 to 40, Americans gain about two pounds a year. The result is that America is getting fatter. As this epidemic of weight gain spreads, researchers have learned that fat is more than an extra layer of padding or insulation. What’s more, not all fat is equal. Depending on where it is deposited, fat may be easier or harder to get rid of and more or less riskier for diabetes and heart disease. People who gain weight around their middle (so-called “apples”) have a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than people who gain weight in the hips and thighs (“pears”). Men are more likely to be apples. Younger women are usually pears, but move closer to apples as their weight shifts after menopause.
When we eat more calories than we burn, the body converts most of the excess into fat. Where does it go? It goes into the fat cells (also called adipose cells) in the body. When the fat cells swell to their limit the body simply makes more fat cells. The bad news is that while loading up a fat cell with more fat is quite reversible, once you make more fat cells, they’re going to be around for a long time. In many people, even new fat cells aren’t enough to store the excess fat. So it starts going to places that it’s not supposed to, like the liver, muscle, and heart. Dumping fat into fat cells is much less harmful than stashing it in muscles, the heart, and other organs.
There has been a great deal of research done on fat cells. In 1994, a research team at Rockefeller University discovered leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells that controls fat stores and influences appetite. The discovery that fat cells produced hormone-like substances opened a wave of new research. We now know that fat cells also secrete a number of proteins. Fat cells produce a good protein called adiponectin. This protein helps insulin remove sugar from the bloodstream into your body’s cells, where it’s stored or burned for fuel. Unfortunately as fat cells swell, the less adiponectin they secrete. This explains why many overweight people have “insulin resistance” which leads to high blood sugar levels and raises the risk of heart disease. We also know that fat cells release inflammatory proteins (like interlukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor- alpha) that cause low level inflammation throughout the body. These inflammatory proteins can rupture the plaques that clog arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke. Researchers are also aware of the increased rates of cancer in overweight individuals and are looking for cancer causing substances released or stored in fat cells.
What can you do? The best solution is not to gain weight in the first place. We live in an environment where calorie-dense food is thrust under our noses 24/7. We need to become restrained eaters. If you need to lose weight, the formula has not changed. You lose weight when you burn more calories than your body takes in. The best way to do this is simply eat less and become more active. The individual who can maintain a healthy body weight will live a longer healthier life.
Researchers still don’t know which diets are best for keeping weight off long term. Until more results are in, these are the basic key points. Clearly how much you eat makes a difference. Cut back on calories from bad fats and bad carbs (includes French fries, burgers, pizza, nachos, sweets, etc.). Build your diet around vegetables, seafood, poultry, low-fat diary foods, beans, and whole grains. With most restaurant meals in the 1,000 calorie range, think about ordering one entrée for every two people (or taking half home).
Daily exercise is a key to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. This is not as intimidating as it sounds. Thirty minutes on a treadmill at a brisk pace is adequate. Inactivity is simply not an option. When you lose weight you lose both the fat stored in fat cells and the fat deposited outside the fat cells. Researchers have concluded that the lack of physical activity is the main reason for weight loss failure.
Looking for motivation to eat a healthy diet and stay physically active? A recent study conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine put 37 overweight or obese women on a lower-calorie diet for six months. The women also walked at moderate intensity for 45 minutes three times a week. They lost 10% of their body weight in six months. The women walked off 17% of their visceral fat (the fat stored in muscle and organs). What’s more their levels of pro-inflammatory proteins secreted by the fat cells fell dramatically. The researchers described the lower-calorie diet as simply making good food choice and keeping portions appropriate.
Therefore, there is no magic to this process. Just determination, commitment and good choices.
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