Are you a Hare or a Tortoise?

By: Terry Sandhu
[

][Post to BookMarks @ AfroArticles.com]

[ Posted On: 2007-12-13 ]

The tale of the hare and the tortoise tells us that by taking our time and approaching things one step at a time,we will eventually get to where we want to be.

Never was this truer than in the case of weight loss. When it comes to losing weight, everyone wants to get results as soon as they possibly can. Now nobody can be blamed for wanting this. It's in our nature as humans to create our desires as soon as possible.

However if you are looking to lose weight quickly, then the ultimate result will end in failure. Don't get me wrong, it is indeed possible to lose large amounts of weight in short periods of time. The results of quick weight loss will mean short term results and any weight that you may have lost, eventually returning. Often with a vengeance.

The human body is not like a car or a house where a lick of paint or a good clean up can alter the appearance after a couple of weeks. Your body is living,growing tissue,and any changes that you want to make to it will take time. Your body needs to adapt to any changes that you make,and that adaptation requires time.

From our beginnings as a race, it has taken hundreds of thousands of years to evolve into what we are today, it didn't happen overnight. When we want to change the way our bodies look, we are basically evolving into something else. This evolving is obviously on a much smaller scale; It won't takes as long to lose weight so don't worry. It will however take longer than a few weeks or a few months. This is a fact you need to accept, because once you understand and accept this concept, you won't give up or start to panic if you haven't lost a pound for a couple of days.

So many people fall into the trap that is set by certain companies that sell weight loss products. How often do you see products claiming to help you lose miraculous amounts of weight in a short time? Because we want to lose weight quickly we buy into this. What people don't realise is the effect that this type of weight loss will have on their bodies.

To lose 30 pounds in one month means that you will have to find a way of dropping or burning over 21000 calories a week. To lose a pound of weight you will need to get rid of 3500 calories through diet or exercise. Of course you will lose weight for a few weeks, and you will feel happy about the results. However after this short time your results will slow down or probably stop. This happens because you have taken such a huge drop in calories, your body will fight back by completely slowing down your ability to burn calories.

Just think about it; say your body is used to eating a certain amount and out of the blue you cut off his supply,your body will not be happy because you haven't given it the time to adapt. This leads your body to defend itself from the shock by stopping you burning calories efficiently. Hence the weight loss comes to a standstill.

On top of this problem there is another problem that is going stop you losing weight. This other problem is your mind. Your brain uses 30% of the glucose that you consume. The glucose your brain need comes from the food that you eat. So if you decrease your calories by a large amount, it means less glucose for your brain. This will result in you getting mood swings, feeling irritated and short tempered, feeling miserable and often depressed. These types of feelings will quickly make you give up any weight loss program and revert to your original behaviours.

Traditional dieting methods rarely work. If you find this difficult to believe then why is weight loss out of the reach of so many? Your body will not tolerate you forcing it into losing weight. This is done in small stages, which will not put too much stress on your body or mind.

Losing an average of 2-3 pounds weekly should be the aim. Your body can cope with this type of change without too much of a problem because you are not shocking it in any way. It can easily get used to losing a couple of pounds a week because compared to its whole; it is such a small amount. Many will say that losing this amount of weight sems to minimal, but how many of these people have succeeded to lose weight in the past with traditional dieting.

2 pounds a week over a 12 month period equates to a loss of 104 pounds. I know a year sounds like a long time but the truth is that doing it this way will be a workable situation. If you don't do it this way then you will continue to use fad diets which work for a short time and then stop working. The odds are that in a year you will find yourself in the same plac where you are today.

The simple truth is that by using some crash diet will result in your body crashing after a few weeks. Give your body the time it needs to adapt to any changes. Take your time and do it in small steps. It will be easier on your body and it will be easier on your mind. Most importantly the results will be much longer lasting. On the other hand you can stick with the crash diets and you will only get what you have always got.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Terry Sandhu -- Find out the truth about how you can lose weight without torturing yourself in the process by visiting www.easierwayz.com

| View Profile & All Articles By: Terry Sandhu |

		Post Comment
		Blog This Article!
		Discuss Article in Forum(s)
		Publication \| Reprint Terms

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Weight Loss Articles Via RSS!

| Category Feeds | All-in-one Feed | Other Feed & Syndication Options |

Additional Articles From - Home | Health | Dysfunctions | Weight Loss

Are You Really Overweight? - By : Rudy Silva.
Weight Loss: Why You Cannot Spot Reduce the Weight Off - By : Jim DeSantis
Common reasons why our weight loss efforts fail? - By : Jim Andrews
Health Products for Safe Weight Loss - By : Chris Robertson
Top 8 Ways for Cutting Calories - By : Stella Micheal
Cardio: Get the Most Bang for Your Buck! - By : Ben Greenfield
Eat Right for the Holidays - By : Ben Greenfield
Weight Loss Miracle - Self-Hypnosis Plus The Suddenly Slim Lifestyle Diet - By : Alan B. Densky
Do Artificial Sweeteners in Diet Soda Cause Obesity? - By : Mark Hyman
How to burn stomach fat – Fast and safe approach to belly fat loss - By : D Matheson

	Print This Article
	Post Comment
	Add To Favorites
	Email To Friends
	Ezine Ready \| Syndication
	Make PDF Article
	Post To del.icio.us
	Post To Furl
	Add To Google Bookmarks
	Submit To Netscape
	Add To Yahoo! My Web
	Add Main Feed To Outlook
	Post to BookMarks @ AfroArticles.com

	Post To BookMarkAfrica.com

Site Home

Article Categories

More Search Options

Site Map

Submit Articles

Top Authors

Most Recent Articles