Losing weight is hard to do and keeping it off can be even harder.
It may feel impossible to sustain without hardcore determination. When it comes to your body, there’s this thing called “set point weight’.
That means after you drop a few pounds, your body wants you to gain it right back. Back to what it considers “normal” for you.
Body weight is actually regulated by your brain. It’ll fight to regain lost weight by increasing your hunger and slowing down your metabolism.
And when you glance at tempting foods, reward centers in your brain are activated. And for those of you who’ve lost weight, research has shown this activity in the brain to be a lot more extreme.
One study in 2016 found yo-yo dieting prompted people to gain more weight back. This can be quite frustrating for those of you who want to drop a few pounds and end up heavier than you started.
If you’d like to lose weight, don’t go on any restricted or starvation diets. You can lose pounds in a healthy manner and lower you set point weight over time. Just follow my prescriptions:
Partha’s RX
1. Eat unrefined, real whole foods while limiting processed options. It’s easy to do – just look at the food in your hand and ask ‘will this nourish my body?”
2. Don’t count calories or weigh your food. Instead, listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry. 80 percent of the time choose foods that are healthy.
3. Get regular exercise by adding movement into your daily life. Take the stairs, not the elevator and go for long walks while mindfully observing life around you.
4. Manage stress with meditation or activities that relax you. Otherwise stress can induce emotional eating and wreak havoc on achieving or maintaining a healthy weight.
And don’t underestimate the importance of sleep. You need 7 to 9 hours of sleep, otherwise it can affect your ability to burn fat. When I talk of being a health hero, it’s about eating to maintain a healthy mind and body.
This is not about six-pack abs or a beach body. I want you to focus on a healthy lifestyle that you can sustain instead of a fluctuating number on your scale.
