Weight control, diet and daily movement
With the variety of research on weight control and diet, I prefer to keep things simple. When I talk to my clients about losing weight, history and background are important, but what matters most in virtually every case is the present. Assuming no disease, but just an extra 30 pounds or maybe a little more or less that will not go away, what interests me the most is the daily routine. What is this person doing on a daily basis to impact weight gain or loss?
Is there a daily movement/exercise routine? What is the actual daily diet? There is a difference between routine daily movement and a focused exercise routine. To be truly successful both are necessary. A daily movement routine means getting up from your desk, once per hour, taking the stairs or going for a walk at lunch, etc. A focused exercise routine means putting on exercise clothes and shoes, going to the health club and pushing your heart rate to specific and safe levels and doing strength training. Together these are powerful calorie utilizing weight-loss tools.
Next, the daily diet. Unfortunately, we are inundated with confusing weight loss plans, trendy fad diets and smiling models who are selling these plans and making weight loss sound easy…Spoiler Alert - Weight loss takes time, lots of effort and most people who quickly lose weight from one of those plans gain it back. Further, if you look at those diets closely, they are invariably about calorie reduction.
Thus, if you want to make a change to a body that has had many years of overeating and little to no activity, keep it simple. Start by eating less of whatever it is that you are eating, totally eliminate alcohol, move more and start a very basic exercise program. Then at some point during this habit changing process, find a local nutritionist to help make sure that your actual diet is both healthy and balanced.