In the United States over 60% of people are overweight and 30% of those are described as being obese. The figures in the UK do not read much better, where 43% of men and 33% of women are overweight. In addition to this, however, in the UK an extra 23% of women are classed as obese as are 22% of men. Age does have an impact on weight gain, with 77% of men in the 64 - 75 age range overweight and 71% of women. Too much body fat is not just a cosmetic problem. In the UK alone, according to a report in the Daily Mail newspaper, 1 in 11 deaths can be directly attributed to carrying too much weight.
The figure of 300,000 adults dying from fat-related illnesses has been released in the United States. Studies undertaken by the Childhood Obesity Statistics notes that obesity figures in children is heading towards epidemic proportions.
The problem is almost too big to conceive and it is escalating, with the number of vastly overweight children hitting the news more and more frequently. It has been acknowledged that overweight runs in families, either through inherited poor nutrition or lack of sufficient exercise, but despite it always being thought that children would grow out of their 'puppy fat', these days, children rarely do and go on to become overweight, and often unhealthy, adults, passing their poor nutritional habits on to their children. Children are probably not helped by frequenting Fast Food Restaurants where extra large portions are freely on offer, along with sugary drinks, doughnuts and other sugary snacks.
What about weight loss plans, though? Why are these not helping? After all, there are plenty of them around. The problem with weight loss plans, they are based on calories in/calories out and, if somebody's body weight is so high that the calorie ratio cannot be met, the overweight person would have to survive on so few calories that it would be almost impossible for them to live especially when you think that a person who is vastly overweight would have to remain on that weight loss plan for many many months. In the end, it is hardly feasible.
A huge part of the problem is the pace of life in the 21st century, usually with both adults in a household working from early morning and returning home to children, housework, cooking and attempting to maintain some degree of family life amongst this daily maelstrom. In the end everybody ends up exhausted and too tired to do much more than flop in front of the television, despite the fact that they know it is not a good idea to be so indolent. Food is eaten quickly, food shopping is undertaken in a hurry and fattening processed foods full of saturated fats are the easiest to prepare quickly and are often the basic ingredients in many of the ready meals marketed for busy families.
It is hardly surprising that after failure follows failure overweight people either completely give up trying to lose weight, or they turn to alternatives such as hypnosis and acupuncture or to dietary supplements and finally, to bariatric surgery - a last resort which has seen many successes since it increased in popularity. Meanwhile, the weight loss supplement is huge, with websites devoted to Acai berries, Hoodie Gordonii, Ororo Detox, Lipobind, Proactol plus many more. These are the tip of the iceberg and basically, if you are overweight and have not succeeded in losing weight yet, studies have found that you will be ready to try absolutely anything to help you find the Holy Grail of just becoming a normal size.
Your Motivation to Lose Weight
The weight loss market, as a niche market, is huge and growing ever bigger. You would assume that, with the amount of advice freely abounding, people would be able to follow instructions and lose their excess weight. In the majority of cases, however, this simply does not happen. But, why?
When Enough Is Enough And Too Much Is More Than Enough
Your weight loss plan is doing well but 'you must take more water with it' you frequently hear. Well, yes. You should drink adequate amounts of fluid because your body is made up of 98% water. Every cell in your body is bathed in fluid. By the time you start to feel thirsty your body is already starting to dehydrate - which is why it sent out that 'thirsty' signal to your brain.
Success At Dieting Is Treating Yourself With Kindness
You need to be realistic and learn to listen to your body. An exercise plan does not have to be so rigorous it would challenge an Olympic athlete; simply building up a bit more muscle would help to speed up your metabolism as muscle is more efficient at burning fat than body fat is. If you don't want to go to the gym, heft a couple of baked bean cans around - there are plenty of exercises online that show you a few calisthenics with weights. Take the dogs for a walk and get some fresh air - at best, it will get you away from the kitchen and the refrigerator door.
