How to escape the shadow of obesity? Healthy weight loss methods.
How to overcome obesity?
Imagine waking up one morning to find your hair has turned purple overnight. What would your first reaction be? "Oh no, my hair suddenly turned purple! I need to find a way to dye it back to its original color." I imagine you'd have that thought, because what would make you even more anxious and confused is what caused your hair to turn purple overnight. However, when most people find themselves gaining weight, their instinctive reaction is: "Oh no! I've gained weight, I need to diet!" They often neglect to investigate the reasons for their weight gain, focusing only on how to get back to their pre-pregnancy figure.
I'm not against using dieting to control weight, but I emphasize that being overweight isn't the root problem; it's merely a symptom. What you should be more concerned with is finding the reasons why you're prone to weight gain. You might find all sorts of reasons-metabolism, biochemistry, physiological health, fat chemistry, etc.-but please remember one principle: don't just look at the external symptoms of obesity; you must find the true cause of obesity from the internal factors.
For example, a cold doesn't just have a simple runny nose symptom; it can cause fever, headache, cough, congestion, and other systemic symptoms. Taking antibiotics or cold medicine can only reduce the severity of a runny nose, but it cannot cure the cold symptoms. Similarly, obesity is merely an outward manifestation of a physiological system imbalance. You can change this manifestation through fasting or even surgery, but only by improving the body's metabolic function can you truly and completely stop weight gain.
The trend.
Those who only focus on weight loss without paying attention to internal physiological changes are like those mentioned earlier who, after their hair turned purple, only cared about dyeing it back to its original color without considering the underlying cause of the color change. A wise weight loss plan must take into account the internal factors that cause obesity in order to enhance the chemical reactions that alter body fat.
Popular weight loss tricks, such as sewing on a jawband, taking laxatives, and fasting, are all short-sighted and unconstructive practices, so I won't waste time discussing them. Additionally, unbalanced diets and low-calorie diets were once popular because they could produce immediate results, but I won't elaborate on them here either, as they similarly ignore the importance of metabolism. Other similar methods, such as high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets, low-calorie diets, and beverage diets, are also very common because they can effectively reduce weight in a short period. However, people often overlook the characteristic of these weight loss strategies: the weight lost by these strategies is actually just water weight. In other words, after replenishing water, the weight is likely to be regained. From this perspective, their effectiveness is actually extremely limited.
Of course, these weight loss methods aren't impossible to reduce fat, but a more accurate statement is that the weight loss is actually caused by muscle loss or the breakdown of fat and protein. These superficial weight loss tricks ignore the long-term effects of muscle loss. If you use these methods, you'll only end up with weight that's harder to control and you'll be more prone to gaining weight.
Healthy ways to lose weight:
• Aerobic exercise: Increases the body's ability to burn fat.
• Balanced diet: Eliminate the signs of obesity.
• Weight training: Increase muscle mass that burns fat and sculpt a well-proportioned and fit physique.
Aerobic exercise can only burn a small amount of fat and promote only a small amount of muscle growth, but it has an amazing effect on fat metabolism, especially on calorie consumption and the biochemical processes of fat cells.
Aerobic exercise is a crucial part of weight management because, over the long term, it effectively influences overall fat activity, including hunger regulation, fat cell storage, muscle fat burning, and brown adipose tissue function. It also has a positive effect on metabolism. Ignoring aerobic exercise in a long-term weight management plan will ultimately lead to failure. Simply controlling diet will only produce short-term weight loss results; however, slowing down the fat-burning metabolism will naturally reduce food intake.
A balanced diet is the second essential element for controlling weight, or rather, losing weight. While a balanced diet can only allow fat to be burned gradually, it can also prevent muscle loss caused by fat reduction.
Weight training, which we haven't previously advocated because it doesn't contribute to fat loss, has shown that the muscle gained through long-term weight training has the following biochemical effects on the body:
• Increase muscle mass to burn more calories.
• It improves posture and demeanor, leading to better mental health and self-confidence.
• Stimulates deep muscles, enhancing the effects of aerobic exercise.
• Aerobic exercise and a balanced diet can reduce body fat, while weight training can sculpt body curves.
In my previous works, I have already detailed the concepts of "aerobic exercise" and "balanced diet," and I recommend that readers familiarize themselves with the relevant basic theories first. In the following chapters, we will discuss more issues not covered previously. Furthermore, in the article "How to Gain Weight?", I will elaborate on the importance of weight training.
Advice for beginners
The best advice for beginners is "exercise more." We often see articles suggesting that exercising three times a week, for no more than an hour each time, will yield the best results. This might work for those who already have a fit and well-proportioned physique, but it's not suitable for beginners. Many aerobics instructors advocate this approach because it helps them design their classes. However, this method is clearly insufficient for professional athletes, and similarly, it's insufficient for beginners. Beginners should absolutely not exercise continuously for an hour, nor should they limit themselves to three times a week. A better approach is to exercise three or more times a day, for 15-20 minutes each time.
Because beginners' bodies are not yet accustomed to exercise, they should replace prolonged, continuous exercise with "short-duration, high-frequency" movements. This not only reduces fatigue but also stimulates the body to achieve the changes mentioned earlier. Only when your body gradually adapts will prolonged exercise be more effective. In the initial stages, I advise everyone to adopt a "short-duration, high-frequency" exercise approach. I still exercise in this way, even though I've been involved in exercise for most of my life. In the cold winter, when I'm writing indoors, I often turn the heating down and sometimes cycle or do stationary exercises to warm myself up. After a few hours, I often feel exceptionally refreshed. This lifestyle has three benefits: better physical health; a clearer mind that helps me write more efficiently; and savings on heating costs.
Daily exercise can be very beneficial for beginners. Experienced athletes may exercise less often per week, but this approach is not suitable for beginners because their bodies are not yet accustomed to exercise. Therefore, before exercise can achieve its intended effects, those who have never received physical training must rely on regular exercise to get used to the state of being in motion.
People often wonder: which is more effective, morning exercise or evening exercise? Some studies suggest that morning exercise is more sustainable than evening exercise. Others say that these factors don't matter; as long as we exercise regularly and consistently, our bodies will automatically adjust to the optimal exercise state, such as raising body temperature and increasing heart rate. I believe these arguments are too naive. The focus should be on how to make exercise a part of our lives.