Wanna Get In Shape?

One bane of human experience is that we don't get to know everything that everyone else knows. At best we can read or hear about what someone has to say on a particular topic, but even that has limited potential to convey the sum of the person's knowledge. Imagine if you could have all the knowledge of all of the weight loss experts out there, right now, instantly. Well I certainly can't provide that to you, but wouldn't access to such information and experience be priceless?

What I can do is share some thoughts and ideas about weight loss with you. There are three basic concepts that I think are important for anyone attempting to lose weight to know about and take into consideration.

Adequate protein intake is the first. I think a lot of people trying to lose weight end up on a highly restricted diet especially during the initial phases of fad dieting. Those initial phases may produce limited short term results but at the expense of the smarter weight loss principles.

Not getting enough protein is asking for the loss of muscle tissue. Lean muscle mass is not what you are trying to lose. What good is it to lose weight if you have also lost the tone of your muscles, affecting the appearance of your body? Resting muscle tissue burns more calories than any other kind of tissue in your body. So you want to keep as much of your muscle tissue as possible.

The body needs protein about once every eight hours or so. The body, if it finds itself short on amino acids will begin to steal those amino acids primarily from your muscle tissue. This will result in the loss of muscle mass. Consider that to be bad.

The second important concept is getting enough essential fats. I've added this because people dieting are likely to think they need to avoid fat. In general that might seem like good advice, but not when it comes to essential fats. Your body needs them for multiple reasons and you don't want to go without them.

There are so many reasons why essential fats are important to your body. The term essential when used in conjunction with nutritional terms basically means that it is a substance that your body needs but cannot make on its own. Since the body cannot make essential fats on its own, you must get them from your diet. Do not skimp on essential fats while dieting or at any other time. They are necessary for the health of your body.

The third item is understanding when your body actually taps into its fat reserves. Because if you understand this point, it may help you lose weight more effectively. The liver keeps a store of short term energy. Only when that store is near depletion will the body start looking at the fat reserves, the ones you want to get at.

Therefore, you can see that it is very counter productive to eat a large carbohydrate supply before working out. During exercise, the short term storage supply needs to be used up before your body will start to burn fat.

Let's recap three important points to aid in achieving your weight loss goals in a healthier way. Insure an adequate protein supply. Insure an adequate intake of essential fats. Finally, become sensitive to the short term storage energy supply in the liver and plan exercise accordingly.

This article is for information purposes only and is not intended to serve as weight loss or any other kind of advice. Contact your primary care physician for such advice and before starting any diet or taking up any form of exercise. You should also contact your doctor if you have or think you have a health problem of any kind. Your doctor can provide proper diagnosis and treatment.

David Snape writes for To Be Informed. You can
read more about weight loss there. To Be Informed is a site supportive of
health, fitness and wellness.

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# posted by Anna A. @ 9:33 AM