How to reduce weight and keep it under control

How to keep your weight under control. 

There are very few rules of achieving success in reducing weight and keeping it under control. Scientific as well as logical reasons are given below why these rules work and why do people fail to achieve them. 

The rules are NOT easy, but the best thing is that they are very much ACHIEVABLE. 

It is the knowledge that counts more than the hard work, and the discipline that counts more than the equipment and other things. 

By stating these rules, I don't want to come out as Mr. Obvious, but there are a few logical explanations why many people do not succeed in their efforts. 

Rule # 1: 

Your body does not synthesize anything. It stores extra. 

That means, input - consumption = storage. 

The way this happens is, that when you do not work out, and do not burn out enough calories, the extra calories are stored in your body on a day by day basis. While you may not realize this every single day, but when you look at yourself on a time span of 3-5 years, you may have gained significant number of pounds. Now you must be wanting to reduce some of those pounds, but the pathway may look hard. 

Myth # 1: 

The biggest myth in the world is that carbs are good, and fats are bad. 

Actually, it is the other way round. 

When a person eats carbs, the carbs are metabolized very quickly in the body, and the blood sugar level goes up. 

Human body produces a harmone called Insulin. The problem is that when one eats carbs, the body metabolizes the carbs, but stores the fats. Since fats get stored, this leads to the myth that the fats are bad. 

Fact # 1. 

Fact number one is, that if one does not eat sugars, the insulin levels are always under control, and fats are never stored. 

Fact number two is that if one was to eat fats, but not carbs, the body can be trained to derive the energy from the fats. 

More about insulin's function in the body can be read on this website: 

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/body/insulin.html

Logical explanation # 1. 

Diet plays the biggest role in keeping weight under control. 

The way to design your diet is - eat until you feel full. Break the diet into multiple portions. 

No one is asking you to starve, but eat the right things. 

Things to not eat/drink: 

1. Soda. A can of soda has 45 grams of sugar. 

Think about 45 grams of sugar. It would take someone many kilograms of sugarcane to derive 45 grams of sugar. Try eating 2 kgs of sugarcane. The amount of fibers it has will make someone feel full as if he consumed a whole meal. What humans have done is to extract the sugars out of sugarcane leaving behind the fibers on which the body would have to spend energy to try to burn and added that sugar in the sodas. 

2. Bread, rice, potatoes.

All these food ingredients have huge amounts of carbs. The way bread is made is that first the grains are crushed to a powder, and then it is baked, and cooked. Bread makes it too easy for the body to digest it. 

Now if you were to eat raw grains, your body would have to work hard to absorb energy out of them. But by crushing them, and cooking them, your body has to do no work to absorb the energy.  

Things to eat: 

Milk, eggs, meats, vegetables, fiber containing food items, good quality oils, butter, nuts, fruits and juices. 

Conclusion # 1. 

Eat the right things. 

Don't eat food extracts. Don't eat too many carbs. 

Eat fats, proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals. 

If you eat low-carb diet, your body will not want to store fats. It would instead derive the energy from the fats, and the fats that you eat would be consumed. 

Failure # 1

Cheating rule number 1. Eating extra carbs. 
Taste is a very key element of happiness, but it comes with a price~ over eating. 

Rule # 2 

"Consistency" with little exercise goes long way. 

Myth # 2

I don't have time for exercise.  

Fact # 2

Actually you have all the time in the world. Truly speaking you need very little time. You need only 20 mins everyday to do the magic. 

Logical explanation # 2 

Lets look at some numbers: 

A person has 24 hours in a day. About 8 hrs go in sleep. About 8-12 Hours go in work. About 4-5 Hrs go in other activities. A typical day looks like ~ 2000 calories of diet. 

Lets look up how much exercise is actually excellent and how much is actually sufficient. 

If one runs 1 Hr, and weighs about 150 pounds, he would spend about ~ 600 calories. 

This is equivalent to 30 % calorie intake of a whole day. Whereas 1 Hr is equivalent to about ~ 5 % of your total time. A table for the same looks as in the following: 

     

Mins	Calories	% of time	% of calories
5	50	0.35	2.5
10	100	0.69	5
20	200	1.39	10
30	300	2.08	15
60	600	4.17	30
70	700	4.86	35
80	800	5.56	40
100	1000	6.94	50
120	1200	8.33	60

Two hours running everyday would make someone extremely fit at the level of half marathon to a marathon, but the chart shows that even 20 mins of running is equivalent to 10 % of extra calories. 

If a person works out 1 day in a week, for 20 mins, spends 1.4 % extra calories. 

But if he works out all 7 days, he spends 10 % calories. 

Conclusion # 2

By spending just 1.4 % time of your week, you can burn 10 % extra calories. While you may be right in saying that you may not want to spend 8 % of your time in exercise, but 2 % is very little time to spend in exercise. 

Days in a week	% days	Extra calorie chart
1	14.3	1.4
2	28.6	2.9
3	42.9	4.3
4	57.1	5.7
5	71.4	7.1
6	85.7	8.6
7	100.0	10.0

Failure # 2

Performing no exercise whatsoever. 

2 % of your time spent in exercise is good enough to do the magic. 

Rule # 3
Changing yourself is hard, but achievable. 

Myth # 3 

These are merely false promises that you make to yourself: 

I will start working out starting new year. 
I will start eating healthy food from 1st of next month. 
I need a gym membership. 
I need a health plan. 
I need a consultation from a fitness trainer. 
I need to buy costly protein shakes. 
Its raining, how can I run. 
Let me just have 1 soda. I will cut on french fries. 
I need a work out machine such as cycling machine, rowing machine, or treadmill. 
How can I stick to the plan, the work demands time, and then friends demand social hours. 
I joined a gym in Jan, and worked out for many weeks, now let me focus on work as I am aiming for a promotion at work. 
The biggest of all - Do I really need to spend an Hr running, when I can actually spend that time in work and get a promotion?! 

Fact # 3. 
You only need a two things. 
1. Knowledge of rule number 1, and rule number 2. 
2. Discipline to stick to both the rules. 

Logical explanation # 3 

If you were to stick to rule # 1 and 2 every single day, you would continue to keep the weight under control. 

If you were to begin cheating yourself, that is the worst thing to do. You have no answers to give to yourself. 

The easiest person to cheat is yourself, but the worse person to cheat is also "yourself". 

Because you can so easily choose not to ask yourself the question - "Should I work out today?", because if you are to answer it with no, then why even bother to ask it in the first place. 

Conclusion # 3
You are responsible for your weight; no one is going to do it for you. 
The rules aren't very hard, but you choose to not follow them. No one else makes you not follow them. You make yourself not follow them. 

Failure # 3
You choose to not "begin". 
You do not have to wait until new year to begin exercising. You can begin today. By New year you would have already achieved a target. 
You give false logical explanations and promises to yourself.
You forget rule number 1 and 2. 
You choose to make the rules, but not follow them yourself.