Triangle of Health: Nutrition & Weight Loss

from www.todayshealthcounselor.com

Nutrition and diet are the key to weight loss. In general, it can be helpful to count calories. Ladies need around 1200 calories and guys need around 1600 calories a day to lose weight. It's important to get enough calories; too few will actually sabotage your weight loss goals. Of course, this can vary somewhat depending on the size of the person. It's important that for the most part you eat healthy, but you can get away with a little junk food, as long as you do exchanges. For instance, if you wanted a piece of chocolate cake, then you might need to cut out bread that day. A dietician can be very helpful, though usually the only way to get their services is thru a doctor's referral. I think that for about 99% of the population, diet can be effective for weight loss. It is far less risky than surgery, and much healthier. Even with surgery, you have to diet, or you'll gain it all back, and if that happens, you'll be in worse shape than you were before the surgery.

There are all kinds of diets. A quality multi-vitamin can be helpful. When we are cutting back on food intake, it is easy to miss getting the nutrients you need. If you are not getting the nutrients you need, you're body will have a tendency to hold on to the fat, because it will think you are starving it. Some people find the fat burners to be helpful. They can give your body an edge for losing weight, but you still need to eat healthy. They can give you extra energy for working out, and can sometimes make up for the energy you lose from less food. A multi will also give you energy. If you have high blood pressure, I would stay away from the strong fat burners, they have enough caffeine to potentially raise your blood pressure. The mild fat burners may be ok; it depends on the individual’s reaction to caffeine. If for instance a cup of coffee does not raise your blood pressure, you would probably be ok.

For weight loss, you don't need as much protein as you do to build muscle, but it's still necessary. One of the things I've seen is that when people have the Lap-Band or Gastric surgery, the doctors will still recommend 60 grams of liquid protein a day. Without this protein, they will not lose weight, even though they've had the surgery!

A piece of meat the size of a deck of card is about 3 oz., and contains roughly 21 grams of protein. Meat includes (but is not limited to) lean beef, lean pork, chicken, turkey, and fish. An ounce of meat, in general, has about 7 grams of protein. In general, I would recommend 60 to 100 grams of protein a day for weight loss. Protein powders are a good source of protein. The quality and taste of protein powder has improved dramatically from 10 to 15 years ago.

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