Two secrets to successful weight loss
- Posted on: Aug 2 2012
Some patients with obesity, especially those who see me for sleep apnea issues, are looking for ways to improve the management of their weight. Many patients have tried various different diets, but have not been able to either lower the weight satisfactorily, or to keep the weight down at that point.
I would like to highlight two very effective ways of reducing weight that most people do not think about much.
1. Eat more (often)! The secret to proper diet is not necessarily just rthe amount of food consumed, but also the timing of it. Starving yourself is actually not a good way of losing weight, since the body enters into calorie preservation mode, and actually accumulates more fat into your system. Rather, a much more effective way of losing weight is to actually feed yourself every three hours. First and foremost, do not skip breakfast as many people do. Each one of the meals should be a sensible size, but not exaggerated. Even more important than that, do not go long periods of time without taking a small amount of food into your system. Ideally, you should eat every three hours. If you expect a long period of time between meals, you should try to have a very healthy snack in between. A healthy snack might include a fruit, or a handful of nuts. Healthy snacks do not include any proceed foods such as potato chips, ice cream, or basically any other item that did not grow on a tree that way! By feeding your body constantly small amounts of calories, the body does not enter a preservation mode, and will not store the calories in fat deposits. Rather, it will only keep what it needs, and it will eliminate the rest from your system.
2. Get active! Our body constantly calculates the amount of calories that are taken in, versus the amount of calories that are consumed. A sure way of reducing weight is to increase your calorie use. Getting active and engaging in various different amounts of exercise is a very effective way of managing your weight. For most people it is recommended to engage in cardiac exercise approximately three times a week, and to maintain the level of exercise between 30-40 minutes. I personally see many people in the gym who are investing the time and effort to come and workout, but they seriously are not achieving a necessary increase in the heart rate. I often joke with my patients and tell them that unless they see a puddle of sweat on the ground after they are finished with exercising, they probably have not achieved a good level of exercise. Before taking up any new regimen of exercise, please check with your primary doctor to make sure that your cardiac history is otherwise safe for you to engage in heavy exercise.
Tagged with: diet, ear nose throat, ENT, exercise, Isaac Namdar, New York, new york city, Obesity, otolaryngologist, otorhinolaryngologist, portion control, sleep apnea, snoring
Posted in: Sleep Apnea
