Things That You Ought to Know Before Losing Weight

Thanks to an increased awareness about the problems related to obesity, people are more or less aware of specific measurements like blood pressure readings and cholesterol levels. But there are several other factors that you need to know before you embark on a weight loss regime. Here are some of them:

BMI, Waist Measurement, and actual Weight:

BMI refers to the Body Mass Index and is based on your height and weight. Health and fitness professionals often find BMI to be a better indicator of health. A BMI range of 25-30 is considered overweight, and a BMI or more than 30 is obese. People on the higher scale are more prone to risk factors such as diabetes and heart attack. Measuring your BMI isn’t difficult; there are several websites that help you with this. Waist measurement refers to the level of fat that is accumulated in the stomach area. A waist circumference of 40 inches and above in men, and a measurement of 35 inches and above in women is considered too high.

Know and Decide on your Calorie Intake:

The idea behind losing weight is simple; you ought to spend more calories than you intake. Even before you decide to lose weight, decide on the total calories that will cause you to lose weight. Remember that calories count a lot when trying to reduce weight. Hence make sure that you know the calorie count of the things that you eat. There are several websites that can help you with these.

Weight Loss or fat Loss?

Yes, these are two different terms. By weight loss, I mean loss of water, loss of muscle weight and also bone weight. But a true weight loss regime, involves losing body fat. A common grouse experienced by weight losers is that they find it difficult to lose weight even after cutting their calorie intake. This is usually because they cut down their calorie intake drastically, causing the body to become alert and slow down metabolism. Also, there are others that complain of gaining weight as soon as they lost it. This is because the initial weight loss is just loss of water. This weight can be easily gained. To truly lose body fat, you ought to increase metabolism. This can be done by eating at regular intervals. Fitness experts now suggest eating six small meals instead of the traditional three huge meals.