I watched an excellent programme on BBC1 last night called 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight, in which medical journalist Michael Mosley investigated the latest scientific breakthroughs in slimming. He uncovered 10 of the simplest ways to shed unwanted pounds.
This show was well researched and had lots of studies to support claims that were made. Two points which I found most interesting were
- The Slimming Secrets of Soup A study carried out for the programme found that people who had a solid meal followed by a glass of water became hungry before others who had the same meal but it had been blended into a soup along with the water. This is because the blended meal stays in the stomach for longer and in turn the stomach tell the brain that you are still full. This is great to know because there is such a variety of soups on the market and soup is also relatively easy, cheap and quick to make at home. Click on this link for some tasty ideas http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_soup_recipes
- The Brains response after skipping meals Many people skip meals and believe that it will help them to consume less calories throughout the day. The BBC did an experiment for the show 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight and found that skipping meals actually does the opposite and causes us to eat more. When we skip meals our bodies release a hormone called ghrelin which sends a message to the brain that our stomachs are empty, and also promotes fat storage. Ghrelin tells our brains that we are starving and triggers us to want high calorie foods in order to compensate for the missed meal. Once we eat the high calorie food because we are so hungry, our bodies then hold onto all of the fat and store it. This links into my previous “Healthy Eating” post where I mentioned that you should not allow yourself to get hungry. It leads to bad food choices and has a negative effect in the long run.
The 10 things that you need to know about losing weight are:
- Don’t skip meals.
- Use a smaller plate
- Count calories
- Don’t blame your metabolism
- Protein staves off hunger pangs
- Soups keep you feeling fuller for longer.
- The wider the choice of foods the more you eat.
- Low fat dairy helps you excrete more fat.
- Exercise continues burning fat, even while you sleep.
- Keep moving and lose weight.
If you missed this programme you will be able to view it on BBC iPlayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ksh7c/10_Things_You_Need_to_Know_About_Losing_Weight/
It is well worth watching.
The program was excellent,very useful informations about healthy eating, please forward me through my email or through post a DVD which i can share with colleagues and family.My address 209 jamaica street,London E1 OPF,my email address jaan16@msn.com.
Hope to hear from you.
Hi Mohammed, thank you for your compliments regarding my work. I am happy that you appreciate all the information that I have shared, however I do not have dvd or email that I can send to you. It would be great if you could simply share the blogsite address with your colleagues and family so that they can look for themselves.
Many thanks
Chevonne
any chance of viewing this via iplayer again? Its not availlable now and I would like to see it, thanks
Hi Mags, unfortunately this has now been taken off of the BBC website and I do not have a link that I can send to you. Hopefully the show will repeat at some point and I can post the link again for my readers.
I think I understand why I am overweight now. The soup information was unexpected. I haven’t heard of that before. A question I do have is with the exercise. I know he did 90 minutes of walking. Does it take that long to deplete the carbohydrate reserves? Is it necessary to deplete the reserves and if so what are the guidelines?
Hi Carol, the government recommend that we get 30 minutes of exercise 5 days per week. This may sound excessive but you can get more exercise into your day by simply getting off thr bus or train one stop early, or walking to do errands instead of driving. I do not believe that it is necessary to do 90 mins of exercise in order to deplete carbohydrates, and when I visit the gym, if I am not doing a class, I would usually do 30 mins of cardio and then 30- 40 mins of weight lifting.
It is better to focus on the quality of your workout rather than quantity. One of the best ways to deplete carbohydrates and burn a lot of calories is through HIIT (high intensity interval training). You can perform this on any cardio machine, cross trainer, treadmill, exercise bike, rowing machine. On the cross trainer for example you would simply exercise at a moderate pace for 1 minute, and then as fast as you can for 20 seconds. Once the 20 seconds has finished you return to the moderate pace. You can repeat this for up to 20 or 30 minutes, whichever suits you.
I hope this helps, let me know how you get on.
I have been following a 10,000 step program, which involves walking 5 miles per day. Any walking counts. In conjuction with improving my diet with no red meat, modest amounts of lein protein, increased fruits and vegetables, less fatty foods like cheese, cookies and ice cream, and more whole grains like oat meal and granola, I have lost about 5 pounds. Feel better, I like the walking, and it was basically effortless.
That is excellent Bill, it sounds like you have made your mind up and you are following through with your decision. The differences you will notice in your body will amaze you if you are consistent. Changes do not take place over night but they will be worth it if you are consistent.
There are many people that ask the question how can I lose weight? Losing weight is a change in lifestyle. Once you select a program that you are interested in; sticking to it and being dedicated to longterm health changes is key.
Agreed, there are no healthy short term fixes to weightloss. Consistency, dedication and motivation are key.
Living a healthy lifestyle is the only sensible way to lose weight.
Great article keep them coming.
Thank you
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Thank you for the excellent feedback, I will certainly endeavour to keep the blogs coming!
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Thank you very much. I always aim to discuss things that I believe work and not just follow popular beliefs, I am glad that you appreciate this.
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Thank you I will look into this to what problem you could be facing, I have not have any other complaints but it worth checking out. Thanks
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