How Working Overtime Can make You Add Weight

Most people today have a schedule that requires them to work for long hours more than the normal work hours per day or week, leaving them exhausted at the end of every day. If you fall within this category of people, try to weigh yourself to find out if you are gaining weight or not. If you weigh more than you expect it is obvious that your busy schedule is contributing to your excess weight.

According to a research conducted by Finnish researchers at The University of Helsinik, people who must find a way to balance job demands with the hectic family requirements are likely to gain weight.

The study identified consistently working beyond the standard working hours per week and consistently experiencing feelings of work fatigue as the two basic risk factors that lead to weight gain. This burnout feeling leads to skipping exercise due to lack of time and energy. It also leads to eating more of fast food because of lack of time to prepare good meals at home.

Whenever you find yourself gaining weight as a result of too much work, follow the tips below to get rid of the excess weight.

Go To Bed Early.

Avoid sitting for long hours in front of your TV set whenever you get home from work for a period of one week or more. You can even completely avoid watching TV during this period. Instead you can read a book when you get home and tired as this will help you relax and go to bed early.

Time Management

Planning ahead can help you reduce work load both in the work place and at home. Schedule your tasks in the order of preference as this will help you save time and energy.

Eat Healthy

You have to adjust your meal routine to fit into your schedule if you want to maintain a nourishing diet. Avoid skipping meals and eating late. Foods are not easily digested when eaten near bed time. This can easily turn to fat. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

Critically Examine Your Job

Considering the economic situation of the country now, it will be a disaster for one to live without a job or a consistent source of income. However it is of no real benefit if you work hard to earn a living only to be spending a better part of your hard earned income taking care of health conditions. Consider getting another job if you continually get exhausted at the end of every day due to too much work because it is not normal to feel that way every day.

5 Great Tips On Losing Weight

                                                                    

                                                                      
Almost everyone you talk to seems to have dozens of tips on losing weight. Some are good common sense tips, but some seem to come out of left field.  Even people who can’t seem to successfully lose weight and keep it off, are happy to offer up tips and advice to other people.  That’s a pretty good indication that many of us know the best advice and tips on losing weight, but we don’t follow them very well. Here are some tips which, if you use them in your daily journey toward losing weight, can be of great help to you.

Use smaller plates. This is one of those tips on losing weight that often makes people roll their eyes.  It has nothing to do with eating or exercise, but it really does trick your mind into thinking you’re eating more food.  A smaller plate will look fuller than a large plate if they have the same amount of food on them. You might even naturally put less food on the smaller plate, to keep it from looking so loaded down.  It is a mental trick, you should give it a try because it works for many people.

Eat slowly. This is one of the oldest and most popular tips on losing weight. Have you ever watched a speed-eating contest?  Imagine someone eating the same amount of food as the winner, but imagine them eating it slowly.  The champion may have scar fed down 20 pies in very little time.  Could you actually sit down with a fork and slowly eat 20 pies?  It’s not likely.

The speed eater ate so fast, his body didn’t even have time to scream, “STOP, I’M FULL!” And if it had, he was only focused on putting more and more food in, just as we are when we’re “starving” and we gulp down our food.  Eat slowly and you’ll reach a pleasant feeling of fullness rather than the one that means you have eaten too much too fast.

Watch your portion sizes. If fried chicken is your favorite, you might start out with 2 or 3 pieces on your plate. Try grabbing one small piece instead, and filling up on salad or green veggies to replace those missing pieces of chicken. Try to keep a portion of food about the size of your fist. Those mashed potatoes that you don’t want to give up?  Still eat them, but stop after one small portion, instead of piling a mountain on your plate.

Don’t clear your plate. Of all the tips on losing weight, this one is often the hardest. As children we were taught stop “wasting food” because other people were starving. 

You’re not starving, and you can’t send that food to those who are, so do yourself a favor and don’t eat it. To avoid the guilt of wasting food, use another one of the good tips on losing weight and simply start out with less food on your plate next time. Help yourself more by helping yourself less when it comes to eating food.

Menopause And Weight Gain

Speaking with most women over 50yrs you will find out that most of them experience weight gain at menopause. It is very common to put on weight at this time while some of the weight gain may be due to lifestyle changes.

The truth is that hormonal changes play a part in this, although the process is not completely understood. At menopause a woman stops ovulating, her monthly menstruation periods end, and her body produces much lower levels of the female hormone estrogen which is responsible for ovulation. Low estrogen has been shown to cause weight gain in animals and it almost certainly is the reason why our bodies change shape. While women of childbearing age store fat in the lower body, after the menopause they store it on the abdomen instead, like men. This leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

Men and women tend to find muscle turning to fat as they grow older, and the metabolism slows down. This means that you have to adjust your eating habits to avoid gaining excess weight. A person of 60 just does not need as many calories as a person of 40 and below.

If you are gaining weight at menopause, the following tips may be of help in taking care of the excess weight.

- Eat a healthy, low fat diet with plenty of fiber, avoiding sugar. Simply put eat healthy.

- Get regular exercise. As people get older their physical activity levels naturally drop. Work often becomes less physically demanding, there are no kids to run around after, and we take less active holidays and do things more slowly. 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day will help balance the effect of this.

- Maintain muscle strength and mass. Use weights for arm muscles and walking or cycling for legs.

- Accept the changes to the shape of your body. If you are not overweight, but simply have a thicker waist and slimmer legs, see it as a necessary change that has to do with nature and your age.

It is advised that you consult your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or your fitness levels are low. Your doctor can also help with symptoms of the menopause and weight gain.

REASONS YOU REGAIN WEIGHT

                 

In recent time, many people are getting involved in one form of weight loss program or another. There are many reason they engage in this programs which include good outlook, taking care of extra fat, to maintain weight loss, for good health and many more.

Apart from exercise, weight loss diets are added to get a better and faster result. Most people do actually get the needed result only for them to regain the weight in no time. This has made many to doubt the effectiveness of the weight loss program.

However there are many factors responsible for the weight regain. The following reasons might just be the cause.

THE PROGRAM  In  an effort to lose weight fast we follow diet programs that are not sustainable for long term. This may include taking low calorie diets and diets that restrict so many food groups. This is coupled with an unrealistic exercise program which may require getting a little exercise or an extremely intense exercise. You may lose weight fast but your body will start craving for those food you are restricted to eat which you may eventually give in and in the case of extreme exercise it may start having adverse effect on you like dizziness, fatigue, constipation and you may become burned out.

YOUR LIFE STYLE : Living an inactive life style is another culprit of weight regain. Sitting at a place for a long period can actually shut down your metabolism. Most people sit all day without getting active in any way, even when they get home they sit with the TV set and eventually go to bed without any form of exercise. For some people once they lose weight, they go back to their old way of life.

LACK OF REGULAR EXERCISE:  Lack of regular exercise is another known cause of weight regain. Exercise is very vital for successful weight loss and also to prevent weight regain. Studies have shown that regular exercise and active life style are very vital for weight loss to be sustained. However everyone needs a different amount of exercise depending on a variety of factors which include body composition, weight, age, gender, fitness level, stamina etc.

TIME : How long you continue to maintain your weight loss is another crucial factor for you to keep off or regain weight. Studies have shown that people who maintain their weight loss for a longer period tend to keep it. This will also help you to master how to exercise right, to know how much exercise you need and the amount of calories you burn and take in.

WHAT TO DO TO KEEP THE WEIGHT LOSS

-         Exercise regularly

-         Be active

-         Stick to your weight loss program

-         Always think of what you stand to gain, this will give you a lot of motivation

-         Do away with life styles that are set backs to your weight loss

-         Make it gradual and steady

-         Slowly build your strength and stamina before going to extreme exercise

Always look beyond weight loss and be prepared to maintain the weight loss for a long period to obtain a sustained result. Even when you fall off your program which is bound to happen, recognize and admit the mistake as this will help you get back to your program.