Before I introduce you to the system, it is important to debunk some old myths about weight loss as well as take a critical look at the various diet and exercise plans out there which don’t work as intended.
First, let’s see why people gain weight in the first place:
Overeating
“Eating more than you can burn” not surprisingly, is the main reason for weight gain. Our busy lives provide us with too little time to spend on eating healthily. So we pick up that packet of tortilla chips or order a Big Mac while on our way to the office. The problem is that these things contain a lot of calories and fat which, again thanks to our busy schedule, can remain in our body if we neglect to perform the exercise that would be necessary to burn them.
Lack of Exercise
A completely lack of exercise in your life will inevitably lead to weight gain. If you are physically inactive in your daily life and are mainly doing your work whilst seated (as is the case with most modern office work) you are obviously much more likely to gain weight, especially if you are not compensating for this inactivity with an appropriate exercise program of some sort.
Genetic Reasons
Some people may gain weight more easily simply because of their genetic inheritance. If their parents (or just one of the parents) are overweight or obese, offspring may grow to be obese as well. In some cases, it is a matter of simply having inherited the wrong eating and exercising habits. But it is also true that your genes do play a part in your body size and shape. If this is you, it does not mean you are condemned to always being overweight, but it does mean you will have to try that much harder. It is unfair, I know, but it can be done and our methods (in this book) are the best approach.
Stress & Depression
Stress and depression can result in weight gain too. This is simply because we often resort to overeating as a response to emotional pressures like stress and depression and hence, we end up gaining weight; this is sometimes called ‘Emotional Eating’. It is all very understandable as it seems very likely that we humans have an inbuilt tendency to eat when times are hard. It is almost like an automatic program, within our brains, designed to ensure we don’t starve if food should become scarce.
Pregnancy
Women who have just delivered a baby will usually notice an increase in their weight of perhaps somewhere around an additional 4 to 6 pounds. This can occur for a number of reasons and if this is you, the best advice you can receive is to not worry too much about it in the short term. You need to give your body a period of recovery before you consider embarking upon any king of eating and exercise realignment. This is something to talk to your physician or midwife about, but you will almost certainly need a few months of rest and recuperation.
Quitting Smoking
When a heavy smoker quits smoking altogether, he/she may notice a weight gain of 5 to 10 pounds. This is because smoking reduces appetite (because of the nicotine in cigarettes) and also increases the metabolic rate (although slightly) so that the body burns more calories. When you quit smoking, your eating may increase while your metabolism goes down - leading to unwanted weight gain.
There are other reasons why you may gain weight, but listed above are the major ones.
In summary, it is the challenges of modern life, stress, depression, lack of exercise, physical inactivity and making bad choices concerning the food we eat that causes us to gain weight. And being overweight is simply not good for us, because it increases the chances of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, digestive system problems, low immunity towards diseases and even skin and eye diseases.