Essentials Lose Weight

Easy Ways To Lose Weight 

Lose weight using sustainable strategies focusing on changing dietary habits combined with regular exercise to attain your goals.  Losing weight involves establishing calorie deficits, lowering calories intake following a healthy diet plan focusing on a balanced approach to wellness.  The prevalence of obesity is projected to reach 18 percent in men and over 21 percent in women in 2025.  The World Obesity Federation estimates that the total number of adults living with obesity will increase by more than 115 percent between 2010 and 2030 from 524 million to 1.13 billion.  While the U.S. India, Brazil, Russia and China account for a significant portion of global obesity cases. The problem continues to rise across all nations as a widespread problem among many regions.  The Who has set targets to halt the rise of obesity by 2025 but countries are largely failing to meet current expectations. 

Obesity is a complex issue requiring a multifaceted approach to losing weight including government policies, healthcare systems and individual behaviors.  In 2001 the Surgeon General's “Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity” identified obesity as a public health priority for the United States.  Obesity rates were higher than ever with 61 percent of adults nationwide overweight or obese.  In the intervening years several administrations have declared a commitment to deal with the problem and the food industry has issued numerous pledges to change, yet the prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen further to 68 percent.  Disease rates join high healthcare costs affecting everyone personally, and economically impacting people who struggle with affordable solutions to losing weight.  A wide range of governmental policies and programs have been implemented including the development of national clinical guidelines for nutritional labeling on packaged foods, more recently calorie labeling on restaurant menus, education and social marketing efforts, and federal efforts to increase access and financing for fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Most of these efforts focus on clinical and educational factors or community interventions until recently have rarely addressed environmental drivers of obesity.  There is a growing scientific support for policies that intervene on environmental determinants of overeating.  The implementation of some policies is facing resistance from the beverage and food industry.  Economic features of the food environment also contribute to obesity as the cost per calorie of healthy foods exceeds the cost of energy dense and often foods low in nutrients are generally processes lacking essential vitamins and minerals.  The disparity in the costs of healthy and unhealthy food may be exacerbated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture ‘s focus on scaling up and subsidizing production of community crops including soybeans and corn and the relative neglect of fruit and vegetable production.  At the same time the food environment has pushed American's to consume more energy, as physical activity continues to remain low. 

The Surgeon General recommends 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days per week yet 33 percent of American's remain completely sedentary. Although low rates of physical activity remain a major health concern in their own right, growing evidence suggests that unhealthy food choices in food intake in a major contributor to obesity than living a sedentary lifestyle in 2025.  Clinical guidelines educational programs including social marketing campaigns are important in addressing obesity however the environmental causes of the obesity epidemic rely on individuals to prevail over challenging environments.  Losing weight in a healthy sustainable way is about making small incremental changes to your lifestyle using 30 proven methods designed to maximize your results. 

Cheers! 

Patricia Lynn

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