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Weight Loss

conditions, age, and gender— which are often out of our control.

There are also day-to-day barriers that prevent us from losing weight. Once we are aware of these obstacles, which can be easily managed, weight control becomes easier. Some tips to consider when navi-gating these barriers are:

Make Healthy Eating a Priority

The busyness of life is the main reason so many of us cannot sustain long-term healthy eating habits. Time is one of our most valuable commodities, and the reality is, adopting a healthy lifestyle takes effort and time. But if establishing healthy eating habits becomes a priority, then tasks like cooking a healthy meal will become a joy rather than an inconvenience.

Find Sustainability in a Diet

Countless scientifically unsupported and anecdotally based weight-loss concepts tell us what (and what not) to eat, and we as consumers are overwhelmed by the options. As there is no governing body to review content and monitor the distribution of weight-loss information, anyone can present a sexy, new weight-loss method without scientific support or testing. Consequently, essential foods and nutrients, like fat, are irresponsibly

Weight loss 101: caloric deficit leads to weight loss, calorie surplus leads to weight gain. A caloric deficit of 3500 kcal equals 1 pound lost. A loss of 1–2 pounds per week is argued to be the most sustainable rate of weight loss to keep it off long-term. To attain this, you want to aim for a caloric deficit of approximately 500 kcal per day: 250 caloric deficit from food, 250 caloric deficit from exercise. The 3500-calorie rule works as a good rule of thumb.

While the core concept of weight loss appears simple, and these numbers work well for the first stages of weight loss, the 3500-calorie rule eventually falls short because it is not capable of accounting for the drop in metabolic rate as body mass decreases. In other words, the amount of energy that your body expends while at rest decreases as you lose weight. Metabolic rate is an extremely important variable for weight loss because it accounts for 60–75 percent of daily calorie expenditure.

With this being said, while metabolic slowdown is a factor for plateauing early in the weight-loss journey, it is more often related to individuals not consistently adhering to a reduced-calorie meal plan.15

Additionally, several confounding factors impact weight loss—including genetics, environment, medical