A Brief Weight-Loss Strategy Overview

Nowadays one of the biggest problems that our civilization faces is the overweight. Accordingly to the Forbes only in USA over 100 000 of the dead cases each year belong to diseases or medical conditions related to obesity (hypertension, infarcts, insults etc.) and 60% of the people in that country are overweight (with a third of them crossed the boundaries of obesity). The treatment of those diseases costs to US budget over 93 billion USD yearly!!! This has led to program against fatness announced two years ago by presidential administration. Even not so harsh and frightening as in the USA, there are similar tendencies in all western countries.

But why are YOU waiting to reach that condition?

Here I’d like to review several ways that in my personal observations are proved to work best for keeping your body healthy and slim. Of course – we are different – in terms of age, body type etc, so each way implicates best for certain group of people. But let me introduce you (OK, I’m pretty sure you know most of the facts but if I systematize them well we can start together RIGHT NOW and choose your way) :

1. Sports.

Of course this is the best decision. Running, fitness, push-ups… all they accelerate your metabolism and burn energy. This energy comes initially from carbohydrates. But when the glucose pool (all “carbs” degrade to glucose in order to be processed as source for energy) is exhausted then fat depots come as energy source. When you make exercises (especially aerobic ones) you eventually burn them, get slimmer and stronger as you train your muscles.
Unfortunately sometimes it’s too late to start with that – if you already have troubles with a blood pressure or cardiovascular system you could really put yourself in more troubles if you try to overcharge your heart.
In my opinion “the burning” (sport/exercising) approach by itself is best decision for young or middle age people, especially if the last are not too much overweight. Of course you can combine it with some of the following ways.

2. Diets.

Pffffffew! I really don’t like them, but if you follow properly some them they really help. But, frankly I don’t know anyone that got slim after using diet coke even for years. Do you?
The idea of the diets is simple – instead, as it was described in previous paragraph, to increase your catabolic activity (the metabolic pathways that break down large molecules (mainly fats and sugars and much rarely proteins) into smaller units and release energy) you decrease level of energy sources that you enter to your organism.
It is good method for all sizes and ages but I would consider that usually by cutting out carbs and fats trough your diet you might cut out some essential supplements. Even if it’s not fatal, if you carry for a long time with diets for sure it’s not healthy, so please, beware of what diet you choose. I’d rather to prefer sports if it’s about to people that have no obstacles to begin pro-active lifestyle. Moreover all of us know, that one of the reasons Universe to exist is that there is Belgian chocolate.

3. Pills and drugs.

The ultimate way to get rid your extra-pounds/kilos.
Actually their mechanism is different but usually it mimics some of the mechanisms that were mentioned above. There are several types of drugs that exist:

- Fat binders (or “the sport without moving”). This is maybe the newest approach in the war against obesity. Those are substances that occur in the nature (but not in our organisms) or their semi-synthetic derivatives. The mechanism is simple – they have very high affinity to fat molecules and are not capable to be absorbed by our stomach and intestines. So they just bind the fats and don’t allow them to be utilized by the organism (here we can give as example one of the best-known products of this group – PROACTOL).

- Appetite suppressants (or “artificial diets”). Even they were widely announced the mechanism of their action has not been completely revealed yet. The first and most popular product from this group is definitely HOODIA. Pfizer developed it about ten years ago. Actually the active compound (or one of the active compounds) is extract from the African plant hoodia. It has been reported by Pfizer that Hoodia affects the hypothalamus – the part of brain were the feeling of hungriness is formed. By suppressing this hypothalamic function it make us feel never hungry and we may decrease dramatically the food that we eat (i. e. we lower the amount of energy that input into our organisms).

Tags: appetite suppressors, diet, diet pills, fat-burners, health, obesity, pills, slimming pills, sport, weight-loss