In world where physical comeliness matters, more and more people are giving too much emphasis on physical appearance. They are becoming interested—even obsessed—in using so many products and services that can help them improve their physical appearance. Today, one of the biggest problems of people—especially by teenagers all over the world—is being overweight or obesity. Too much weight—caused by overeating and lack of exercise—is becoming one of the problems especially of teenagers that cause them to lose confidence. If you are a parent who has an obese or overweight child and you would want to help him or her to lose weight safe and effectively, here are some steps that you can do: 1. Help your child to come up with a great decision. Losing weight is a decision you must help your child with. The first thing that you can do is to talk to your child. Ask him or her what he or she thinks about herself. If he or she confesses that he/she doesn’t feel good about his or her physical appearance, then its now time to ask your child what he/she wants to do. Give your child suggestions on how he/she improve herself. Ask him or her if he or she is willing to lose weight and help your child all the way. Once you and your child have made a decision, start plotting your plan on how to lose weight effectively, safely, and the healthy way. Aside from making the major decision whether to lose or nor to lose weight, the decision must also include the full participation of both parties in the agenda. Aside from assuring your child that that he or she has your full support, it would also be a wise decision if you both formulate a specific plan how you are going to approach this endeavor. The decision will also include the possible resources and strategies you can use. 2. If possible, try to change your eating and exercising patterns together. If you really want to help your child lose weight, you should try formulating an eating and exercise plan that can help him or her lose weight effectively. An effective plan may include eating foods low in fat and low in sugar along with a great deal of regular exercise. 3. Look for nonprofessional support weight loss programs and use them if you can. Today, there are two weight loss programs that most experts recommend: the TOPS or Take Off Pounds Sensibly which is a self-help club encourages parent-child participation and the Weight Watchers. Statistics say that most people who enroll in these programs drop out even before the program ends, so it is very important for parents to guide their children so they won’t give up easily. 4. Ask help from professionals and experts that have expertise in cognitive-behavior therapy and weight. Since obesity is one of the major problems of teenagers, more and more psychologists offer their services to help people who are overweight to lose weight. 5. Send your child to high-quality weight loss camps or to residential weight loss programs. Losing weight can be traumatic experience for your child. Giving him or her a fresh new environment to start with can help him or her a lot to pursue the weigh loss endeavor. Today, there are so many weight loss camps created specifically for those children who would want to lose weight away from the eyes of people who are eagerly and intently watching him or her. In the first few weeks of your child in this new task, he or she may find it hard to concentrate because of the pressure given by the people and the environment. You can help him or her if you look for a safe and clinically appropriate environment that can help her or him focus on losing weight.
A Quick Look at Some of Today’s Most Effective Diets
The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.
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The Idiot-Proof Diet
The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.
The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.
When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!
NutriSystem
The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.
However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.
After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.
At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.
The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.
Weight Watchers
Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.
Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.
Weight Loss, How Really Important It Is?
People with overweight that do not follow a weight loss procedure tend to suffer from depressions and a severe reduction to their self esteem, which may later translate into social problems and isolation desires.
That is why weight loss is of extreme importance if you truly want to attain a healthy way of life; however losing weight is not easy, as you probably know by now, diets and exercise routines are often tedious and hard to follow. But it is very important that you find within yourself the necessary strength to follow these routines; it has been shown that people with overweight that lose even 10 pounds have far more chances of evading a possible health problem than those who never try for more than a week.
Weight loss becomes much more important if anyone in your family suffers from chronic heart problems, because most of those problems are passed through consequent generations, and suffering from overweight is just an exponential factor that may trigger those problems on you. Weight loss is also very important if either your cholesterol or sugar levels are above the recommended degrees, because if they are, then you are a very likely candidate to suffer from heart attacks as well.
Diabetes is also one of the most important factors why people should deeply consider following a weight loss procedure; if you happen to be apple shaped (this is, larger from your stomach than on the rest of your body), then the chances of suffering from diabetes are highly increased, and a weight loss procedure might be the only method you have at your disposal for avoiding this dreadful problem.
Always remember that following a weight loss procedure is not only important to boost your appearance and thus your self confidence, it is also very important if you want to live a healthier life, and if you love your body as much as you love the rest of yourself.