Lots of people have finally woken up to the fact that obesity is a real killer. Statistics show that almost half a million people die each year due to obesity-related complications and hundreds of billions of dollars are lost each year in medical costs. This does not mention more billions that are lost each year in lost economic productivity when obese workers have to take time off for medical checkups.
Obesity is a medical term which refers to when one’s body accumulates enough for it to be a health hazard. There are different reasons why people become overweight. One of the reasons is failure to watch one’s diet. We are living in a society which is very busy and people are pressed for time. This means that when people arrive home after work they are very tired and have little or no time to prepare a meal. This has resulted in many ending up at fast food restaurants. As a consequent, many fast food restaurants have mushroomed in many places and it is no longer uncommon to see families eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at a fast food restaurant. This food is mostly deep fried and therefore contains fat that adds to the calorie level of the food. There are even meals that end up containing more calories than the entire daily requirement.
Another reason why people become obese is because they fail to engage in enough physical activity to burn the fat that they eat. In Western countries, people have formed the habit of driving even for short distances. This coupled with a high calorie diet causes people to accumulate more fat than they can possibly burn thereby becoming obese.
But many have finally had it when it comes to obesity and they want to turn the corner and lose weight. This is actually a New Year’s resolution for many people. But how can one determine that they will stick to their resolution?
The first way is to get an accountability partner. This means someone who will hold you accountable to your weight loss commitments. This can be a spouse, a friend, a work colleague and even a child. People who are susceptible to high calorie diets need accountability partners to enable them to stick to their resolution to lose weight in 2009.
Another way one can stick to their resolution to lose weight is to develop a calendar and populate it with exercises that one can do to lose weight. There are many tools online that one can buy and use to keep a professional schedule of tasks complete with reminders. Microsoft Outlook is a cheap way to keep tabs on your exercise regiment.
One can also keep tabs with their weight loss resolution by becoming more vigilant on what they eat. Before one buys groceries they need to read the can or container to make sure that there are no excess calories present. Diet drinks can help because they have almost no cholesterol.