Improvement Journey

Body Weight Issues; How I Maintain My Body Weight

Body Weight issues have reached an epidemic proportion in the world.  Many people are struggling with weight issues which impacted on their physical and mental health.  Although Weight is not necessarily an accurate reflection of our health, nowadays whenever we found ourselves falling out of the “society’s acceptable” weight indexes we became anxious.  We immediately put ourselves on a strict diet plan and force our body into rigorous exercise activities.  Possibly with misguided motives such as wanting to look good wearing bikini, or fit into a certain size, instead of health and wellness motives.

Misconceptions about Weight

There are a lot of misconceptions about Weight that leads people to do things that actually have little or no impact on their weight and health.  Below are some common Fact and misconceptions about weight:

Our Weight tells us everything about our health.

Weight actually tells us nothing about our body’s composition, nor does it indicate where hidden fat might be accumulating.  We may lose muscle and gain fat but see little change in our weight.

Body Mass index is commonly used as a guide to measure an “ideal” weight.

However, this system is rather faulty especially for people who are very muscular.  There is a better way to measure our body composition which is to measure our waist size.  A general guide for waist measurement is :

  • For men; between 37 – 40 inches is overweight and more than 40 inches is Obese.
  • For women; between 31.5 – 34.6 inches is overweight and more than 34.6 inches is Obese

Exercise is the number one factor to reduce weight. 

It is true that exercise is necessary for optimal health, but actually, diet accounts for 80% of health benefits derived from a healthy lifestyle.  The number one dietary factor that can make or break our health is ALL forms of sugar, particularly Fructose.

Believes that are just not true such as if we eat more calories for a certain day then we only need to exercise more to get rid of those excess calories also contributes to giving misconceptions.

Carbs make us fat. 

Excess Calories is what makes us fat.  Our body uses carbs as fuel and we use this fuel to exercise to burn fat.  So, we NEED carbs.  There are “good carbohydrates” and “bad carbohydrates” though.  Fruits and vegetables are good carbs while donut and cookies aren’t.  That is why fruits and vegetables are good weight-loss tools.

Skipping Meals is a good way to lose weight.

This is the worst thing we can do to lose weight.  When we skip a meal, our body goes into starvation mode which will store calories as fat.

Being Underweight

I personally also have a weight issue, although maybe not like the majority of people.  I have always been considered as underweight.  For me, it is hard to gain weight as overweight people find it hard to lose the weight.

However, after having some experiment with my weight I found that my ideal weight is not within the “standard” index.  My ideal weight should be 53.7 Kg according to the standard index however, I have been there and I just don’t feel healthy.  I feel heavy, I experience shortness of breath, I was sleepy all the time, I had gastritis, I felt bloated, and lack of energy.  So, when I reduce some weight to 48 – 50 Kg I feel perfect.  I no longer have those issues and I am happy with how I look.  Since then, I try to maintain my weight in a range of 48 – 50 Kg even though it means I am “underweight”.

Ever heard the saying “Eat like a French woman”?  I always wondered about it without realizing that I have been doing it my whole life (well, at least some of it).  Read about it how to eat like a French woman here and get inspired!

How do I maintain my body weight, and probably some are also the reasons why I don’t easily gain weight:

Having a healthy morning Routine.

I can’t stress enough the importance and benefits of having a healthy morning routine on your physical and mental health.  Find out about my morning routine here.

Avoid unnecessary habits.

We have all kinds of habits that actually is unnecessary and sometimes even unhealthy.  Small habits or addiction to substances that are addictive such as sugar, coffee/tea.  Although coffee and tea are arguably beneficial to your body, it is however addictive.  I personally don’t have habits of drinking coffee/tea in the morning but I do know many people literally can’t function before they had their share of those beverages.

Whether it is coffee/tea or other things, if you feel it is necessary to have or it is unavoidable, at least always try to reduce the quantity.

girl with a coffee and a book

Mindful Eating.

Be aware of what you put inside your body.  Be aware of the nutrition, cleanliness, the source, and the cooking process of your food.  I read a lot of information about GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) and it scares the hell out of me.  No wonder why there are so many diseases that just continued to affect more and more people compared to 50 years ago.

I will try to write about this subject in a different post, but I want to encourage you to at least try to be more mindful about your food choices.  If it’s possible, always purchase certified organic products.  If it’s not possible to buy expensive organic products, there are things that you can try to reduce the bad effects of unnatural chemical substances.  Educate yourself about it.

Eat slowly.

It is important to chew your food thoroughly, it allows you to absorb more nutrients from your food, help you maintain a healthy weight, allows for easier digestion, and leads to fewer digestive issues such as gas and bloating.  In my experience, by eating and chewing my food slowly I feel full faster than normal.  Therefore it also reduces my food intake.  Read about 7 reasons why chewing your food is important here.

Be disciplined and consistent on your Meal Time or Eating Schedule.

I always try my best to be consistent with my Eating Schedule.  Your body has its own clock for digesting food, for resting, for detoxing, etc.  it is trained to do its thing on certain time since you were born.  Try to respect your body clocks.  If you keep on interfering its schedules then it will be chaotic just like your regular schedule when it’s been interrupted.  Your body will release wrong enzymes at the wrong time, resulting in poor health issues.

Eat less portion but more often.

It is never a good idea to have too much of anything, including food.  You know your body, therefore you know your optimum portions.  No matter how good the food, no matter how hungry you feel, try to eat within your optimum portions.  For those who have gastritis and who are trying to reduce weight, try to reduce your portion but eat more often.  For example, during lunchtime eat half of your lunch, and eat the rest at 3-5 pm.

Avoid snacking by making the most of your mealtime

I rarely snacking.  On meal times, I eat a lot (at least a proper portion) therefore I don’t feel hungry in between meals.  If I do, I try to eat fruits as snacks.  At home, I rarely buy/stock snacks when I do groceries shopping to avoid having it available when I want to snack.  Some people use snack time to reduce weight, and it’s possible.  But if we want to maintain our weight try to avoid it.

A regular Bowel Movement

Make sure you have a healthy bowel.  There are some indicators of a healthy bowel based on https://bodyecology.com such as :

  • Clear skin without blemishes.
    • Daily elimination.
    • Mild-smelling breath.
    • No mucous, partially digested food, or blood in your stools.
    • Elimination time between 18 and 24 hours.
    • A big bowel movement in the morning.
    • A smaller bowel movement later in the day.
    • Stools expelled effortlessly.

Regularly detox your body by consuming detox smoothie/juice/tonic.

Like it or not our body is accumulating toxins.   It came through the air we breathed, the food we consumed (pesticide, preservatives), beverages, sanitary products we used, Makeup, and many other sources.  At a certain level it became a threat to our health, therefore we need to help our body to detoxifies those toxins regularly.

There are many ways to detoxifies our body.  Fasting, Regular Exercise, Taking Food or supplement that stimulate our liver to drive toxins from the body, even go to the sauna can also help our body to eliminate toxins.

Know your body.

Our body is communicating, and it is our responsibilities to listen and to understand what it’s trying to tell us.  It is important to understand our body and the way it communicates.  Take responsibilities on your health, create healthy habits of taking care of your body.  Honor and respect its needs.  Be grateful for its hard work by providing them with healthy food, and generally having a healthy lifestyle.

Exercise regularly.

I believe you all know already the importance of exercise for your health and for having a healthy body weight.

Are you having weight or health issues?  Tell me all about it in the comment.   Also like, share, or tag someone of this post that you think might be beneficial for them.

Thanks for reading, as always stay positive and spread some love!

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