What’s the easiest way to lose weight?
Take someone from a different age – be it the age of enlightenment, the Renaissance, the Medieval era or any era beyond – and put them in our own society, and they’d be shocked. Not just by the obvious things like population and technology, but they’d be shocked by the shape that we’re in. And the size, too.
You see, the phenomenon of obesity is largely a new one. At no time previously had any society been so chronically and across-all-demographics overfed. This is a result of not only runaway technology in terms of food production and transport, but also a lack of discipline from people across the board. As a consequence, Americans from about 1950 onwards are the first generation of people anywhere in world history who have a greater collective need to lose weight, rather than gain weight. It’s a staggering transition, considering that daily subsistence was the great limiting factor of human expansion up until about 150 years ago.
Which then begs the question, what’s the easiest way to lose weight? What’s the easiest way to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem?
Well, you could do what most folks do and go on crash diets. In the short term, that’s the easiest way to lose weight. If you’re an obese adult male, you’re probably taking in 3000 or so calories a day – or roughly 50% more than what you should be. Cut that down to 1800 calories, and you’ll see a rapid drop in your weight and size. Cut it further and the drop will be more rapid and pronounced.
Of course, the easiest way to lose weight isn’t necessarily the best way to lose weight. Cutting down your food intake works in the short run, but in the long haul only rarely is it sustainable. It also has the negative side effect of slowing your metabolism, making it harder to take off “that last 10 pounds,” as it’s commonly referred to. You’re also much, much more likely to end up with unsightly stretch marks.
Certain diets account for this, loading you with muscle-building foods like fish, egg-whites and boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but even that is no substitution for what’s really the easiest way to lose weight and keep it off: eat less and exercise. Yes, I konw it’s the one solution most people don’t want to hear, but it’s also the one solution that’s guaranteed to work. And I swear, it’s actually very easy.
You just have to be disciplined and adjust the way you look at life. That 20 minutes in the morning when you veg out in front of the TV can be done while doint aerobics or crunches. That beef and cheese burrito you ordered can be beans and rice instead. And no, you don’t need dessert with that. Make those changes, and you’ll find that the pounds come off, the fat goes away, and you’ll be a healthier, happier person.
