by Katarzyna Radzka

Created on: September 29, 2010

Weight loss happens when all the right elements are brought together in a balanced fashion. Diet, exercise, lifestyle habits, and stress levels all contribute directly and indirectly to your weight loss.  Many people assume that as long as they make one change in their eating habits or just exercise a little bit more they are going to be able to achieve long term weight loss. That’s not the case. In order to lose weight and be healthy it’s important to ensure all the weight loss factors are dealt with.

Stress is often an ignored factor when it comes to weight loss. When stress occurs people can either lose a large amount of weight or they gain a lot. It all depends on genetics and how people’s individual bodies react to stress. Stress causes some people to reach for food. Often the food choices are unhealthy and heavy in calories and fat. It’s comfort food at its worst. Stress can also lead to an over consumption of alcohol which will have a negative affect on any weight loss efforts by slowing them down.

About 30-40% of your weight loss depends on your exercise level. It’s not a huge amount but it’s not little either. If you’re not working out a little bit every day you are going to have difficulty dropping any excess weight. Physical activity is vital for health, fitness and weight loss. The recommended daily amount is one hour per day which could include power walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, or something like karate or team sports. Spend one hour every day working out and you will lose weight.

Diet is vital. More than 60% of your weight loss depends on what goes in your mouth and into your stomach. You might only be eating 2000 calories each day but what’s more important is where do these calories come from. Filling up on a donut, burger and some crisps and cola throughout the day to make up 2000 calories isn’t the same as eating a breakfast of oats or scrambled egg whites, snacking on fruit, enjoying a chicken salad and roll for lunch, yoghurt and nuts as an afternoon snack and finishing the day off with a piece of steak and steamed vegetables for dinner. Both will be 2000 calories but the second option will help you lose weight even though you’ve eaten a lot more than the first one.

Other lifestyle habits are also factors that affect your weight loss. Make sure that you get at least seven hours of sleep each night and no more than nine. Sleep aides weight loss. Stop drinking and eating out regularly and leave it for special occasions. Above all enjoy the food you eat and take your time with it, food is to be relished even if you’re trying to lose weight.

Learn more about this author, Katarzyna Radzka.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.