Weight Loss

There are many problems that are happening within our society and the one that most people can see on a daily basis is the health problem of obesity. More and more people are having difficulty with controlling their weight. There are multiple symptoms that come with gaining weight such as loss of energy, localized pain in knees and/or lower back, difficulty breathing, and even a shorter life span. I know I personally would like to know that my life span will not be shortened just because I was the one negligent about it. First thing that you need to is find out is the reason why you have gained the weight.

One reason for gaining weight would be stress. Stress is of course the number one cause of many illnesses and obesity is on that list. There are a lot of people that as soon as they get stressed out they want to eat and the food that they normally will eat is considered as comfort food. Even the terminology of comfort food sounds like it should be good for you by creating a sense of feeling good. Some comfort food that comes to mind for me is potato chips, ice cream and chocolate. Everybody has their favorite, but you do not normally hear someone say that their comfort food is broccoli or a peach. The bad part of obesity is that it also creates stress. So now you have a vicious cycle and may even gain more weight.

Another reason for weight gain would hormones of the body. Your body creates and distributes specific chemicals that help to regulate and control your body functions. The thyroid and pancreas are two of these glands. They can cause hypothyroidism and diabetes. When they do not work then your body gets out of whack. I know this is a generic statement of what happens, but just know that it can and you can always look up more information yourself. At least I know that I have given you something to investigate yourself. Without these being managed properly then you will also fall into a loop since one of the symptoms is energy loss. Without energy you cannot exercise and again you are more likely to gain weight.

One thing that most people do not even think about as how people gain weight is pain. When you are in pain you normally do not think about doing much of anything, but rest. It is not easy to motivate yourself to exercise when you have pain. Pain can also cause stress that will make you want to eat your comfort food. Oh the vicious cycle of it all.
Not only can these problems be the cause of your weight gain but also be contributing to you not losing the weight when you try to lose it.

Things that you need to do to help lose weight.
1. Be conscience of what you are eating and what it does to your body: An easy way to do this is to keep a journal every time you eat and review it daily. Just by taking the time to write down what you are eating can make you think twice about whether or not you should eat it. YOU SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN BEFORE YOU EAT IT, not after. If you do it after you are just causing a sense of guilt, which can cause unwanted stress.
2. Exercise: Most people think that exercise means you have to go to a gym. I personally do not like going to gyms. I think that people are looking and judging me for being there. I know that there are many other people that will think this as well. There are many ways of getting exercise and the easiest way is just walking. It is normally easier to do any kind of exercise if you have some kind of support or someone that will do it with you. You can get a few friends that will take walks with you. I said a few friends, so if one cannot make it there are others that will be there for you. You can also join different types of classes. Some types of classes that might help would be martial arts, Tai Chi, yoga, or dance. There are many kinds of ways to exercise just find one that will work and help motivate you.
3. If you have pain then you need to take care of it: I, of course am going to advocate acupuncture and massage. I am an acupuncturist and a massage therapist. So it only makes sense to me, but I also get treatments myself. There are many ways of learning to manage and relieve pain. The one that I do not advocate is pharmaceutical drugs. Drugs are chemicals that cause many other problems in the body. Just watch a TV ad for any them and they will tell you themselves that there are side effects.
4. Have some kind of support: It is always easier to do something if you have help. Support comes in different forms. It can be as simple as a friend just encouraging you or even a group. Support can be from a trained professional that can tell you what foods will help you and what foods will hinder you. The person that helps you should be someone that you trust. Trust is important, even in the trained professional. Trust can be earned through actions as well as through the referral from someone else. When your friend trust someone it is easier to trust that other person through that acquaintance.

Now my little plug on how Chinese medicine can help. Basically with the knowledge of Chinese Medicine, we can give you a dietary program to follow. We can show you different exercises and help encourage you to do them. Pain is one of the things most people know that acupuncture can help. We can help to harmonize the metabolism to work properly as well as help when you get to a plateau, where the body does not want to lose any more weight. And we will also offer support to help you with your needs of losing the weight.
Now that I have given my little promotion, just know that there are lots of natural ways to lose weight. The thing that you have to do first is start.