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[I109]Ideal Body Weight For

by Janet Martin, Jan

Losing weight is not really that hard, come to think of it. Starve yourself a couple of days, stop drinking sodas for a month, stay away from rich and starchy food, or simply drink only lemonade and you will surely find yourself a few pounds lighter. The question here is whether you can keep the weight off. Many people actually struggle more in maintaining their new weight level than in starting to shed off the weight. Of the millions of individuals who try to lose weight, only about 5% to 10% are able to maintain a slimmer weight for a long period.

Yo-yo dieting can be very bad for your health. The perpetual weight loss and weight gain trend can negatively affect your heart, metabolism and other internal organs. If you really want to look and feel healthy, it would be wise to stick to a diet plan that is sensible, which does not asks you to starve yourself to death. Furthermore, you should also have a plan on how you will approach the maintenance of your new weight level.

Furthermore, when it comes to weight, prevention is still better than treatment. If you want to be healthy, you should try to prevent getting bigger and heavier in the first place because the human body, according to researchers, is actually designed to prevent weight loss. Every time you lose weight, your body will think that there is famine and drought so it will do everything in its power to resist weight loss - thinking that it is a way to protect you. Thus, your body will try to regain all the weight you have lost and then some.

Here are some of the reasons why you can regain the weight you lost:

Tricky Hormones

There are actually two hormones that are affected when you shed a significant amount of pounds. First, the leptin, which is responsible for controlling appetite, drops when you start to cut down your calories. As a result, you will have this sudden urge to eat more and no matter how much food you have already devoured, you still find yourself hungry.

Ghrelin is another hormone that goes awry during your weight loss process. The level of this hormone, responsible for food intake stimulation, usually declines after you have eaten. However, in people who are in a diet, the level of ghrelin hormone spikes up, which means that you can unknowingly eat more.

Stubborn Nervous System

If you think that fat in your body just stays put and does not affect your nervous system, then you need to think again. It seems that your intestines and the fat stored in your belly are sending signals to your central nervous system in order to resist weight loss or find ways to regain the pounds that have been shed. Thus, when you eat lesser calories than your body uses up, your body will prefer to use glucose instead of using stored fat as energy. This is why when you are trying to lose weight, there is a big craving for sweet foods.

So what do you need to do to maintain the weight you have lost?

First, you need to eat sensibly. There will surely be times when you feel so hungry during the process of losing weight. Since you cannot deny your body the food it needs, it would be advisable to eat low fat and low sugar food. Moreover, eat more veggies and fruits because they contain a lot of fiber, which is important to help minimize hunger pangs.

Second, you need to move more. A lot of people who have maintained their leaner weight try to exercise more. If you cannot beat your cravings, what you have to do is increase your physical activities. Scientists believe that weight training and physical activities could help normalize your metabolism and hormones.

Lastly, seek some help. There are many supplements that contain appetite suppressant and metabolic boosters. Just make sure that the one you choose is safe and all natural. One product you may want to try is Phenocal. Visit if you want to learn more about this weight loss supplement.

Have you seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Remember how one of the characters in the movie is constantly going around telling people how every word they can think of has a Greek root? Although this is played for laughs, when it comes to the world of athletics, he could just be right! "protein," "creatine," "aerobic" and even "gym" are just a few of the examples which really do originate from ancient Greek.

Anyone who has seen the excellent movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, will remember that line from Mr Portokalos. Although the character and his etymological discourses are obviously played for comedy, when it comes to the world of health and fitness, he may just have a point.

Think of the words, "protein," "creatine," "aerobic" and even "gym." These are but a few examples which really do have their roots in the ancient Greek language.

This shouldn't come as a surprise though. You see, the ancient Greeks didn't just give us the vocabulary we use; they were the ones who came up with the whole idea of athletics as we know it. They were very healthy and athletic civilisation and it's from them, of course, that we inherited the Olympic Games, as well as sports like boxing and wrestling.

In addition, the ancient Greeks also gave us a very clear idea of what the perfect body was. Physical strength and fitness were admired and considered important assets in their culture. But more than this, the ancient Greeks elevated the development of the human body to an art form. A balanced, symmetrical, and proportioned physique was the aim - exactly the same aesthetics that they put into other arts, such as painting, architecture and sculpting.

The Greek ideal survived for many centuries, and has influenced the work of great artists all over the world. It was also the inspiration for early bodybuilders, when that sport was in its infancy around the start of the 1900s. Sadly, the tide started to change from the 1960s onward. Bodybuilders moved away from training for proportion and aesthetic appeal and instead started going for pure size. The introduction of anabolic steroids and other drugs onto the scene didn't help either.

Bodybuilding physiques eventually got so huge that they've now become completely divorced from their classical roots. Sadly, the Greek ideal seems to have been almost forgotten - but the good news is that we have been left clues. Where? In art, of course!

To get an idea of what a classically perfect physique was, we need only look at statues of Greek athletes in a museum, in a book, or even on the internet. Studying these artworks reveals exactly what the ideal body used to look like, and it's very enlightening. While those statues don't look like modern bodybuilders, they still definitely look athletic and muscular.

The classical Greek physique was defined by having wide shoulders and a narrow waist, with a trim and flat abdomen. Even today, that kind of tapering silhouette is still highly appealing.

The chest on a Greek statue is well developed, but not to excess. Nowadays, a lot of people do too much chest exercise, and the pectorals end up looking swollen and even droopy. It's a common mistake made by many newcomers to the gym, probably because the chest is a relatively easy area to build and because exercises like the bench press have a macho image about them.

As for the limbs on a classical statue, these are certainly muscular, but are not overdone. Bodybuilders who have massive arms and legs certainly do look impressive, but there is a danger that this can take over and ruin the overall look and sense of proportion. A typical feature of Greek statues is that the arms are slighly smaller in circumference than the neck. The calves are approximately the same size as the arms.

Similarly, the neck and trapezius muscles were not overemphasised. If these were too large, they would detract from the wide-shouldered look and throw the whole physique out of balance.

Another thing to notice when looking at a classical statue is the overall tone of the muscles. These look gently sculpted rather than being too harshly "cut" or "ripped." This look was achieved by reducing the body fat to a low percentage but not nearly as low as competitive bodybuilders are required to. The classical Greek physique didn't need to have all the striations and muscle fibres visible, or to have veins popping out everywhere.

Some experts are now predicting that eventually the whole sport of bodybuilding will go back to its classical roots and become a truly natural physical culture again. Time will tell, but I hope they are right. The Greek ideal body is a treasure, as precious as any work of art in a museum or gallery. It deserves to shine once again.

Article Source : Nutrition Weight Loss

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Both Janet Martin & Nick Hallale are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Janet Martin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Womens Health, Pregnancy Problems and Asthma. Janet Martin is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and published author. Many of her insightful articles can be found at the premier online news magazine.