Eating To Slim

The theory behind slimming is relatively straight forward to understand. As you take in food from your daily diet, you gain nutrients and energy. If you burn off more energy in a day than your diet can provide, your body taps into its supply of fat to give you the extra energy needed to function properly. Over time, the fat levels contained within your body will be depleted - causing a reduction in the size of the arms, legs, stomach and a slimmer waist.

In order to promote this process to its maximum you must consider a number of areas.  Firstly, consider eating less more often! In other words, either eat a healthier variety of meals three times a day - no more than 5 hours apart, or,  eat a variety of smaller meals 5 times a day - about 3 hours apart.  In both cases, avoid snacking.  It is important to note one factor here which makes the biggest difference to weight gain or weight reduction.  If you eat a large meal, the body takes far longer to break down all that bulk and can leave you feeling tired and unmotivated. If you sit too long after a heavy meal, the body thinks it doesn't need all those nutrients for such a simple lifestyle - so it either stores them as fat, or flushes them through the system. Eating simpler, more digestible, or smaller meals more often means there is far less strain on the digestive system, and less bulk to carry around during the day.  It also means more nutrients will be absorbed, and the risk of foods turning into fat are smaller. 

Another  consideration when reducing body-fat is to include the types of foods we need to eat in our diet, and avoid the foods we need to leave out. For example, the milk you buy may need to change from Whole Milk to a Semi-skimmed variety. Cheeses will need to be changed to low-fat soft cheese.  While butter, greasy foods, sugary foods, syrups, jams, white bread and white flour should be avoided altogether. The section on  Eating to Develop  will give you a list of the positive and negative foods available.

As far as exercise goes, the amount of exercise or physical activity you undertake each week must be increased to burn off excess energy and fat from the body. Unlike bodybuilding routines, which are described throughout this guide, you are not trying to gain more muscle size or strength; and so the exercises you perform don't need to be anywhere near as strenuous. Another important note is this: if you exercise and eat straight away, the body tries to store some of the food as fat to rebalance fat you have just burned off. To avoid this,  it is better to eat a small snack or wait a while before eating.

If you are serious about a slimming diet, you may wish to look into the following areas:

• Read the  Vitamins and Minerals  section of this guide to understand what you need in your daily diet.

• Look at food individually in the  Food Properties  section. This will help you understand what each food group contains and why you should or shouldn't include them in your diet.

• Consider just how much weight you want to lose and maintain a sensible healthy diet until your goal is reached. Don't aim low!! Small amounts of body-fat are easily taken off, but all too easily put back on again.  Aim for a selection of larger milestones while your determination is vigorous. A useful guide to your ideal weight can be found in the weight chart above.. 

• Choose a selection of exercises which you will be happy to perform three times a week. These should centre on the areas of the body you specifically want to slim - without promoting muscle growth or size as this will severely increase your bodyweight. 

• Try to find a good calorie chart which will show you which foods contain what calories. This will help you choose your meals and protect you from choosing high calorie foods. A list of good meals can be found in the Healthy Eating Diet  section. These meals are recommended because they have in-built discipline and will leave you safe in the knowledge that the low-calories and nutrients you need you a healthy diet will be provided.