One way to maintain good health is to know your health numbers, such as your cholesterol or glucose levels. After you find out that you are indeed healthy you will want to get some baseline measurements, weight, waist and hip circumference and set some goals of where you want to be two months from now and even further down the road. If you don’t know your health numbers you might not know if your health is at risk. Then come up with a plan and start working on it, because if you want to lose weight and be successful you will need a plan.
The blood glucose is the standard test for diabetes and measures the level of sugar in a persons blood after fasting for a period af time. A measure of 100-126 mg/dl could indicate a condition of pre-diabetes; a measure of 126 mg/dl or higher could indicate diabetes.
The normal level for HDL, “the good cholesterol” for males is 40-50 mg/dl, females 50-60 mg/dl, and is said to protect against heart attack; while low levels indicate a higher risk for heart disease. The optimal level for LDL, “the bad cholesterol” is 100 with 190 mg/dl being very high. LDL is the main source for of cholesterol build up and blockage in our arteries, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.
If you are serious about losing weight then there are some things that you will want to do and one of them is to start eating healthier foods. Not only will this help to burn the fat off, but it will prevent you from having to go see the Doctor so often in the future. I don’t know about you, but I would like to be around when my kids grow up. Stop putting things off until tomorrow because today is tomorrow!
Body Mass Index (BMI), measures a persons relationship between height and weight and, for most people, is a fairly reliable indicator of body fatness. BMI is calculated by dividing one’s weight in pounds by one’s height in inches squared, then multiplying by 703. A measurement between 18.5-24.9 is considered to be a healthy weight with 18.5 being underweight, 25-29.9 being overweight, and 30-39.9 being obese.
Before I knew what I know now I never put much thought into eating healthy to lose weight. I always thought that you just had to eat less and the weight would disappear, but that is just not true. In fact I eat more often each day than I used to when I was fat, but instead of eating foods that would contribute to the problem I now eat foods that help to burn fat and build muscle.
I know that may sound funny but it is the truth and I feel better now than I have in many years because I am eating the right types of foods that give me energy for longer periods of time, keep me healthy.
Start making a conscience effort today to eat healthier and get rid of those foods in your house that contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Change your mind-set to associate snacking with healthy choices, such as cashews, carrots, celery, and so forth. There are indeed many ways to lose weight, but the best way to get the job done is to do it the healthy and natural way, by making smarter healthier choices.
It will take some effort on your part and if I told you otherwise I would be lying, but when you start seeing results you will get excited and it will give you the determination that you need to keep going until you reach your desired goal. That was the turning point for me when I started seeing a difference on the scale, I then knew that what I was doing was working and it made me work that much harder.
