February 16th, 2009
Losing weight at any point of life is quite painful. It takes a lot of effort, self-determination and grit to make it work. More than that, it takes more effort to not put on the weight again. As age advances, losing weight becomes more and more difficult while putting on weight becomes easier. Thus, by the time you are 40, you realize that losing that paunch is taking too much time than you had imagined.
In order to make any weight loss program work, you must have constant source of determination and motivation. Any human may slacken down at some point or the other and during these weak times, the program fails. In order to avoid this, what you need to do is find yourself a buddy, or in other words, a person who is of your age group and thus will understand how much effort it takes to lose weight.
But before you seek out a buddy, you must ask yourself if you really want this or you are just getting carried with the flow. If you are even slightly overweight, I suggest you get working right away as the more you put it off, the more harder it will be to lose the extra ounce of weight later in the your life. Having realized what you want, find yourself a buddy. It can be your best friend, your spouse or any other family member.
Once you both chart your goals and define milestones, you must prepare a rewards program. Make sure there is a slight amount of competitiveness between the two of you, so that you put in that extra amount of effort to out do your partner. Along with that, you can begin to check out support groups which may provide you with additional information as to what you may be doing wrong or what is a better substitute for particular food stuff.
Remember, you and your buddy are to complement each other so that the day he may feel weak, you can help him tide through his rough phase and vice versa.
Tags: Losing Weight, Weight After 40
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February 16th, 2009
Hypothyroidism is defined as a condition in which there is reduced secretion of thyroid hormone due to a primary or a secondary cause. This can present in many ways. To begin with, since there is hypothyroidism, the body tends to utilize less energy and thus there is a higher incidence of weight gain. This can be the presenting feature in many of the patients. They may complain that even though they are working out and/or restricting their diets, yet they seem to be putting on a substantial amount of weight.
For others, the presenting complaints can comprise of headaches, inability to focus on things for a long time and recollecting any information is tougher. Other features can be as trivial as unhealthy hair or diarrhea. Loss of appetite, infertility, irregular menstrual cycles and even depression can be a presenting feature. Since the complaints can be so varied, it is not often that a clinician jumps to a diagnosis of hypothyroidism at the first go. However, once the diagnosis is made, there are few things that as a patient, you must do.
Hypothyroidism may be due to many reasons. It may be malfunctioning from birth or can stop functioning after exposure to radiation or certain thyrotoxic agents like chemicals, drugs, insecticides. Even high intake of saturated fats may play a role in hypothyroidism. First and foremost, drugs used for treating hypothyroidism may cause some side affects. You must enquire from your doctor about the various side effects and also when you must discontinue the drug. Allergies, cramps, vomiting and diarrhea etc can occur during the therapy. Unless mentioned otherwise, do not discontinue your treatment.
One thing that you must realize is that treatment for hypothyroidism is life long and discontinuing your therapy will only do you harm and no good. So be regular in your therapy and live a healthier life.
Tags: Hypothyroidism, Obesity
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