By Kelsey Mobbs/reporter
The desire to achieve a “beach-ready” body on a deadline is difficult, but doing it the incorrect way might damage one’s health.
“Losing weight before spring break is incredibly stressful because I always wait till the last minute,” Kersten Kee, NW Campus student, said.
Another student, Megan McKinney, NE Campus, said, “About a month before spring break, my friends and I attempt the trendiest crash diet by eating very little and working out excessively.”
The key to a healthy body, however, is the foundation of how one’s body will function properly and lose unwanted weight.
What a person puts in his mouth has side effects, either good or bad.
Starting off the day with a healthy breakfast is crucial. If the body is not receiving the food it needs, the metabolism goes in reverse.
Eating healthier does not mean a person needs to go on a restrictive diet. It means making changes that a person can stay with over time.
Consistently eating foods that are low in saturated fats and trans fats and that include whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats (such as olive oil) will lower the risk for disease, according to a recent MSN article.
“Usually the newest diet tells you just to eat several types of food and doesn’t teach you how to eat properly. Even when I was at my lowest weight, I wasn’t healthy,” Kristina Barone, NE student, said.
Eating the right foods will help a person become healthy, but it will not burn excess calories. Exercising will burn those calories.
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services article said becoming a healthier person is not just about eating healthy—it is also about physical activity.
Regular physical activity is important for overall health and fitness.
Such activity also helps a person control body weight by balancing the calories he or she takes in as food with the calories expended each day.
For true fitness, the recommendations include the following.
• Adults should be physically active for at least 30 minutes most days of the week.
• Increasing the intensity or the amount of time that you are physically active can have even greater health benefits and may be needed to control body weight. About 60 minutes a day may be needed to prevent weight gain.
• Children and teenagers should be physically active for 60 minutes every day, or most every day.
The seven most effective exercises are walking, interval training, squats, push-ups, abdominal crunches and bend-over row.
But with just about any strength or resistance exercise, the question is not so much whether the exercise works as how well it is executed, David Petersen Oldsmar, a Florida trainer, said in a WebMD article.
For a free of charge visit, http://www.mypyramid.gov to receive My Pyramid Plan and My Pyramid Tracker, which assists in a personal eating plan, food intake and physical activity level.
Before starting a new diet or exercise program, a person should consult his doctor or fitness instructor.
Above all, a healthy nutritious diet and regular exercise are an ideal start to losing weight.
Instead of crash dieting before spring break, try living a good lifestyle throughout the year. That will make the body stay in shape to live a long, healthy life.
