How to Lose Weight in 2023

Losing weight can be a hard task for many, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There is an abundance of information on health, wellness, and fitness. If a person in the year 2023 wants to know how to lose weight, then this is the article for them. Losing weight can be as simple as that person wants it to be. However, sometimes there are multiple factors regarding why that person became obese in the first place.

The Factors of Obesity

Now the thing about obesity and health in general, is that your socioeconomic status greatly impacts one’s likelihood of poor health. For example, if a person is from a marginalized background, they may have a likelier chance of experiencing obesity.

According to the CDC:

“Underlying risks that may help explain disparities in obesity prevalence among non-Hispanic black and the Hispanic populations could include lower high school graduation rates, higher rates of unemployment, higher levels of food insecurity, greater access to poor quality foods, less access to convenient places for physical activity, targeted marketing of unhealthy foods, and poor access to health care or referrals to convenient community organizations that aid family-management or self-management resources.” 

What this means from a public health perspective is that there should be more focus on marginalized identities when thinking about the national health risk of obesity.

The Infamous “Caloric Deficit”

Now that the factors that contribute to obesity have been covered, the part about actually losing weight can be discussed. If one has been in the fitness space within the last five years, the term “caloric deficit” should be familiar. A caloric deficit is when a person burns more or eats less than their maintenance calories. A person’s maintenance calories describes how many calories it takes to maintain their physique. It doesn’t matter what kind of physique that person has, every human being has a certain level of maintenance calories.

Furthermore, a good example of a caloric deficit could be a person’s maintenance calories sitting around 2500, but they decide to go on 30-minute workouts, or they only have one cup of sprite instead of three. This would put that person under their maintenance calories, meaning they lose weight. Losing weight in and of itself isn’t that complicated. The complicated part is how to do this, and keep the weight off.

How to Lose Weight

Since every human being is different, there is no one answer to the question. Everyone is different and different people are going to prefer different things. Some people are going to like having 30-minute walks in the park, and others may want to bench 405 lbs.

With this complexity and nuance in mind, the fact of the matter is that it is up to that person and their goals. If that person wants to have bigger muscles, they could do hypertrophy training. If becoming stronger is the goal, then strongman training or powerlifting could be right for them.

At the end of the day, it is truly up to the person and what they need. Every person’s situation is different. Some people may be in their 80s and can’t exactly barbell back squat like they could in their 20s. On top of this, there is the fact that some exercises require good form. Everyone has seen the deadlift videos of a 15-year-old high schooler attempting to deadlift 3 times his weight with a back arch that would make Greek architects jealous.

The point is that whatever the person chooses they have to take it seriously because safety and wellness is important. Ultimately, when people find things they can stick to, it is harder to make them stop. Not everyone has to train for the Olympia, however, it is a net good for society if most people are healthy.

The Next Steps

Alright, now that that “genre” of fitness has been chosen the next steps can be taken. Although, it should be mentioned that one doesn’t exactly have to choose one, and could explore as much as they like. Picking one or two genres simply helps in tracking progress. The next step is different depending on what genre was chosen.

For example, if someone chose running or walking then the first step would be something like a two-minute treadmill walk. The reason why is to build strong habits, it isn’t good to start with high intensity. That mindset could cause injuries. The human body is an adaptive organism that adapts to internal and external stimuli.

One must allow their body to adapt to the new stimulus. If a powerlifter wants to start powerlifting, they probably shouldn’t go to the gym twice a day 6 times a week on week one. It makes no sense to engage with fitness in that manner.

Fitness is not a race, it is a marathon. That marathon has obstacles and speed bumps and all sorts of things on it. The next step for a person looking to begin their fitness journey is not only to simply “start”, but it is to start slowly. Nobody is squatting 405 on their first go around.

Failure

After all this, one must be warned about the feelings of failure. Failure is something that haunts the minds and hearts of all people. However, within fitness, it is simply a part of the journey.

Anyone who has been pursuing fitness for any significant period can talk about a time when they experienced failure. Yet, when they talk about it they are usually ok with it. The reason for that is that they understand the message that was stated earlier. Fitness is a marathon, not a sprint.

Sure, some people are in it to be the fastest, or the strongest, or look good in the summer, but even those people have to jump over hurdles in their journey too. Losing weight can be where a person stops, or they could go further and start working on their cardiovascular health, or they could train to be the strongest person in their family.

At the end of the day, losing weight is a part of the fitness journey, some can start and stop there however, to keep off that weight, it helps to engage in other forms of fitness. Don’t be afraid to fail, because failure is one of the many paths to success.

Written by Kenneth Mazerat

Sources:

The Guardian: Exercise and satisfying relationships are the secrets to good health in later life

Medical News Today: How to safely and effectively create a calorie deficit for weight loss

Petersen, Ruth, et al.: “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Adult Obesity in the United States: CDC’s Tracking to Inform State and Local Action.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 Apr. 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2019/18_0579.htm.

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of slgckgc’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

First Inset Image Courtesy of Maks Karochkin’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

Second Inset Image Courtesy of slgckgc’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License