Everyday Tips on Eating Smarter

How factors in your life affect your weight

When it comes to reaching and maintaining your ideal weight—isn't
just a matter of having the right diet. A number of factors play
into your body's metabolism. These factors can mean the difference
between your body using the food you eat for energy or simply
packing on more pounds.

1. Diet
   Without a doubt, the most important factor in achieving an ideal
   weight is your diet. Cooking food on your George Foreman®
   grill allows you to remove up to 42% of the fat from your
   favorite burgers. Along with removing as much fat as possible,
   also focus on adding more fresh fruits and vegetables for a more balanced diet
   and eliminating empty calories like soda.
   
   Once you've revisited your meal plan to make it healthier, you can let your grill cook meals fast you giving you time to focus on other lifestyle factors.
   
   In addition to aerobic exercise to burn calories and get your heart rate up, you should also spend 2 days doing strength exercise. Experts indicate that no specific amount of time is required, but you simply need to give your muscles a good workout to burn fat and maintain a healthy muscle mass.
2. Exercise
   Whether you want to lose weight or simply maintain a healthy weight, exercise is a huge factor. As a general rule of thumb, you need about 2½ hours of aerobic exercise per week.¹ This can be anything from walking and hiking outdoors to get some fresh air to heading to the gym to hit the exercise bike or elliptical.
3. Sleep
   No, this isn't some miracle claim that you can lose weight and burn calories while you sleep. On the contrary, recent studies indicate that both the amount of time and the regularity of sleep can have a drastic impact on weight.
   
   The idea is that hormones that control appetite are affected by the amount of sleep you get each night. When you don't sleep enough, these hormones get out of balance and cause you to be hungry more often.² In this light, you need to get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night and make sure your sleep schedule is consistent to keep your appetite hormones in check.
4. Stress
   You know stress affects your health and can lead to higher risks for things like high blood pressure and even cancer, but did you know that stress also has a direct impact on your weight? Recent studies over the past few years have made a direct connection between high levels of stress and weight gain.³
   
   So what's the connection of weight to stress? It's simple—when you get stressed, you lose balance in your lifestyle, which cause more fluctuations in your weight. Everything from when and what you're eating to how much you exercise you get changes during the stressful times in your life. These changes affect your metabolism and as a result, your weight.
   
   Of course, it's impossible to eliminate stress in your life, but you can minimize stress as much as possible. You can also be more aware that added stress affects your body, too, so when you do get stressed, you can work to limit lifestyle changes as much as possible.
5. Family & Environment
   While your family doesn't make you fat, they may not be helping either—your family creates an environment that may or may not be conducive to your healthy lifestyle. Active families tend to be active together, making them healthier as a whole. It also is a big factor in the kinds of foods you have in your house and what's around to tempt you when you're having a junk food craving.
   
   Not only does creating a healthy environment at home make it easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle for you, but it teaches kids the importance of being healthy, too. They can carry the healthy lifestyle habits they learn in the house into the rest of their lives.
6. Balance for Better Weight Control
   Overall, the key to maintaining a healthy weight is maintaining balance in your life—maintain a healthy diet with your George Foreman grill, minimize stress, work out regularly and keep a solid, consistent sleep schedule. With balance in your life, you're giving your body the tools it needs to be healthy, so it uses the calories you consume in the right way.