Thanks to a slowing metabolism, the older commercial or owner operator truck driver can no longer eat like a teenager and expect to stay lean. Add to this the sedentary trucking lifestyle, and you have the perfect formula for weight gain.
You should never become comfortable with excess weight because it leads to health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, sleep apnea, and even certain types of cancer. This should be motivation enough to keep the pounds off, but how is this best accomplished? Here are seven suggestions on doing it right:
Focus on Your Lifestyle Rather Than on Weight Loss Schemes
The only real approach to losing weight is living a healthy lifestyle. Anything else is a fad that is likely unsustainable with possible long-term health issues if you did manage to keep up with it. If you were lean as a teenager, you can regain this youthful physique by changing your lifestyle. This means eating right and getting exercise.
Eat a Good Breakfast Every Day
This should prevent snacking before lunch. The time of day when you need calories is in the morning when you still have the rest of the day ahead of you. If you must snack, eat fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, and seeds.
Do It One Step at a Time
You can only maintain your lifestyle change by making all aspects of it a habit. Habits are behaviors that happen automatically without effort or “pain.” You can best accomplish this by taking on one change at a time and working out how you are going to make the change.
Cook Your Own Food
This gives you more control over the food you eat. Pay attention to nutrition information on the labels and avoid processed foods such as commercially baked goods. Sweet foods must be natural.
Avoid Soft Drinks
Soft drinks provide non nutritional calories. This means they are extra calories added on top of what you will get anyway when eating food. Four cans of soda a day will add 600 needless calories. If you have a soda habit, drop it in favor of water.
Eat Smaller Portions
It is possible to gain weight even with healthy food. Consuming more calories than you burn, increases your weight. Be careful with the portion size and keep supper fairly small because you don’t need lots of calories at the end of the day. In addition, avoid eating before going to sleep.
Exercise
After a short walk, weight train with a set of dumbbells. Cardiovascular exercise is vital because it increases blood circulation to your organs and brain, which improves their function. Weight training prevents muscle loss that accompanies the aging process. Muscles burn calories, even when you aren’t using them.
Protect your truck and your livelihood by getting enough commercial or owner operator truck insurance in Florida. To learn more, contact us at J.E.B. Insurance Services, LLC.
