A general principle of life that perhaps all of us understand is the principle of how something small can become big over time. A tomato seed, when planted in the ground, produces a plant with hundreds more seeds. Money deposited into an interest-bearing account and left to sit for years will grow into a much larger amount of money that compounds on itself.
When it comes to your weight, the same principle applies. The little things you do on a regular basis tend to have the biggest effect on your fat levels. Of course, depending on what you do, the effect could be good or bad. In this post, I’d like to discuss some of the small things that we often do that adversely affect our body weight.
Skipping the stairs and finding close parking spaces
When you skip the staircase at your job or at the store and opt for the elevator, you skip a great chance to burn a few extra calories. And who doesn’t like a closer parking space? I definitely do, but by parking just a little further away at work and at the store and taking maybe 20 extra steps, that could mean approximately 26,000 extra steps every year.
Drinking soda or sweetened coffee or tea every day
When the right time of day comes, many of us go for our favorite beverage, which could be coffee, tea or soda. This could mean a ton of empty calories in the form of white sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and that’s every single day. The average cola contains 32 grams of sugar and 130 Calories (according to Calorie King), providing opportunities for you to upset your blood sugar levels and consume way too many calories. Both of these lead to fat gain.
Staying up late to watch your show
Sleep has a profound effect on regulating our hormones. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the amount of sleep we get has a direct effect, for example, on secretion of ghrelin and leptin, both of which affect our appetites. So when you skip sleep consistently for the sake of watching your favorite show, or to finish some work, you never give your hormones a chance to regulate properly.
These are but a few examples of little bad habits that can add on major weight over time. I pray that this post is not simply something for you to read for pleasure reading. In contrast, I hope that it really helps you to pay attention to whatever your daily habits might be, so that you can improve your ability to maintain a healthy weight and live a healthier life. That’s what it’s about at the end of the day, guys.
What little habits do you personally know you have that are causing (or have caused) you to gain weight? Please share!
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