- How To
- How to Lose Weight Effectively
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Click hereFirst off, let me say I am not a qualified dietitian and I have no formal training in this field at all. Everything I am saying is found through personal trails and errors only. The only reason I am writing this is that I know there are many people who have a problem with weight gain just as I do.
There is no secret to losing weight, no special pill, no secret food that sheds pounds and not even surgery will work for permanent weight loss. Let me say it now before I get all the nasty letters, the various surgeries for weight losses seem to work at first. I mean it makes sense that if your stomach is now smaller you will eat less and get full faster. The problem comes from not changing your life style. If you are use to eating until you are stuffed then every time you stuff yourself you will stretch your stomach a little bit more and before long, you are right back where you started. Losing weight has to begin with a lifestyle change and just like most goals it takes commitment. You have to decide that you want to be slimmer more than you want that slice of chocolate cake.
Once you make that decision to be a healthy slimmer you, the rest comes down to simple mathematics. Every time you burn off 3500 more calories than you consume you lose one pound. You can do this by eating less or exercising more or by what I feel is the best way a combination of the two. It doesn't take a math genius to see if you just cut 500 calories (one Big Mac is 540 calories) per day from your diet you could easily lose one pound per week. Now if you included something like an hour a day riding your bike (that is 300 calories per 26 minutes of vigorous pedaling) you could easily make that two pounds per week. OK so you don't have the time or maybe the energy to pedal hard for an hour a day, then just do a half-hour and eat 1000 calories less than you do now. Does all this sound to simplistic? Yeah it probably is but that is the basic rule for losing weight. Still all things being equal, if you just followed those two things you would lose eight pounds a month. Let's say you started in January by summer you could be down fifty pounds with a waist that is five inches slimmer.
I personally have been on a diet and lifestyle change for over nine months now. I have managed to lose over seventy pounds and almost ten inches off my waist. I know I look better and my wife agrees with me but what is even more rewarding is I feel so much better. I'm even sleeping better now that I don't have that big belly to try to sleep around. One other reward that I just noticed the other day is I no longer need antacids. I found myself suffering from heartburn almost every day and I was taking something before bedtime or I would suffer the consequences.
Allow me to include a few hints I have discovered along the way. Do not, I repeat do not weigh yourself every day. There are too many dally variables for accurate recording to allow you to weigh daily. If you just happen to have a meal with too much salt in it, you can throw off the scale by a couple of pounds with water retention alone. Once a week is plenty and if you want, twice but do not weigh yourself more than three times a week. Many people don't believe in using a scale ever, just letting their clothes tell them where they are. Personally, I find it rewarding to see that scale drop as you get on it. Water is very important in all weight loss regimens. You need to drink at least eighty ounces of water per day. Unbelievably drinking extra water helps you from retaining water and it flushes the ketones (basically the ash left from consuming calories). I fill five one-liter bottles with water every day and I have found that it is much easier to drink and easier to keep track that way. As far as exercise, I would advise joining a gym just because there is more equipment and therefore more diversity. However if you don't wish to go that way, there is plenty of exercises you can do at home. There must be a hundred websites with both home and gym exercise tips on them. Cardio exercise is the most important as you need to raise your heart rate in order to burn more calories. Strength training is also very helpful in weight loss as muscle burns calories faster than fat.
Another thing to keep in mind is that we are all human and eventually we will slide off the wagon. A party or a night on the town it doesn't really matter what causes it. The thing is you have to keep the faith so to speak, if you have a wild weekend and eat and or drink too much come Monday you have to get back on that wagon. As I have said, this is a lifestyle change but it is still a life. There will be times when you will need or simply want to overindulge, just remember it is OK as long as you go back to your routine.
Well I hope my ramblings will help someone make the commitment to take that first step so to speak. The one thing that helps is that when you start you will lose weight faster than at any other time on your diet. Although most of this loss is just water it is still encouraging to a new dieter. So here is to your new lifestyle and your new look and believe me, I know you will enjoy it.
- COMMENTS
Anonymousover 14 years agoI'm not disagreeing with your advice, exactly, I'm pointing out that long term weight loss of more than, say, 5, maybe 10 pounds, is impossible. Period. Despite dozens of clinical trials using every form and combination of diet and exercise around, all weight lost comes back except, again, 5-10 pounds. Period. The faster you lose weight, the faster you regain it. People who start and maintain a strict diet/exercise routine will lose weight and then regain most of it by the end of 1 year, and pretty much all of it in 2 years. I'm not saying this to make people feel bad; on the contrary, I'm saying this to make it clear to people that your weight is as genetically determined as your height. Being overweight is not a flaw, it's not a mistake, it's not proof that you are some lazy slob, it's just you.
The reason people think diets work is because they DO work, for a little while, and because almost no one maintains a diet. So what happens is, people yo-yo. I know someone who loves the Atkins diet, because they cut carbs to get down to size, then eat whatever they want until they come back up to the weight they don't like. This is one of the worst things you can do to your body besides smoke. Stop worrying about your food and enjoy it instead. After all, being overweight means you will, statistically, live longer and fare most any disease/operation/disorder better than your skinny counterparts.
smy3thover 14 years agoI agree with most of what you have said. I lost 60 lbs over about 8 months and have stayed at my goal for 6 months since. I used to nearly live on Rolaids, but haven't needed a single one since I started losing weight. Feel great. Look great.
I don't think it is practical to lose weight by either exercise alone or diet alone. It takes both. Diet alone is too slow. You need a certain amount of food to get basic nutrition. Without exercise, diet alone will be too slow and you will get discouraged and give up. With exercise alone you tend to just eat more to make up for it and if you ever stop exercising you gain it right back.
The best exercise for burning calories is running. Hands down, nothing burns as many calories per hour as a vigorous run.
I disagree strongly about weighing yourself. I weigh myself 3 or 4 times a day. The fluctuations are there, but if you only weigh yourself once a week the fluctuations can ruin your entire week vs. seeing the trend as each day goes by.
Studies of the less than 5% of people who lose a lot of weight and manage to keep it off show certain common behaviors:
1. They exercise 1 hour per day.
2. They weigh themselves frequently and make adjustments based on their weight.
3. They write down what they eat.
4. They eat a diet high in whole grains, fruits and veggies and low in fat.
I strongly recommend a free diet journaling website, of which there are many. Sparkpeople. Daily Plate, My Calorie Counter etc.
The other thing I found is that you need to learn to live with being a little bit hungry. If you think there is some diet out there that will cause you to lose weight without being hungry, I think you are likely to fail. Learn to embrace the hunger. Revel in it. Hunger to be thin. Keep repeating: Hunger is just the feeling of fat leaving your body. If you are eating a reasonable diet, a little hunger is probably good for you.
The other advice I have is, don't adopt any special diet. Don't start eating "diet food." That's a dead end. Eat what you like, but control the portions so your calorie intake is under control. That is the only sustainable diet.
H.H.Morantover 14 years ago-->
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<p class=MsoNormal>This is a very good article, and I agree with every
suggestion the author makes – been there, done that <i>et cetera.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>One thing he did not mention, and which works for me and the
people I know who have used it when the weight starts creeping back up –
and it ALWAYS will – is to make a note of the quantity (weight in grams
if possible) of EVERYTHING you consume so that you can keep accurate track of
every calorie you consume,</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>This writing everything down is a pain in the ass, and that
by itself sometimes deters me from snacking.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>It is also the only way of knowing just how much food you
are consuming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Three skimpy meals
a day and no snacks gets demoralizing quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>But this is simply a crutch to help with the basic scheme –
more exercise, less caloric intake.<o:p></o:p></p>
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Anonymousover 14 years ago....rapidly becoming accepted that one of the most effective dietary changes is to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day which speeds up the body's metabolic rate. Without this no amount of dieting will be effective.(That's where the aerobic and anaerobic exercises come in for people who stick with "three squares a day").But most people are incapable of the amount of exercise necessary to alter metabolic rates thus the 6 meal dietary change becomes the effective choice.Lost 30 pound in 6 weeks last fall without any added exercise-pistolpackinpete
