"How to" Diet and Weight Loss Tips
No one forces you to eat certain foods or to neglect
exercise. The decisions you make each day affect your life. What foods
will you eat? Will you get involved in a fitness program? Only you
can determine the success of your weight loss program. Begin today
by making the right choices, and read these helpful tips to get you
started.
Thanks to Joanne Bednar from Motivation
Station for many of the following tips. Joanne writes the motivational
fitness tip featured on Time for Fitness.
We often eat when we are stressed out or depressed. Try to break
that habit by exercising instead. It does not have to be intense exercise.
Sometimes a quiet stroll can have a great impact on relieving stress.
A great way to find out what triggers your food choices is to keep
a daily food diary. But rather than just logging what foods you eat,
log the circumstances around that choice. Log your emotional state
when you made that food choice. Eventually you will see patterns emerge,
and the first step to fixing something is identifying the problem!
Once you know that you always eat junk food when it rains, you can
prepare for times like that in advance.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Be aware of how much fat you eat. Keep a diary of everything you
eat. (Yes, even that soda you drink!) Next to each item, write the
number of calories and fat grams and calculate your daily total of
both:
- Multiply the
number of fat grams by 9 since each fat gram has 9 calories.
- Calculate
what percentage of your total daily calories came from fat by dividing
the number of fat calories by the number of total calories.
Take the amount of weight you want to lose, and divide by 2. That
is how many weeks it would take you to lose it, if you lose 2 pounds
per week EVERY week. Now take that number of weeks and triple it.
It will take you about one and a half times the number of weeks that
you think it will to reach your goal weight. Plateaus are inevitable,
and you need to prepare for them. Weight loss plateaus can last anywhere
from 2 weeks to several months. It takes every bit of patience you
can muster up to stick with your way of life during a plateau. To
break a plateau you will need to change things around in your fitness
regimen and in your daily diet as well.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Studies show that even if you are losing weight on a diet plan,
you could be hurting your heart if your diet plan includes high amounts
of fat. In one study, people who ate a restricted calorie diet that
was high in fat experienced an increase in several heart disease risk
factors, despite the fact that they lost weight on the plan.
-RealAge.com
According to RealAge.com, becoming preoccupied during mealtimes
may cause you to eat more calories than you normally would. In one
study, women ate significantly more calories when they listened to
a detective story during their meal compared to when they focused
on the food they were eating.
How big are your dinner plates? If you start with smaller portions,
you may be able to stop without taking seconds. The illusion of simply
cleaning your plate can sometimes be enough to trigger our hunger
mechanism to stop. For this reason, consider using smaller plates.
If you take seconds, try healthy seconds....like more veggies, salad
or fruits. Try removing all serving dishes from the table after everyone
has their first portion. It is much easier to reach into the mashed
potatoes bowl and pile more on your plate than it is to get up, go
over to the counter, fill up, sit back down and eat.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Are you the type that wants to keep eating at a meal? Convince yourself
that you should only eat a cup or 2 of food. If you get hungry later,
you may eat a little later. Our bodies digest food better in smaller
portions anyway, and this will help to keep your digestive system
active more often (burning more calories at a steady pace). You don't
have to go back for seconds or thirds if you know that you can eat
again later, if needed. Remember, another meal will ALWAYS be right
around the corner. That is enough to keep anyone from feeling deprived!
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Are you counting carbs? If so, make sure you're not counting yourself
into an unhealthy corner. A recent study suggests that a low-carbohydrate,
high-protein diet may increase your risk of kidney stones. Aim for
a balanced diet that includes moderate amounts of protein, but also
plenty of high-fiber fruits and vegetables
-Tip from RealAge.com
Weight loss is best accomplished through a combination of cardio,
weight training and diet. Weight training increases your muscles and
the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you will
burn at rest. In other words, your metabolism becomes faster.
Don't leave out resistance training when it comes to weight loss.
Many people make the mistake of thinking they should only try and
burn off the fat through aerobic exercise. While this is a key component
of fitness, resistance training is too important to your weight loss
efforts to leave out.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
The more muscle mass you have the higher your metabolism is. Muscle
is a highly metabolic tissue that requires tons of energy to maintain.
A person with muscle can eat more food without gaining weight compared
to the slim, but non-muscular person.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
A pound of fat at rest burns only 2 calories. A pound of muscle
at rest burns 50 calories! By adding muscle tissue to your body you
have increased your BMR because it requires so much more energy to
"maintain" muscle mass. Adding more lean muscle tissue,
and decreasing your fat tissue produces a calorie-burning machine,
even at rest!
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
If you have stalled in your weight loss efforts, pick up weight
training and watch the weight fall off! After the initial changes
(sometimes a 4 lb gain of muscle over 6 weeks....balanced usually
by a 4 lb loss of fat so the scale remains constant) you will notice
that you will start to lose more easily, and more importantly, be
able to keep it off. All the while, you will be tightening and toning
your body into a more shapely figure, and you will be amazed at your
underlying physique as you start to melt the fat away!
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
How do you get your body trained to burn fat instead of store it?
Aerobic exercise. As an unfit person begins to exercise, the body
continues to hold on to the fat, because it is not trained to release
it very easily. Over time, as you exercise regularly, your fat cells
begin breaking down more readily, and your muscles actually recruit
more fat burning enzymes to make their job easier. You essentially
become more efficient. As you become more fit, your fat storing enzymes
start to disappear, and you become a fat burning machine!
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
One of the habits of naturally thin people is the "fidget factor".
This goes beyond just parking further away and taking the stairs.
The fidget factor accounts for a significant calorie burn. Those who
have it seem to never sit down. If and when they are sitting, they
are tapping their leg, bouncing their knee, etc. If you want to get
the fidget factor, then concentrate on daily exercise. The increase
in metabolism that you will get from exercise produces "restless"
muscles, causing you to want to move around rather than sit still.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
The goal of cardiorespiratory exercise is to train your body to
burn fat better and more efficiently over time. An athlete burns more
fat, both during exercise and at rest, than an unfit person, which
explains why an active person can eat three platefuls of food and
not gain a single pound. If you love to eat, then your goal should
be to integrate exercise into your daily life so that you may do so
and still maintain a healthy weight and percentage of body fat.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Exercise in general increases your metabolism, because not only
do you require tons of energy to get through your workout, but once
you stop exercising your muscles work like crazy to replace all the
glucose you just burned up! This "post exercise" calorie
burn continues after your session is over. Now you know why fit people
can eat so much. They have a high metabolism, and naturally burn a
large amount of calories during exercise and at rest.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
A single exercise session does not make a difference in your weight
or metabolism, but over time, your body adapts to the regular stress
of exercise and becomes more efficient. Someone who exercises regularly
will burn more calories all day long, as opposed to someone who only
exercises once per week. Once you raise your metabolism through regular
exercise, you will be a calorie burning machine and will see the weight
come off, or you can eat more without gaining.
Think starving yourself is the only way to lose weight? Don't underestimate
the power of physical activity when it comes to whittling your waist.
In one recent study, participants lost approximately the same number
of pounds regardless of whether they used an exercise regimen or a
calorie-restricted diet as their means of weight loss. What's more,
compared to the dieting group, the exercisers lost a higher percentage
of body fat.
-Tip from RealAge.com
Energy is the body's number one priority, so the body will do anything
to get it. If you go long enough without eating, the muscle tissue
(protein) must then be converted to glucose to sustain body functions.
You will burn off some fat during a starvation or low calorie diet.
But since fat is the most abundant source of energy the body will
"hold on" to your fat cells tightly before they release
them for energy use.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Pre-bagged snack foods are a great way to stay on track when the
hungries hit while you are on the road. Be sure to keep some pre-measured
snacks with your in your car in case you get stuck in traffic. This
strategy could help you to avoid any last minute golden arches runs
out of weakness. Stick with snacks that will fill you up like little
baggies of whole grain cereals, trail mixes and granola bars. But
watch that calorie and fat intake--some are better than others.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Caloric Intake
Just because you are eating healthy and exercising doesn't grant you
a license to over-eat. The rule still applies that in order to lose
a pound of fat per week, you must eliminate 3500 calories from your
weekly intake/output. The best strategy to do this is to reduce your
caloric intake by 250 per day, and exercise off 250 per day (500 x
7 days in a week = 3500). So how many calories should you really be
taking in? Try this formula:
- Take your
weight and multiply it by 10.
- Take that
number and multiply it by .30 for light exercise, .40 for moderate
exercise or .50 for heavy exercise.
- Add up the
answers to #1 and #2, then multiply that answer by .10.
- Add up the
answers to #1, #2, and #3 to get your estimated calorie intake per
day.
(From the American Dietetic Association)
Trying to stick to smaller portions can be depressing if you enjoy
eating. To make your meals look bigger, serve them on a large bed
of lettuce! Also, fix a big green salad with your small meal and the
fiber will help fill you up and keep you feeling satisfied, not to
mention filling your diet full of healthy vitamins! -Tip from
Joanne Bednar
Unfortunately, alcohol isn't so great for those wishing to lose
weight, or even maintain for that matter. Alcohol has too many calories
per gram, just like fat. Fat has 9 calories per gram, carbs have 4
calories per gram and protein has 4 calories per gram. But alcohol
has 7 calories per gram, so you can see how adding these nutritional
zero calories to your daily diet can really hurt your weight loss
plan. Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream almost immediately
rather than staying in the stomach like food, so you certainly aren't
going to feel full after drinking any. Add alcohol to a night out
with dinner and your calorie consumption is through the roof. The
worst part about alcohol is that it is a depressant, which means it
will slow down your metabolism. A high metabolism is the key to weight
loss and maintenance! -Tip from Joanne Bednar
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For thousands of years, the Chinese have been combining the right
foods, at the right time, in the right way to burn fat. You can too,
using these basic principles:
- Certain foods
boost energy, while others depress energy. So eat the right foods!
- Think in combinations
of food, which burn fat instead of calories.
- Eat fruit in
the morning two hours before breakfast to boost your digestive system
and burn more calories.
- Eating fresh
fruit two hours before or after any meal as a snack will aid you
in burning fat and losing weight. (Fruits are best when eaten alone
to burn fat.)
- Limit your
intake of high fat dairy products.
- When eating
foods containing protein such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese
etc., limit your intake of carbohydrates such as; potatoes, bread,
rice, pasta and grains and visa Ideal Fitness.
-Tip submitted by Donna Willoughby of INSPIRATION-TIPS
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Eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are full. Sounds too simple
right? Well, it can be that simple. You should follow your body's
cues. God created the human body so that it would signal us when we
needed energy by giving us hunger pains. When you feel hunger pains,
it is simply your body telling you that you need to feed it, or it
will start slowing your metabolism down. So EAT, just eat the right
foods! The act of digestion alone takes a huge amount of energy, so
just by eating you are increasing your metabolism! The key to permanent
weight loss is a high metabolism. The single most contributing factor
to raising metabolism is daily exercise, and increasing your muscle
mass through resistance training.
-Tip from Joanne Bednar
Water helps metabolize stored fat! When you don't drink enough water
your kidneys can't function properly, and the liver must help. One
of the livers main functions is to metabolize stored fat, and if it
has to help the kidneys, it can't metabolize the fat at normal levels.
So less fat is metabolized, and more remains stored in your body.
That means no weight loss. By drinking enough water you allow the
kidneys to function at full throttle, the liver to function at full
throttle, and you allow fat burning to occur at full throttle! Keep
in mind that water also rids the body of metabolic waste, and as you
lose weight you have much more metabolic waste than normal. The heavier
you are, the more water you need to make sure these processes function
smoothly. -Tip from Joanne Bednar from Motivation
Station
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