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Question: Which workout and diet/food change to use?

(Posted by: Amy on 2010-01-15 10:29:49)

Ok. I'm not looking for any comments such as I'm fat, anything else making fun of my weight. I'll report if you do. I have roughly 115 lbs to lose. I'm 5'4 and weight over 200 lbs. I'd like to get my weight down to at least 145 lbs by my 30th birthday. I'm giving myself almost a year and a half to reach my goal. I think it's fairly feasible as long as I stick with whatever food and exercise regimen I choose. I was thinking about going with the South Beach diet to begin with and joining a gym when I feel I won't kill myself from the work out. I was talking to my boss about it briefly and he suggested the P90X nutrition plan thing. That's what he uses and apparently lost a bunch of weight and toned up on that. So which one would be better for me? I need something. Desperately really. I'm sick of being disgusted with myself and feeling like crap. I'd love to be able to like go out to like a club and not feel like I'm that fattest person there. I want to be beautiful. I know beauty comes from within and all that, but I want to be attractive. To both myself and other people... Let me know your opinions and suggestions. Again, please no harsh or rude comments. I'm not stupid. I didn't go to bed last night at 145 lbs and wake up today as what I am. I know I'm overweight. I'm just trying to be proactive. Thanks!

Posted by: Christine on 2010-01-15, 10:52:57

Its really great that you are doing this slow. That is the key to successful weight loss and keeping the weight off. Start making small steps and you will slowly start changing your life. In order to lose the weight, and keep it off, you have to change your lifestyle and eating habits. I don't recommend P90X for you. That workout regiment is for people who want to be ripped and muscular. It is more for muscle gain than for people who want to lose weight. Start out slower and work your way up so you don't get burnt out. The first thing to do is start walking every day. Don't over do it because you'll burn yourself out. Start walking at a pace that you can sustain for 30 mins. Do that everyday. Add your favorite strength training program 3 or 4 days a week, alternating days so that you don't wear yourself out. Then, start adding interval training, and more time to your walking workout. Start adding periodic jogs/ runs to your walk, this was the key to my weight loss. This will boost your metabolism and keep you burning calories after your workout, it has tons of extra burned calories and makes you feel so energized! Don't do some boxed diet meal plan like South Beach or Nutrisystem because as soon as you stop eating those boxed meals, you will gain it all back, and more. Don't do Atkins or some other low/ no carb diet because you are going to be exercising and when you exercise you need carbohydrates to help build muscle. As a rule, stay away from fad diets, because though you will lose 10lbs of water weight real fast, you will also lose healthy muscle tissue. You just need to eat healthier, and change your habits so the changes stick. Also, don't take diet pills. They will ruin your heart and liver and can have mental side effects. Losing the weight yourself will feel so much more rewarding than starving yourself and taking terrible pills. You need to change your eating habits. You need to do some research and find out what foods are healthy and make sure you are eating balanced meals. The biggest step you can take is to eat half of what you used to eat. Get your normal portion of food, then put half of it back. This is an all over American problem. Eating way too much. You will be hungry for about a week, but if you snack smart you can make it. Eventually your appetite will die down and if you stick to an eating routine your body will get used to the new eating habits. I am in the same situation as you. Last December I weighed 250lbs, I started making small changes and I lost 40lbs in 6 months. Sadly when I went back to college, I gained a little bit of it back, but I'm back on track and ready to finish this out and change my life. You can do it too. Here's the website I used: prevention.com It's a health magazine that has some amazing resources to stay healthy and prevent disease. There are tools on the website that can help you calculate how many calories you need to burn a day and how many calories you burned in a workout. The best resource on there is the Health Tracker. It is a giant calendar that can keep track of all the food you eat, your workouts, mood, size changes, its just great. You can track your health and weight over time, and makes it so easy to stay motivated. That can be found here: prevention.com/ cda/ healthtracker.do?fdpath= oi%2FFitDay%2FCalendar.html &rdata= FitWrapper &rpagename= Calendar &rpagecategory= Calendar They have some really great workout plans and even some really good recipes. The workout plan I used is found here: prevention.com/ health/ fitness/ cardio/ turn-your-walk-into-a-run-and-drop-a-size-in-4-weeks/ article/ 1b52700d2a381210VgnVCM10000013281eac____ I lost 20lbs in the first 2 weeks! It was hard, but it is a great workout routine to get into. Use the rest of the website to find great eating habits and recipes. Good Luck on your journey to a new you!

Posted by: cyn_texas on 2010-01-15, 10:41:31

I highly recommend Atkins over South Beach for the insulin resistant & you can't gain that much weight without being insulin resistant. Atkins lower carb levels stop the cravings & allow more fat loss. 6 years ago, I started Atkins low carb way of eating to just quit gaining weight. I had to get my out of control appetite under control. I never imagined I could LOSE weight without hunger or exercise, since I've become disabled. I never bothered weighing or measuring til I'd noticed that my clothes got huge quick. When my health improved dramatically also, I knew this was my new way of life and since it's eat all you want (of low carb foods) I know I can do this for life. My personal carb level is low. I am older & disabled & don't move much (or cook much) but I eat all I want of meats, eggs, cheeses, yogurt, fats, green vegetables, almonds, berries, flax seeds, chia seeds, shirataki noodles and other foods. Someone active would have a MUCH higher carb level. As long as you have <9grams carbs per hour, you will maintain insulin control & shouldn't gain weight, no matter the calories. Most obese people have blood sugar & insulin dysfunctions and can NEVER eat carbs as someone with a functioning body can. They make the mistake of going back to the way of eating that made them fat and that is not possible and yes they will gain all weight back if they eat what they ate that made them obese originally. Many people can return to moderate carb levels but very few can really eat all they want of sugar & maintain weight or health. You can lose more body fat eating protein & fat (don't eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter & half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high & the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace. The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce & celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers & more vegetables thereafter - add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different & depends on how active you are.) Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods. The first week is just water weight but fat is lost thereafter if you keep your calories high enough. Otherwise the body will strip it's own lean tissue for nutrition. Although that may look great on a scale it will make it MUCH easier to accumulate fat in the future (since all that pesky lean tissue burning up calories will be gone). The body won't release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing & store fat on anything. The body will only release it's fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food. Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) & exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat. The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis). Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) trigger insulin, the only fat storage hormone. Protein releases the fat burning hormone glucagon. High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger & unbalance other hormones. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones & allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise. Ground flax seed (2-4 Tbsp) 1/ 4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg - let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 min. for daily fiber needs.

Posted by: Jessica S on 2010-01-15, 10:54:06

There are many ways to burn calories, and it is difficult to give you an exact plan as the number of calories you burn depends greatly on the intensity of your excercise (as determined by your heart rate) and the type of exercise you do, as well as your current weight and height. However, the energy needed to burn 1 lb of fat is equal to 3500 kcal (or calories). 3500 divided by 7 days in a week = 500 cal/ day So, in order to lose 1 lb a week, you must have a total calorie count that is approx 500 cal less than what you eat each day. So if you ate 1500 cal per day, but then burned 500 cal in exercise, you should be hitting your goal. You could eat 1800 cal, but burning that extra 500 will add up over time, the key is to try and figure out what kind of calorie intake you've had at a baseline. Eating less calories than what you are eating now and even moderate calories burned during exercise will still result in weight loss. For example,you can just burn 300 calories, but if you take in only 1200 cal that day instead of 1500, you still have 500 less calories for that day than usual and will lose weight. Keep in mind our body uses some calories everyday just for regular maintenance, and we aren't even figuring these into the calculation. Working out twice a day may be helpful, but I think it is more time efficient to just stick to 1-2 good workouts to make up your calorie difference. Hope that helps.

Posted by: ffrr on 2010-01-15, 11:25:11

First, congratulations on making this good decision! Your goal is certainly do-able one! I lost a little over 30kg / 66lbs last year, so I know it's possible! Before joining any kind of clubs or gym you should assess your current diet. Write down everything you eat for 5-7 days, and I mean EVERYTHING as calories matter! Once you have your list for the 5-7 days, you need to decipher where you are going wrong and how to correct your dietary mistakes. Your long term goal will be to switch to medium to low GI carbohydrate foods and avoiding high GI carbohydrate foods whenever possible. Reduce your high GI carbohydrate foods, ie processed foods like sweet breads/ cakes, white bread, candies/ sodas and basically anything else that has been made from refined natural ingredients. Also avoid food high in saturated fats. Eat more vegetable based meals and eat fruit 2-4 times a day. Keep your proteins low fat and try to avoid red meat, pork and lamb dishes. If you cook with oils switch to extra virgin olive oil. Buy some cook books for vegetarians, they will provide you with a whole bunch of healthy recipes and, if you must have meat (ie chicken, turkey, white fish) you'll find it can easily be added to most of the recipes. To begin with try and make yourself at least 1-2 vegetarian dishes a week, then after a month, or less if you find you like them, up the number. Something else to consider is that you should certainly not go on any kind of crash diet, as I guarantee you will not be able to stick to it! There's a heavy psychological side to eating and if you try and trick your body into something it doesn't like it'll fight back and you find yourself slipping up or cheating and before you know it you're back to square one! You currently weigh 200lbs so you need to work out your daily calorie intake for that exact weight! Then reduce the amount of calories you require by 15-20% only, this may not seem like much but over the long haul these 'few' calories will have added up! So if you need for example 2800 calories per day then 15% is 420 calories, which you take off 2800, which means you should eat around 2380 calories per day. This amount then need to be split into 5-7 portions, so if you eat 5 times a day you need to consume around 480 calories each time you eat, if you eat 7 times then you need to eat around 350 calories each time. By eating at regular intervals throughout the day you'll increase your metabolisms natural ability to manage your weight efficiently. So on a typical day you'll eat breakfast, a snack a few hours after, lunch, another snack and then dinner, and maybe another snack in the evening. If you stick to the above plan and eat the correct or near correct amount for your weight you will notice the change. You will inevitably loose more weight at the start of your plan due to water retention within your body, which will level off within a few weeks. After the first two weeks weigh in and see if there's any change. DO NOT worry if there's no change or you weigh more!!! If you do weigh more then you may need to re-assess what you have eaten and make the changes accordingly. But assuming you weigh in at a lower weight, congrats, and keep it up. It's very important that after a month you work out how much you have lost and re-adjust your calorie intake to match your new weight, even if it only by a few hundred calories! This will ensure that your weight loss is spread out and kept constant! Aim to loose between 1/ 2 and 1kg per week. If you are losing over 2kg per week after the first month then re-adjust your intake up slightly by 50-100 calories per day. Losing over that amount of weight each week will leave you weak and possibly irritable. Once you have what you eat under control then worry about what exercise regimen to take on! Good luck!