Tracy Weight Loss

May 29, 2010

Weight Loss Suggestions?

This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:

Question: I’m 23 years old and 350 pounds at 6 feet tall. I know that’s not good at all which is why I’m here to do something about it. I know working out and eating healthy is how it works, please don’t post that just to get a point!

I’ve been overweight my whole life and haven’t ever done well with diets. I played 4 sports a year in high school and was very active but the weight continued to pile on. About a year ago I had back surgery for a pinched nerve so some activities might be off limits for me still.

I understand this won’t be fast and am looking for lifestyle suggestions not just diets. I know the basics of course, less junk food more time in the gym, what I’m looking for is specifics.

Information like how many calories should I be taking in each day for healthy weight loss and what kinds of activities should I be supplementing my eating habits with? Suggestions for how to balance meals better and what types of things I should be getting in my diet as well as supplements I can take for even better results (I’ve heard fish oil tablets are very healthy). I grew up in a junk food family so food health has never been a subject I’ve been good at.

I have a goal of losing 100 pounds in one year, is that thinking too big? What would be more realistic and what kind of eating/exercise routine should I adopt to achieve it?

Answer: 100lb in a year is perfectly doable at your weight and is a good goal to aim for.

First things first, you’ll need to get into the habit of counting your calories, everyday. At 1500 calories a day you will lose weight rapidly. But not all calories are even, so of course it’s more complicated than that. It’s important that you have a BALANCED diet, and by balanced I mean aim for 33% of your calories to come from carbs, 33% to come from proteins, 33% to be from fats. You don’t have to get it exactly like that, but the closer you can get it to being that the better it’ll be for your weightloss. The logical way to reach this kind of ratio for most people is by drastically lowering your carbohydrate intake, and upping your protein and healthy fat intake. Healthy fats mean non-processed fats, ideally from nutritious sources like nuts or eggs. Fish oil is a fat, and it’s great to get into the habit of taking 1 capsule with every meal for health and weightloss reasons. Just keep in mind that although balanced calories help, staying within your calorie limit has priority over everything, don’t compromise it because you’re hungry from exercise or anything.

There are a million different ways to exercise. I’ll give you a couple ideas and the benefits of them. I am of the opinion that every person wanting to lose weight rapidly should simply have a fast-paced walk every morning before breakfast, and this should idealy last 40 minutes to an hour. The benefit of this is that you’re pretty much guarenteed to burn fat during this period, unlike other ways of exercising. There’s conventional cardio: things like jogging, skipping, anything that gets your heart beating heavy for a long period. Cardio is a good way of getting your body fit and boosting your metabolism for the hours after you’ve done it, though the calories burned during the process aren’t that great, I only burn around 400 calories on a 40 minute jog, which doesn’t seem great to me for the amount of effort I put into it.

Then there’s weightlifting. Strength training has massive benefits to long term fat loss. It boosts our metabolism for multiple reasons. Firstly there’s the act of weight lifting itself, it burns calories the same way any kind of movement burns calories. Secondly there’s the metabolic increase resulting from our body having to repair the muscles. Thirdly there’s the metabolic advantage of the muscle mass we gain as a result, every pound of muscle we gain means another 6 calories burned each day doing nothing. So weight lifting is a great way to naturally shed fat in place of muscle, if you’re gonna get into it I strongly recommend you avoid following bodybuilding routines and instead look for 3x a week strength training routines, they suit your goals more. Here’s the routine you should start if you wanted to get into it: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:Introduction.

Avoid "fat burner" supplements, you don’t need them, they probably aren’t going to help and you don’t know what kind of side effects you could get. The only supplement I can recommend is fish oil, which you’ve already mentioned. Drinking a cup of coffee a day can help your metabolism too, and make sure you’re constantly drinking lots of water throughout the day.

It is ideal to spread your meals 5-7 times throughout the day, but it is not imperative. Some say it increases your metabolism doing so, some say 3 meals a day is exactly the same, so it’s up to you. Your body does definitely prefer having nutrients given to it in small doses every few hours though, and will be more willing to put on muscle if you do so. It’s important you never skip breakfast, if you’re gonna skip a meal ideally skip one late in the day. Make sure each of your meals contain a protein source and a fibre source (ideally fruit or vegetables). Your meals must also contain either a complex carbohydrate or a healthy fat, keep the complex carbohydrate portions at around 50grams though, more than that and your insulin hormones will be released and you risk storing fat.

I hope this information helps you and wish you good luck with your goal!

May 18, 2010

Can Anyone Sugest an Exercise Program for Beginners to Help with Weight Loss?

This week’s question is as follows:

Question: I haven’t exercised much for 5 years (used to play squash, swim and do circuit training), and have put on a surplace stone or 2 which i need to lose. I already eat healthily, wth lots of fruit and veg and very little "junk food" but the excess weight remains. I am not excessively overweight, but want to do something now before it becomes a problem
Cheers for all the advice and encouragement, I’ve got some great tips from you all. I’m going to try a bit of walking/ jogging tonight and see how I get on (no time like the present to get started!) I’m not completely unfit as i do walk a lot and cycle a little bit. Thanks again guys!
Answer: I would agree with the swimming as it use all your muscles and has the water for buoyancy, start slowly and as time goes on then build up you will find it will tone and the endorphins will make you feel great.

Other wonderful exercise is walking maybe getting off the bus at a stop before you own then walking to your office,going out on the weekends with friends or a partner walking somewhere this will help keep your bones healthy and is good cardio vascular.

What about Pilate’s I have become hooked and in a period of six weeks I can see a difference and it works wonders for your stomach!

What ever exercise you choose make sure it is one you enjoy as the worse thing is doing it and finding reasons not to continue.If the weight does not shift do not get despondent because it goes on quicker than coming off, just keep going and the results will appear.

Other thought a bike ride in good weather what a great way to move around and keep healthy.

Your eating sounds fine drink loads of water.

Just put your mind to it call it changing your life style and looking after your body for the future.

Good Luck
You can do it….

May 16, 2010

Tips About Weight Loss….please Help!?

Filed under: weight loss — Tags: , , , — Tracy @ 7:01 am

I just love answering these weight loss questions. Here’s another:

Question: im on a swim team, and its only during the summer. our practices are daily and it goes for about 3 1/2 months, so the weight comes off easy. the problem is, after practice, im left to just sit, and eat. im not too much over weight, but i would like to lose 20-30 pounds. and it would be really convenient to lose it in about a month. like i said, i have swim team, so its not like it would be really unhealthy to lose that much in that little of time. if you still believe it is unhealthy, im ok with 2 months. my question was what kinds of foods should i eat, how much should i eat, and how should i keep myself motivated to not eat all the other crap in my house. not getting the junk food isnt an option because i live with my family, and i dont want to make them give up the stuff too. please help!
Answer: 1 month probably is not the best even if you do swim a lot. 2 months is a lot more healthy and realistic.
Loosing weight is something that many people have difficulty with, but if you are motivated, you will do just fine. Be sure to eat lots of fruits and vegetables at each meal or as a snack. Make sure you look at portion sizes and try not to overeat. It is really easy to overeat when eating junk food and when you are distracted. Be sure to know what you are eating (don’t eat in front of the tv and look at the nutritional information on the food) Also, plan out what you are going to eat before you go to your kitchen for a snack. Think of something healthy and have your mind set on eating only that.
Keep in mind that eating junk food does nothing good for you. It can make you fat, break out, and make you not feel good about yourself. You eat the junk food for a minute and then its gone. Was it really worth it? I mean after that you just feel bad about eating it so your answer should be no.

I hope this helps :) remember: it will only work if you have the right attitude. You should be excited about starting a new healthier lifestyle and you should keep imagining your ideal body throughout this process.

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