28 replies to this topic

[trix]

Donna has said it beautifully, but I'll add my concurrence for emphasis.

Many people (including me) would not say their body is 'perfect' or 'ideal' even when they have reached a healthy weight.  Unless losing weight will benefit your health, its better to focus on your general nutrition and fitness: getting those 5 fruit/veg a day in,  getting strong enough to do that first pull-up, enjoying that you can run 3 miles without getting winded.

If you don't feel you can be objective about what a healthy weight for you is, talk to your physician.

--trix

[trysohard]

hi donna

thanks again for the advice im 18 female 5.5 and 168 pounds so i definately need to lose some weight:(

im going shopping tommorow so i think ill try the 7day diet but ill eat fresh meat and natural peanut butter and wholewheat bread like you suggested thank you.

i also have a body fat scale/monitor and it says my body fat is 43%:mad:
which is really frustrating as i work out every day.:o

anyway ill be trying the 7day diet and ill let you know how it goes:)
thank you for the help and great advice much appriciated

debbie xxx

[trysohard]

and i forgot to add

iv upped my calories and lost 2lb in 5 days but its not fast enough and my weight goes up and down by the minuite.:mad:

[Internet Legend]

Okay, hold it.

It is unrealistic to hope to lose two pounds of fat in five days. Our bodies are just not designed to work that way. If your bodyfat percentage is actually that high (although I'm afraid the bodyfat scales aren't the most accurate things on earth), you've probably managed to lose an equal amount of  muscle tissue and fat when you've gone on your various fad diets. The problem with this is that when you gain the weight back, it's much more likely to be fat than muscle. This is a vicious cycle, since the less muscle you have, the harder it is to lose weight.

I suspect you need to quit focusing so much on calories and weight and start looking at your overall health and fitness levels. You say your weight changes by the minute? Well, so does mine, most likely, but I don't weigh myself every minute so I don't know. An eight-ounce glass of water weighs just over half a pound. If you drink sixteen ounces of water before you step on the scale, you'll have gained a whole pound right there. That isn't a bad thing.


Why do you want to lose weight? Are you unhealthy? What's your goal - do you want to look good in a pair of tight pants, or would you like to live to a healthy old age? If you try to look at your weight and overall health with an eye to the longer term, you're likely to have more success. How are you working out? It's quite possible, if you're going great guns every day, that you're overtraining or perhaps not training effectively. The best thing you can do is to get advice from your doctor and/or a personal trainer. Many gyms have people who can help you set up a clear-cut program for a one-time fee, and then you can work on it on your own.

If you can't or won't go to a professional for help, I would suggest that you try looking at your regimen with a critical eye and reworking it to be more effective in the long term. I know that it can be really hard to stay motivated when you don't see immediate results, but if you think about it, you've probably been trying ineffective methods for a pretty long time. There's no point in wasting more time on them. Here's what I would advise you to do:

First, forget about dieting right now. For one full week, don't limit yourself, but keep track of everything you eat. Write down exactly what you eat, including snacks and drinks. Be precise about serving sizes and calorie counts. There are a number of places online you can get the caloric values of foods - I've used Calorie King and the USDA. At the end of the week, tally up your average daily intake. This is your starting point. Remember, the goal of this week is not to change anything at all about your diet. You're just getting a baseline.

Now, look at your exercise program. What kind of exercises are you doing when you work out, and at what intensity, and for how long? It's sensible to do 30 – 60 minutes of aerobic activity a day. An effective way to measure your intensity level is to try talking after you've warmed up and you feel like you're working pretty hard. You should be able to say short sentences without gasping, but you shouldn't be able to talk at length easily. Try to maintain an intensity level that you can keep up for 20 minutes at a stretch. Don't knock yourself out, but don't keep it too easy either. If you're not doing any kind of weightlifting now, it's a good idea to start. With weights, you really need to be sure you don't overdo it at the beginning, and you need to pay attention to your form when you lift. If you can get someone at the gym to show you how to do free weights, that's ideal. If not, remember some cardinal rules: you must keep your back straight and your abdominal muscles pulled in when you lift; if you can't do 8 repetitions with the weight you've chosen, it's too heavy, and you have to work against gravity to give your muscles a workout. Don't work the same muscle group two days in a row. You must give your body time to rest and repair the muscle fibers after you've worked them. There is a great workout routine for beginners using just two dumbbells on Stumptuous.com.

Now, taking the calorie count that you worked out in the first week, devise a nutritional plan. If you're getting at least 30 minutes of fairly strenuous exercise five to six days a week and your weight is staying at 168 pounds, I would guess that you've been taking in at least 2200 calories a day, but there may be factors I'm not taking into account. If you're 5'5", a healthy weight for you would probably be between 125 and 135 pounds, but that's a general range, not a set number for you. Think of it as a guideline, not a rigid goal. In order to lose between one half and one pound a week (a healthy, realistic rate), you should try to cut about 500 calories a day from that intake. You will need to be sure you're still getting a good balance of protein, carbohydrate, and "good" fats (the kind of fats that olives, nuts, and fish provide). Cut out sugary drinks, including juices, and try not to replace them with artificially sweetened drinks (the jury is still out on how those affect your blood sugar levels). The easiest way to devise a healthy, complete diet is to concentrate on eating the least processed foods you can find. Fresh vegetables are better than canned, homemade soups are better than prepared ones, apples are better than applesauce, etc. Eat plenty of good, fresh vegetables and drink enough water to stay well-hydrated. If you can't get fresh food, choose prepared foods wisely. Stay away from anything that's been breaded and deep-fried and avoid fast-food hamburgers. Sandwich shops often have some good choices, especially if you ask them to give you mayonnaise and oily dressings on the side so that you can portion them out yourself. If you're looking for a fast snack, sometimes you can find apples or bananas in convenience stores. Don't be taken in by the "nutrition bar" hype – most of them are very high in calories and sugar, and they're usually so small they don't fill you up as much as something bulkier that contains the same amount of calories. Don't fall into the trap of trying the next new "miracle diet" you see. There are no free lunches, so to speak, and nobody has found a way to defy physics or bypass physiology. You didn't put the weight on overnight, and it won't come off that quickly either.

Try following this program for a full month. You should start to see some results. Not only should you begin to lose weight, you will probably start to feel healthier and stronger, too. Once you begin to put on muscle, you'll be amazed at how great you feel, regardless of the number on the scale, and the more muscle you gain, the easier it will be to lose fat. You can do this. It just takes persistence.

Here are some sites that have good advice and resources:

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/
http://www.exrx.net/Beginning.html
http://www.eatright....ormation/92.cfm

[trysohard]

hi donna

i think you are probably rightbabout the scales because my partner doesnt have an ounce of fat on him he trains every day and cycles to work he is about 12 and a half and the scale says 74% for him id say he was 10% at the most.

i would like to weight 126pounds 9st as you have said about losing muscle in pretty tonned no wobbly bits lol.

as for the gym well i do 100cals on level10 on the rowing machine this takes about 13min then i go on excersice bike for about 40min then i go on stairclimber for 15 min then the treadmill till i burn 150 sometimes 350 then i cool down with light weights and stretches then when i get home i do some more weights steppers and 30 incline situps. i think i lift about 25-30 lbs when i do weights.

im going shopping soon but what i struggle with is when i go shopping i think i need some sort of list iv looked everywhere and they dont show u them for free so i guess ill just buy plenty of fresh fruit and veg as i always do.

thanks debz xxx
:)

[trysohard]

o i forgot

i also keep track of everything i eat even down do drinks and bubble gum
i eat from 1300-1600 tops and this is me trying to eat lots thanks debz.
xxx
:)

[BattyTrish]

I have tried this diet and it worked brilliantly! Me my mum and my dad tried it together so it was easier as we were all eating the same. after the three days, my mum lost 9lb i lost 10lb and my dad lost 11lb!! it took months for the weight to go back on so i don't believe its a fluid thing. I am now trying something new for me, calorie counting, and its working great, the weight lose is gradual therefore safe. This 10lb in 3 days is a good way to get you started.
Trish x

[Antti]

Okay. The whole thought of losing 10lbs in 3 days is pretty crazy. The thing is: do you want to lose weight in general or fat tissue?

To burn 1 lb of fat tissue demands about a 3500kcal deficit. For the average guy, recommended intake is 2500kcal a day. If you want to lose 1lb fat tissue and eat the same day, that would mean jogging about 6 hours.

Not making sure you get enough protein can mean you lose mostly lean tissue (muscle). And the less you eat, the more your metabolism slows down and makes dieting more difficult as your metabolism is really slow and thus doesn't use any of the extra fat.

I could lose 10lb in 3 days. I'd just not drink even a drop of water. Instead I do aerobic exercise 3-4 days a week and watch what I eat (been like this for a month now, it shows on the waist.). The bottom line (no pun intended) is that losing weight (weight or fat?) is definitely a long term goal. If you create a 500kcal deficit in your body daily, on a very good week you can lose 1lb of fat tissue.


(Edit: Now I notice Donna had made a longer post where she goes through most of these things!)

[inspectorjason]

I lost all of my weight and went to a healthy percentage of body fat in 2005 by avoiding sugar as much as I could.   Even to this day, I make my food purchases according to the following rule: if a food item has more grams of protein than grams of sugar, then I'll buy it/if the sugar grams outnumber the protein grams, then I won't buy it.

For this reason, I eat 100% whole wheat bread instead of enriched white breads, I eat whole wheat pasta instead of normal pasta, and I (normally) stay away from candy, sweets, doughnuts, ice cream, milk products, etc.   I eat any green vegetables that I want and I eat most meats that I want.

Sugar is basically a switch inside your body that tells your body to store fat.   Picture in your mind a railroad train car full of fat and this railroad car is moving down the rail to a Fat Incinerator building...because your body will normally burn fat on its own normal course.   Inbetween the rail train car of fat and the Fat Incinerator building, however, is a split railroad track that goes to the Fat Storage building.   There is a switch beside the diverted track with "Sugar" labeled on the front because, if you flip the switch, sugar diverts the rail car of fat to the Fat Storage building instead of to the Fat Incinerator building.  

I lost weight (body fat) steadily because I did an hour of intense cardiovascular exercise per day by working out on treadmills, StairMasters, ellipticals, etc. while wearing a heartrate monitor to make sure that I was reaching the metabolic target heartrate to burn fat.  I don't recall, however, ever losing pounds of fat as rapidlly as on the above posted crash diet.  It's better to simply change lifestyle instead of going on a diet.