Determine where you stand. You need to have a good idea of what a healthy goal for you should be and how many calories your body uses a day. The best way of doing this is by getting Hydrostatic Body Fat testing through a company such as www.bodyfattest.com. I know this isn't always available depending on where you live, but if it is, do it. I wish I had done it in the beginning but I was too eager to just ditch the weight. The information you'll get is invaluable. The test involves getting dunked in a tank of water and takes just a few minutes to give you a complete printout of your body composition, including how many pounds of lean body mass you have,what a healthy weight for you might be and about how many calories your body uses a day to function (SO important). The hydrostatic testing was probably the best $50 I've ever spent on my health. Re-tests at a later date are only $35 which is really exciting too. There's nothing quite like seeing your progress along the way be so accurately documented. The trucks visit a great number of fitness centers all over the country on a regular basis and you don't have to be a member of the fitness center to get tested. Let me also say that I have one of those fancy bathroom scales that is supposed to tell you how much muscle mass & fat you have and it is absolutely no where near the accurate results Hydrostatic Testing gave me. I don't even bother checking my fat percentage on my so-called fancy scale anymore.
So. Here's the part when my big secret is revealed:
IT'S ALL ABOUT CALORIES.
I heard this "secret" years before I did anything with the information on a radio program hosted by Jillian Michaels. Weight loss is really just a simple math formula. Your body uses a certain number of calories a day just to function. If you want to lose weight, you simply need to create a deficit. When you create your My Fitness Pal account, you will enter your current stats (height, weight, age, activity level...) and it will get you set up with how many calories you should be eating to lose weight. It's a bit of a pain but counting calories, if done so accurately, is a guaranteed path to success. My Fitness Pal makes it SO EASY. Every food you can imagine as well as most restaurant menus are already in their database for you to use. I logged every bite I put in my mouth for 2 solid years. I didn't really *need* to be that particular but I felt it helped me stay accountable to myself. I urge you to do it for a little while and get an idea of just how many calories you are consuming. Don't cheat and not log those extra bread crusts from your kids' sandwiches or those couple of Hershey Kisses you snagged from the candy dish at your friend's house. All you are doing is cheating yourself if you don't log everything. Remember, this is to help you figure out what works for you and the time for you to see how much food you should be eating. It's not that you can't have treats, you just need to make sure you have room for them in your calorie budget. Knowledge is power. If you have extra fat on your body it got there because you ate more calories than your body uses to function. Trust me, counting calories works! Is it a pain? Yes. Is it annoying? Sometimes. But the results are SO worth it. Once you see the weight start falling off you'll LOVE calorie counting. Tip: If you're not interested in My Fitness Pal, just Google BMR Calculator and you'll find plenty of sites out there that will quickly calculate how many calories your body uses.
CHOOSE WISELY!
The worst thing is blowing your calories on something dumb, then; either having to be hungry or not meet your calorie goal for the day. I've done it more times than I can count, no pun intended. So many foods like Chips & processed foods are ridiculous and not fulfilling. Look for foods that satisfy your hunger without using up your calorie budget. It's going to take a bit of trial and error, but you'll figure out what works for you. Lean protein is usually a great bang for your buck, and of course leafy & green veggies. Eventually I will do some posts on my favorite low calorie foods, but until then you can just Google "low calorie foods" and find some great options. I also plan on discussing my favorite style of eating which is called The Paleo Diet or Primal Blueprint. I really highly recommend you read everything the site Mark's Daily Apple has to offer about eating how our bodies were designed to. I've read the Primal Blueprint Book and I have to say that Author Mark Sisson was extremely generous in sharing a great deal of the information for free on his website. The great things about the Primal Blueprint is that one of his focuses is on not counting calories. I know that's the opposite of what I'm telling you to do right now, but I think it's important to establish proper portion size to fuel our bodies before you go without counting calories. The Primal Blueprint works great without counting calories because you are eating clean, without processed foods which is SO good for you. Your body isn't battling all the insulin spikes and is fueled perfectly. I will be writing a great deal more detail about my experience with eating cleanly in future posts. Really, it should be my FIRST subject because it is SO important...but Calories will get you started on a path to weight loss without too drastic of lifestyle change. We can talk about fine-tuning later.
So, the first thing you need to do is get an idea of how many calories your body requires to function. The fitness community calls that magic number your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. There is also a number called an RMR, or Resting Metabolic Rate which is the number of calories your body would use if you were laying in bed 24/7 without any activity. The RMR is lower than BMR because it is just the number of calories your body needs to support breathing, digestion, brain function and those basics. There are many different schools of thought out there, but I'd have to say from everything I've read and tried it's good advice to not eat fewer calories than your RMR, especially for any extended period of time. At one point I got really impatient and ate a ridiculously low number of calories for a few months and while I lost weight quickly at first it basically killed my metabolism in the process. My body adapted to living on 500-800 calories a day, and while I wasn't hungry I starved my body of the nutrients it needed to be healthy. PLEASE don't do what I did. Learn from my mistake. Even though I "upped"my calories back to what most people refer to as the lowest "safe" number of 1200, I was no longer able to lose weight. Not even my MD believed me. I was completely accurate about my counting but stuck as could be. It stayed that way for many months until I bit the bullet and started eating at my maintenance level so my body could recover a bit. To be honest, I don't think my body has fully recovered from it yet, which is why I haven't been able to achieve my ultimate athletic goal weight yet. I've been doing what's called a "Metabolism Reset" which is basically a diet break for several months now in hopes that I can try again to get a bit closer to my ultimate goal. With the metabolism reset, I've gained a bit of weight but I'm pretty sure it's mostly muscle since I've actually dropped another pants size and feel slimmer. The moral of the story is, don't get too ambitious. Please stay over that 1200 Calorie mark. It will truthfully be a safer & healthier way to go.
Another tip: In order to make sure you are really accurate about your calorie
counting and creating the proper deficit, I would highly recommend
purchasing a food scale for a few bucks and use it for a while, you'll
get really good at eyeballing what a 4oz piece of chicken breast looks
like and won't have to use it forever. Strictly measure everything for a
while, just til you get really good at judging. Use your Tablespoons to
measure your salad dressing, dollop of ketchup...everything. Well,
maybe not your toothpaste. :)You can lose weight without exercise
Yep. You read that right. That's exactly what I did for probably my first 60lbs. It's MUCH easier to control your intake compared to how long it takes to burn off calories through exercise which I'll explain below. For people with mobility issues or time constraints, all you have to do is count those calories accurately and create a deficit that works for you. However, if you are able to exercise please do so! The cardiovascular benefits, muscle increase and overall feeling of well-being will be completely worth it. Plus it will give you a little boost in your metabolism. The higher muscle mass your body has (Yay for strength training!), the more calories you burn. Also, the more active you are the more calories you burn which will only increase your fat loss as long as you keep your calories in check. Don't make the mistake of grabbing a donut thinking you've earned it because you went for a walk. You will have completely defeated the purpose. Let me break it down for you:
The donut pictured here has 370 calories. Here are a few example exercises and how long it would take for me to burn off this 370 calorie donut:
Running - 37 Minutes
Biking - 48 Minutes
Brisk Walking - 1 Hour 16 Minutes
Yoga - 1 Hour 56 Minutes
Please remember, it's not like you'll never have the treats you love ever again: you just need to enjoy them in moderation when you have the calories to spare that day. You'll also find new things that are satisfying but cheap in calories. It's kind of a fun adventure to find new things you'll love.
It's quite easy to make little changes like eliminating high calorie foods and substituting with more satisfying cleaner options. Start reading labels on everything! Look at the calories, serving size and/or number of servings and really empower yourself to make the right choices. It can be really fun! Instead of feeling like you're missing out, be excited about changing things up. For me, I chose to be happy about finding healthier options. I never felt like I was missing out or being punished because I saw and loved my results. If you really want to change, you have to change. Think of your motivation & goals and remember that the inconvenience of counting calories isn't forever. Look forward to when you can focus on maintaining the new you.
Here's another great site comparing side by side what different 300, 350, and 400 Calorie meals look like: Spark People. It'll show you just how making different food choices can make for a much more satisfying meal.
Once you have your portions under control and find a calorie deficit that works well for you, you'll be losing weight in no time.
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