Help with weight loss?

[Anonymous]

i decided to stop being lazy and start trying to lose weight. but I just don't know how to start.

i've always been fat. I've never been a thin person. my bones are thick as well, but I'm still fat. there's no excuse for that. well, I'm tired of being this way. right now I am 5'1 and weigh 215. I've been at that weight for years. but I think its time for a change. I would like to be thinner. I know that the ideal weight for someone who is 5'1 is around 110-120 but I don't want to be that thin. I still want my curves. I just want to go down a few dress sizes. possibly to 11-14. right now I use a size 18. I know. its big right? some people say I carry it well, but I know that I would look better if I dropped some pounds.

do you guys have any tips on how to start losing weight? I am clueless on what to do, but I want do something about my weight.

[Anonymous]

Here's my general advice

Dos

- Eat lots of vegetables. 4+ servings. French fries don't count. Leafy greens.

- Get more protein. Highests sources are beans, seeds, fish, meat, eggs, lentils, nuts, cheese.

- Eat healthy fats such as saturated and monounsaturated. But use sparingly because because of their high calorie density. Butter on vegetables, coconut oil for cooking, olive oil on salad. If you believe the myths about saturated fat, do some research. It's actually not that bad.

- Eat frequently, 3-4 meals/day, with one snack in between them. Also helps increase metabolism. Starving yourself tells your body to store fat.

- Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day

- Lift weights and build muscle (girls don't worry, estrogen stops you from being buff). Do some cardio, but not as much as lifting weights. Less than 30 minutes every 2 days. Muscle is better because it continues to burn callories even after you workout, while cardio only burns when it's being done.

- Sleep properly, take a multivitamin, increase nutrients, decrease toxins.

- Variety is the key to health. So many people eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Or only one type of fruit, vegetable, meat, and nut. This lacks micro nutrients.

Donts

- Don't eat much sugar. Don't eat candy, pops, juices, packaged snack foods, popular cereals, etc with added sugar. (IF YOU MUST, have very little not often, and be mindfull of it. Enjoy it. Sitting in front of TV chowing down on chips is not being mindfull, that's how people overeat.)

- Don't eat most "Sugar free" labeled foods if they have aspartame, it's a poison. Don't eat any foods with "High Fructose Corn Syrup", that's even worse than sugar.

- Don't eat foods with processed flours like "enriched wheat flour". It has no vitamins and just turns into sugar in the body. Basically almost all packaged grain based foods like cookies, crackers, etc. Eat 100% whole grains.

- Eat less starchy carbohydrates like white breads, fries, potatos, rice.

- Don't eat "low fat" labeled foods, they are higher in sugar, and sugar is what makes you fat. Eating fat does NOT make you fat. You need fat, your cells and brain is made up of of fat. Excess fat is what you don't want, and that comes from calories, and bad fats like in vegetable oils.

- Don't eat vegetables oils such as canola oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortening. They are NOT healthy like the food companies want you to believe. They are highly processed, oxidized, high in omega 6, and low in omega 3 (the good ones). When you have a high 6/3 ratio, you get inflammation. Inflammation and OXIDIZED cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease and others.

You might also find this informative helpful for weight loss: link and link

[Longshot]

You will need a combination of healthy eating and exercise.

Before you start, take on the mentality that you DO want to get to 120. If you take the attitude that I just want to drop a few dress sizes, you won't get far. You want to take the approach that you WANT TO and WILL lead a healthy lifestyle. If you take a casual and not serious approach to weight loss, I am sure you can figure out what will happen.

Eating: You are not dieting. You just want to eat healthy. This means lean protein (fish, chicken, nuts and maybe a piece of cheese here and there); fruits and vegetables. You may want to eat 4-5 times a day. While losing weight, I ate mountains of vegetables and did a lot of vegetable stir frying.

If want a guide for calories, stay between 1200-1500/day. Never go below 1200. I have lost a lot of weight and kept a rough idea in my head of how many calories I was eating/day. DO NOT cut out all carbs and fats -- your body needs some of these everyday. Stay away from fatty foods, processed foods, fast foods and junk! NO cheating ever. However some chocolate isOK. (I am not a big chocolate fan but while losing weight, I ate 2 oz. of pure, dark chocolate 3 times/ week. And NO, I am not talking about junk chocolate -- I am talking about pure, dark usually with a high concentration of cocoa (75%+) which is expensive but good. It will help you. You can read about it on the Internet."Chocolate and weight loss.")

Exercise: I suggest simply walking. Start with a half mile a couple of times a day then work your way up to a single walk of a mile/day. Stay there for a couple of weeks and move up to 2 miles/day and so on. You will get to 4-5 miles/day quickly. As a very rough guide you will burn 6 calories a minute meaning that if you walk 4 miles at 20 minutes per mile you will burn 480 calories (4X20X6).

[madmisskelly]

Congratulations on beginning a new weight loss journey!

I think the first thing is to recognize that it is a lifestyle change and not a diet. You won't be going on any crash diets or starvation diets.

I also advise that you take baby steps. Nail down your eating habits before you try to change your entire workout routine. My suggestion is daily walking and light exercise for now.

When I very first began weight loss (I started at 5'1 and 150 and am now 130), I used calorie counting websites. You simply log in the food you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and it counts all your nutrients. This is to make sure you don't overeat or under eat. It is one of the best things for you! It helps you learn what works for you and what doesn't. You learn to eyeball portion sizes, etc, as opposed to having it all done for you through Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. My favorite website is www.caloriecount.com

The Basics?

Cut out soda and caloric beverages. Make water and fizzy water your best friend. Soon, you will realize that a sugar sweetened beverage can contain as many calories as a snack or an entire meal. Don't know about you, but I would rather eat something!

Fiber is another biggie. Foods that are high in fiber (5 or more grams of fiber per serving) are what is going to keep you full. Whole wheat products, brown rice, quinoa, bulger, lentils, all things that are filling and high in nutrient.

Cut out prepackaged foods. Cereals, and other packaged foods just don't pack much fiber or nutrient for the calorie content they are and are for the most part, garbage. If you can find a low sugar high fiber granola bar, go for it. You can usually consume a bit more when you start to use more natural foods.

Lots and lots of veggies!

Lots of yummy protein- lean meats, skim cheeses, lowfat milk, yogurt.

[Asker]

ok. I signed up to the website and I can already see that this is going to make eating healthier a bit easier than I thought. I like it already. :D

i actually don't like cereal but I'll keep that in mind.

im a vegetarian but there are other non-animal sources of protein. thanks. :D

[madmisskelly]

Yay! I'm so proud of you for taking the first step!

[Izzy2102]

Well personally I think having a workout/weight loss plan is really helpfull. Some people pay a lot of money for that by buying programms such as P90X and Insanity and don't get me wrong they're all great programms but you can just make an equally effective plan yourself for free. There is lot's of resource online.

Personally I hate jogging, so it's never in my workout plan but there plenty of really great YouTube channels with great cardio workouts it really never gets boring. I can send you some links if you want

As for eating, start with not buying processed food anymore. Don't buy salad dressing, pasta sauce or flavoured yoghurt, make it yourself.

Protein keeps you full the longest plus dairy products (or other stuff that contains a lot of calcium) help with weight loss. So eat lean protein and lots of low fat diary products.

Green and Mate tea is also believed to slightly increase your metabolism. I'm not sure if you will actually notice any results but since you'll have to drink a lot anyway, why not tea.

I don't know what you usually eat for breakfast but a lot of people eat cereal, don't. Even those I don't know "fitness crunchy muesli" or how they call it contains tons of sugar, so that you will already have consumed almost half of your recommended sugar intake in just one samll bowl. So again, stay away from processed food. If you want musli, make it yourself. I know some good blogs with good healthy recipes too if you want to.

[Izzy2102]

oh I forgot, since you want to lose weight I would focus on cardio at first. Like 4 days a week cardio and the other 2 weight lifting. Or you can split your workouts if you're i.e. doing 90 min do 60 min cardio, 30 min weights.

Of course you need to build muscle to increase your metabolism, but if you haven't been very athletic before most cardio exercises will do so well enough, so focus on that. Along with a little a weight lifting for I don't know half a year you can later always change the ratio

[kdizzleforizzle91]

I was in your exact shoes, except I'm 5'2. I've been on the Atkins diet for the past few months and I've dropped 25 lbs. so far. I suggest you take a look at it and see if it could work for you. They have a website with all kinds of fun stuff. If you get an account, you can interact with others and monitor your weight loss on a chart. I haven't done any of that yet, but the diet itself has worked wonders for me. Feel free to add me if you have any questions about it. I'd love to help!

[Asker]

really? without exercising?

is atkins the diet that consists of mainly meat? I'm a vegetarian. :D

[kdizzleforizzle91]

I'll be honest, I just got back to exercising. But I'd have lost double by now if I would have started exercise WITH the diet. My best advice for that is to find an activity you like doing and keep at it nonstop for at least 30 minutes every day. Just make sure it gets your heart and lungs working hard (cardio). Some of my meals have meat, some don't. I'm sure if you look into it further, you can find some vegetarian recipes, or just eat more fish and tofu. That would fit into it.

[Asker]

ok. I used to do aerobics when I used to go to the gym. it was fun and I could actually last the whole hour. I guess I can start doing aerobics again.

ok. I will try that. thanks. :D

[kdizzleforizzle91]

That's a great choice. Good luck!

[236color]

My wife and I are having real good luck with a website that tracks calories and such (there are several, not going to plug one in particular). It helps when you know you've eaten 100 cals so far, have 700 left to meet your daily goal and the burger you're looking at is 600 more than that. Also using similar exercise program on cell phone tracks exercise by GPS then tells you how many cals burned. I'm down 20lbs, wife down 31

[Asker]

i signed up to the website the girl below mentioned and I can see that it is actually helping me keep track of what I eat. :D

[Misty_04]

Cut your portion sizes in half, cut down on meat, eat fresh, unprocessed perferably organic foods and only eat when you're hungry. Go for runs and avoid driving everywhere. Buy a nice top in a much smaller size and work towards fitting into it so you also have a physical goal. Good luck yo.

[Asker]

ok. I think I do need to cut back on my portions. I don't eat all day. I eat about 3 times a day, sometimes 2 but I eat alot. :(

im a vegetarian so I don't eat any meat.

i don't have a car so I have to walk to work and back. once in a while I'll get a ride though.

yeah I have a few tops I never returned but fit too small. I'll try the portion thing. thanks. :D

about the portions, how do I know how much is enough?

[TheUglyOne]

Well, start with gradually cutting back how much you eat, preferably things like junk foods. Start with walking then as you get comfortable you can start jogging.

[Asker]

ok. I can do that.

i can jog actually. I'm not too out of shape. :D

[TheUglyOne]

Great! Good luck! :)

[Asker]

thanks :D

[beastman88]

just drink, you get your cals from alcohol, then you throw up and feel sick the next day and don't feel like eating anything! fool proof... lol

[Anonymous]

You should set short term goals, it really motivates you to keep on going!

[Anonymous]

How old are you?

[Asker]

20