Thread: Weight Loss FAQ

First step is to calculate the goal calorie consumption.

For that you need the BMR e.g. from http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

Edit:Link

Just use this http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Remember do not depend on spicy food to boost your metabolism.

Whereas everything that increases your body temperature will temporarily raise your metabolic rate, with spicy food, the increase is so small and short-lived that it doesn't have an impact that will show on the scale.

On the other hand, a high-intensity workout that really raises your heart rate will blast off the most calories. It will also provide the biggest short-term metabolic boost.

Weight training will also boost your metabolic rate immensely.

Cathy.

Dont crash diet!
This is very important. Its very bad for you and you'll end up slowing your metabolism and retaining water anyway.

In weight loss your works out and diet are of equal importance, dont try to do more of one to compensate, or you will make no healthy gains.

Quick tip - when making a sandwich, only butter 1slice of bread. people always do both slices but there really is no point.

-- ok this template has not been updated recently, so when I get back in the grove of things Ill make some changes --

template for loosing fat (cutting)
by average I mean you just want to effectively loose fat, without becoming extreme about it. I will try and outline the basics for you, and later on you should make adjustments / additions that will best fit your needs.
all that will be discussed is for optimal fat loss

DIET : -40% protein 40% carbs 20%fat this is a basic layout. "what kind of protein?" well you should eat: chicken,tuna,eggs,fish,beef are all acceptable basically avoid things like fast food meats and other stuff that's just common since. "what about carbs?" mainly oats, whole grains, starchy vegetables, and fruits mainly the ones with the word (berries) in them. "and fat?" most of your fat intake should be from vegetable oils, seeds and nuts. if you don't like those foods there are some alternatives. -"how many calories?" around 200-300 or 20-30% less than your maintenance level, "how do I know what my maintenance level is?" one way to figure it out is to keep a calorie intake journal for 5-7 days. If your weight stays constant, then you simply divide the total calories consumed by the number of days and you’ll get your daily intake. -liquids: 1-2 gallons/4-8 Liters of water a day is the basic amount you want. you should eat 6 meals a day spaced out 2-3 houres. foods you will want to say away from are: soda, mayo, chips, french fries, ice cream, most salad dressings & oils(except olive oil), cheese. if you can't live without them then go for non-fat and low sugar type things. use some common sence and don't try to make drastic changes all in a day, it should be a gradual process. once you get to the weight you like then you can raise your calorie intake up to maintenance.

SUPPLEMENTS: (first tier supps) for fat loss is a multivitamin and some EFA's (essential fatty acids). (second tier supps) protein powders like casein (used before bed) would be the one of choice for fat loss, whey (after workout) is also benifital. thermogenic fat burners or stimulant-free fat burners are usefull in loosing weight, follow the direction on thoes products which is very important. they will add an extra boost to your goals (san tight is a good stimulant-free product). I would not bother with anything else like carb blockers, fat blockers, appetite suppressants, and other fat loss products you will see everywhere, with maby the exception of thyroid hormone increasers but usally there is no need for them.

WORKOUT PROGRAMS: almost any program will work. the only thing you will want to add is less rest between exercises and sets, but don't hurt yourself.
alot of these exercises have dumbbell-counterparts.
Chest: Parallel bar dips, Bench Press, Incline Press
Legs:Squats (including front squats), tiff-Legged deadlifts, Calf-raises
Back:Bent-over rows, Chins Bent-legged, Deadlifts (also a leg exercise)
Delts:Military press, Lateral raises
Arms:Close-grip bench, press Close-grip chins
you can find fully detailed workouts.

CARDIO: there are two main types of cardio you should use, first is called slow cardio and the second is called HIIT (high intensity interval training). you should use them in a ratio of 3-1 (IE 3 days of slow and 1 day of HIIT). For best results do cardio 4 times a week for an houre, too much is somtimes counterproductive and too little is well too little. "what is slow cardio?" slow cardio is doing any activity (running, biking, swimming, boxing, etc) with about 75-85% of your max heart rate for an houre. "how do I know what my max heart rate is?" well when you do an activity where you are still able to talk without being extremely out of breath, or another easy way is take 220 and minus your age then take that number and multiply it by .75-.85 which will give you rough percentages of 75-85% of your max heart rate or (HR), of course this is not entirly accurate, cause everyone is different. "ok what is HIIT then?" HIIT works like this first you warm up doing whatever for 5 min then take some time and stretch. after your all ready, start a moderate pace for 1 minute then you move your pace up to 90-95% of you max HR for the next 15-30 seconds, then go back down to your moderate pace for 1 min, then back up to 90-95% and back down agen. you get the idea (moderate for 1 min, then 90-95% for 15-30 sec) do this around 15-20 times and your done.

WILLPOWER: alot of people try to make changes too fast and end up quiting, so don't over do it, this means to slowly change your diet and work your way up to the suggested cardio regimen. if you don't workout already and don't want to that is ok, working out is not required for loosing weight but it will help the main parts are your diet and cardio. by phaledax

Originally Posted by manofkent

Dont crash diet!
This is very important. Its very bad for you and ...

Many people are not aware that very low calorie and rapid weight-loss diets may cause gallstone formation. People who go on "crash" diets and those who lose a lot of weight quickly may get gallstones.

It is recommended that you do not lose more than 3 lbs per week especially using the super low-calorie liquid fasting diets.

Those who belong to the "at risk" groups e.g. women aged 20 - 60 need to take this seriously because every day hundreds are being diagnosed with the problem.

See… http://www.stomach-fitness.com/gallstones.html

Let's make this super simple...

You want to lose weight.. let's keep it simple, no complex bs.

1. Exercise: you should weight train 3 times a week do a full body circut no rest for 30 min.. non stop.
2. Cardio: do a minumum of 30 min of cardio.. running, jump roping, dance work out video non stop for 30 min at least 3 times a week 5 days of cardio sheds the fat even faster
3. Eart right; eat all organic food, good fruits and veggies, and high quality meats; grass fed free range organic meat, eggs
4. Don't eat processed food
5. Don't eat packaged food
6. Be happy; Laugh; enjoy life....

these are all very simple techniques that work very welll and keeping your body fit and healthy... stay simple and once you start becoming more fit you might want to adopt a few more techniques to get you looking and feeling even more better.

Scott White
www.personalpowertraining.net
www.traineru.com
www.fitnessmodelbook.com

A good way to burn fat without loosing all your muscle is to do HIIT training.

High Intensity Interval Training is a quick explosive way to burn fat.

If you want lots of info, scan the HIIT forum and ask for programs. Basicly after a warm up you sprint for 1min, then jog for 2mins then go back to sprinting, then running and so on and so on for 20mins.

the more fit you become the longer and faster you will be sprinting, but you always stick to 20mins.

Because it only takes 20mins, you will not feel tired after, and this can be done every day or even twice a day because you are not working your muscles to failure as if you were running for an hour.

Remember to warm up and cool down. And if your lifting weights do your lifting 1st.

Dont do any exercise before eating breakfast, this exercise is high intensity and you may get dizzy and passout if your not well fuled.

VERY IMPORTANT - Take it slow, its much harder than it sounds.

program ideas

warm up= (slowly building your heart rate to 130-150)
cool down= (bringing your heart rate down to 110-130)

s= sprinting (fast enough to last only 1min)
r=running (fast enough to last only 3mins)
w= walking (at a pace to keep your heart rate high-swinging your arms)


begginers - run, sprint, walk
warm up
r-2min
s-1min
w-3min
r-1min
s-1min
w-3min
r-2min
w-2min
r-2min
w-2min
cool down

intermediate - sprint, walk
warm up
r-2min
s-1min
w-1min
s-1min
w-1min .............continue 1min walk and 1min sprint for 20mins

advanced - sprint, run
warm up
r-3min
s-1min
r-2min
s-1min
r-1min....................continue 1min run, 1min sprint for 20min.

Originally Posted by Josephine Stans

I need to find a method that gives me steady weight loss. Sometimes, I've kept to my calories and exercise but I don't see the scale go down and I get discouraged. And sometimes it even increases! Then, I drop a pound to two in a day...is this normal?

To some people stepping on the scale is a motivation, to others its the quickest way to get there ass to the fridge. I know that the goal of lossing weight to most is well losing weight, but at a point it shouldn't just be about that, it should be about a lifestyle change to keep you happy and healthy. Chances are if the scale isn't changing AND you arent seeing any body difference (cause it isnt all about the scale) then you need to step up your game. That doesn't always mean eating less, just eating better. Doesn't always mean working out longer, but working out harder. And also keep your calories guessing, I dont know what your weight and height is but sometimes do the 500 deduction and then do a 300 the next day and another day do
600. Dont take it to far down, better to be a little over than any under.

As far as the pound or two in a day, so much can effect that (water, gas, diet) The rule of thumb you weigh the least at the beginning of the day so get on that scale, just ONCE!, in the morning and give a nice look in the mirror and let that be it for the day. Don't get on and off that scale all day long. Infact i only weigh myself once every few days, to avoid seeing that "heavy feeling day" in numbers, but thats just me.

The more focused you stay, the more steady it will become.

will update soon...

Since this is called the "Weight Loss FAQ" I want to add my 5 tips to fat loss. I assume people reading this will want to lose fat and not muscle. Before I start, I want to correct the calculator above

It is http://www.strength-training-woman.com/cpd.html

The 5 tips to fat loss are as follows...

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over here.


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss. Keep things simple and change your program every 4-6 weeks. Eat well, workout often and get enough rest

Here is a good way to not get caught up in the lost a pound yesterday and gained two today. I am not a large guy 70.5" and my weight is fluctuating this week from 161 -165lbs. I learned from my high school wrestling days that if I needed to make 159 by tomorrow I could simply by dehydrating myself.

Because of fluctuation of water the only way to find your true weight is to use averages. Weigh yourself every morning immediately after rising and relieving yourself, for 5 to 7 days. Write down the number you get and forget it. At the end of 5 - 7 days add up all of the weights you wrote down and divide by the number of days you kept track of. Oh and don't average more than 7 days or you won't see trends.

Example
Mon. 163
Tue. 161
Wed 163
Thu 165
Fri. 164
Sat 162
Sun 165

Total - 1143/7 = an average weight of 163lbs

You all seem to be very informed on this subject. If you don't mind, i'd like to ask you all a few questions. Any help or advise you might have for me would be GREATLY appreciated.

First, let me explain my situation. A year and a half ago I decided to get healthy and I started by changing my lifestyle. Since then i've become obsessed with healthy foods. This has been a god sent for me. I lost 120 pounds by just eating right.... eating more often (5-6 times daily) and being more active. THEN just like that... the weight lose STOPPED! I've been at the same weight for four to five months now. I don't have that much more to go. I'm not about to give up now.

Then, I began working out. I'd do about 40 minutes of cardio and 15 of weight training 2-3 times a week. Didn't help any!

Sometime after I stopped losing weight I started eating less and less and didn't even really realize how little I was actually eating until I decided to start counting calories. I was surprised to see that I was way under 1200 calories. The light bulb went off that "dah... you're in starvation mode.... no wonder you're not losing" . I hide my scale (so I wouldn't have to watch myself gain weight) and slowly started increasing my calorie intake to just over 1200. I did gain a few but continued to work out and it came back off and then I was right back to where I was stuck at before.

I'm getting really annoyed with the scale. About a month ago I started working out just about EVERY SINGLE DAY and i've increase the intensity and duration of my workouts quite a bit and mixed up the routine. Since then i've only lost 3 pounds and I seem to be stuck again!!! Then again, three pounds is better than nothing, I guess... but still not good enough.

My question is: am I still doing something wrong? Is that why I can't lose more weight? I realize that I still don't eat a lot of calories but I always try to get at least 1200 a day.

My second question: If I eat... say 1400 calories (a day) and work off ... 400 of them... do I need to eat an extra 200 calories to make sure I am back up to 1200? Does this make any sense? lol I'm not real good at explaining this. Do I need to make up for what I work off? I know this may seem like a silly question but i'm really not sure if i'm getting enough calories and if this is why i'm still not losing weight. I do get over 1200 calories a day but HONESTLY not much more than that.

Please help me if you can see what I am doing wrong. I haven't come this far to stop now, ya know.
Thank you, Jessica

Originally Posted by Jessica1033

My question is: am I still doing something wrong? Is that why I can't lose more weight? I realize that I still don't eat a lot of calories but I always try to get at least 1200 a day.

My second question: If I eat... say 1400 calories (a day) and work off ... 400 of them... do I need to eat an extra 200 calories to make sure I am back up to 1200? Does this make any sense? lol I'm not real good at explaining this. Do I need to make up for what I work off? I know this may seem like a silly question but i'm really not sure if i'm getting enough calories and if this is why i'm still not losing weight. I do get over 1200 calories a day but HONESTLY not much more than that.

Please help me if you can see what I am doing wrong. I haven't come this far to stop now, ya know.
Thank you, Jessica

It sounds like you're not eating enough. Depending on your are, weight and height, you probably need to increase it. By how much? I don't know without these details.

Also, you may want to change up the diet to reduce carbs to just whole grains in the AM, fruit and vegetables after that.