Frustration with weight loss! Help? I’m so discouraged!?

Comments

1. Escher says:

   July 16, 2011 at 12:13 pm

   First of all your daily calorie intake should never be lower than 1000 calories. That’s food intake minus exercise, so if you eat 1500 calories and do 500 calories worth of exercise that’s 1000 calories. Any lower and you’ll encounter all sorts of problems that’ll effect your weight loss, so don’t even bother.

   At its most basic weight loss is all down to your daily calorie intake. If you eat less calories then your body needs you will lose weight. In this regard exercise just means you can eat more food then you could without exercise. If you’ve no interest in exercise you just need to track your calories, and aim for between 500-1000 calories below your daily maintenance level.

   You can track your calories, and calculate your daily calorie requirements on one of the following sites:
   http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/
   http://www.sparkpeople.com/
   http://www.calorieking.com.au/
   I’d strongly advise you do so to begin with as it’ll give you a greater understanding of how many calories different foods have. It might surprise you how many calories foods that people consider to be healthy and ideal for weight loss actually have. For example, 100g of uncooked pasta, which is about a handful, is around 250-350 calories.

   These basic steps should be enough to get you started with your weight loss, but if you want to fine tune your diet a bit there’s more you can do. The main thing you can do is reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your diet. Carbohydrates are found in foods like pasta, bread, starchy vegetables, rice, sugar, and other foods that make up a big part of the modern diet.
   The problem with carbohydrates is that when you eat them your body produces insulin, and insulin plays a major role in the production and storage of fat. If you combine fat and carbohydrates in a meal then you are providing the body with everything it needs to store as much fat as possible.

   Ideally you should aim for your calories to come from 40% protein, 40% fat, and 20% carbohydrates. The level of fat might seem high, but you need to remember that dietary fat is not the same as the fat in your body. When you eat fat it’s broken down and used immediately to provide energy to the body, and only stored when you are either consuming a lot of carbohydrates, or eating more calories than your body needs. If you are on a diet this won’t be a problem. You can eat whatever you like as long as you stick to this nutrition split.

   The following is a list of high carbohydrate foods to avoid:
   http://www.buzzle.com/articles/list-of-high-carbohydrate-foods.html

   And here’s high protein food:
   http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/List_of_High_Protein_Foods.shtml

   Next, exercise. You don’t need to exercise, but it’ll help you get fitter and improve your body shape. I’d recommend regular cardio exercise, such as jogging, or jumping rope, but high intensity stuff like Zumba will do as well, and if you enjoy it that’s even better.
   I’d recommend 3 sessions of cardio exercise a week at a minimum, and if you are going to start jogging then I’d recommend the Couch to 5k plan, which is ideal for beginners :
   http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

   If you want a great body shape you should aim to go to the gym 3 alternate days a week, and remember the key to building muscle is doing a few sets of a low number of reps at the highest weight you can manage. People who pick up tiny weights and lift them 250 times are basically doing very inefficient cardio exercise that doesn’t do anything to build muscle.

   Toning is just reducing body fat and increasing muscle mass. Anything that suggests you can “tone” by doing some light weight exercise lots of time is really taking a very inefficient route to improving the shape of your body.

   With weight lifting it depends whether or not you have access to a gym. If you do I suggest you follow a plan like Starting Strength, the wiki of which is full of very useful information : http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki
   The actual programme is here : http://www.startingstrength.net/workouts/

   If you don’t have gym access read Brain over Brawn, a free ebook, which contains lot’s of useful information about dieting and weight loss : http://brainoverbrawn.com/get-the-book/
   I highly recommend you read it regardless of your plans, as it will educate you on what is required to lose weight.

   With a calorie controlled diet you’ll lose weight, with added cardio you’ll get fit, and with weight lifting you’ll look great, but how much you are prepared to do is up to you.
2. Trish M says:

   July 16, 2011 at 12:40 pm

   Eating healthy, around 1,200 calories of a well balanced diet daily is really important.
   Lots of green veggies, lean protein, and lots and lots of water.

   Next, working out is exactly what you should do. You’re not going to lose 10 lbs a week. Safe weightloss is about 2 lbs per week. I know how great it would be to just be 50 lbs lighter each month, but you won’t be able to sustain that or stay healthy like that! Aim for an average of 60 minutes of exercise daily, but don’t beat yourself up if you have a busy day and only get in 30 minutes, or you have a free day and get in 2 hours. Also don’t push yourself to the point where you’re miserable, sore and risking other problems. And you should always take a day off!

   You can also do thins like take the stairs, park at the back of the store parking lot, and go for leisurely walks…all good ways to move your body but not feel like you need to kill yourself working out!

   See a counselor, dietitian and/or personal trainer to help you with a good plan and to keep you motivated.

   Also, don’t deprive yourself! It’s ok to have some chocolate, just not a whole candy bar every day! It’s ok to go out for dinner, just don’t eat a whole appetizer, huge meal with all the extras and dessert!

   Keep yourself surrounded with people who support your goal, and don’t forget to track how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go.
3. Chan Walker says:

   July 16, 2011 at 12:50 pm

   generally, a healthy weight loss per week is 2-3 lbs… so i would say ur goal should be strecthed out to a year. be reasonable. being fit isnt being skinny, its being healthy. you will have better long term effects if you do it right/safe.
   good luck
4. morgan says:

   July 16, 2011 at 1:08 pm

   It’s generally not safe to be losing more than about 2 or 3 pounds a week, which works out to around 50-60 pounds over 5 months. You say this is a lifestyle change, so just remember that you’re in this for the long haul. It’s not all going to come off at once, but it will come off if you keep working at it. Don’t worry about slow progress so long as you’re keeping to your plan. Adding muscle now will make it that much easier to burn off fat later (muscle uses up a lot of calories even when it’s not working hard!)

   You’re going to have some reversals; you might be retaining some extra water one week, or be a little dehydrated when you weigh yourself another. People can fluctuate by a pound or two of water weight just over the course of a day. Week to week change isn’t nearly as important as the overall trend over months.
5. Damien Clark says:

   July 16, 2011 at 1:59 pm

   Hi, Crash dieting is not always the best way to losing weight but it took a friend of mine to point this out and made complete sense of the massive ups and downs in my weight. They told me about this diet solution which really spelled out to me how to make things work, maybe it could work for you aswell.

   Good Luck.
6. Jessie Brien says:

   July 16, 2011 at 2:57 pm

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7. Jane Harkson says:

   July 16, 2011 at 3:30 pm

   I once wondered the same thing… I found a blog that helps you lose weight and lost 65 pounds in less then a month! it was amazing I feel so much better and can do so much more! I looked for many products/ programs to help me but none did… until I found this Blog! http://veryeasyfatloss.blogspot.com (this is not my blog)
8. Ed says:

   July 16, 2011 at 4:23 pm

   Peer support is darn helpful.
   In terms of a local weekly support group, check out whether there is a local TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) group. It’s a non-profit, member-run support group, with a weigh-in each week. Members share what works for them, take turns making presentations, planning contests, etc. So, the dues are real low. Check for local meetings and details at http://www.TOPS.org
9. Xzavier Thatcher says:

   July 16, 2011 at 4:39 pm

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   Well good luck.
10. Anastasia Lee says:

    July 16, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    I check various diet plan summaries to learn more.
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    July 16, 2011 at 5:14 pm

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