Change the way you think about yourself
25/07/09 17:24 Filed in: Nutrition
This will get the agri-junk-food industry up in arms, and those who promote the food pyramid - if it is right, why are more than 60% of Americans overweight?
What works if you want to lose weight?
- Drastically reduce portion sizes
- Chew every mouthful thoroughly
- Have a decent breakfast with protein (even a humble boiled egg, or small whey protein shake!)
- Have at least 250 g mixed salad a day, preferably as the evening meal.
Completely stop eating or drinking products with
- refined wheat (bread, cakes, pastries and pasta)
- sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or diet sodas
- hydrogenated fats, vegetable oils
- MSG (or unspecified "natural flavor") or aspartame.
Drastically cut down on
- dairy products (a 12-oz yogurt is enough for three servings!)
- sugar.
Try a small portion of rice as carbohydrate source with a meal. If you eat a salad and chew it properly, you will be amazed by the taste of fresh vegetables, without any salad dressing.
Once you realize how much work it takes to lose about 150 kcal (e.g. 20 minutes of really hard, sweaty,out-of breath work on a bike), you'll be more careful about eating what you don't need in the first place.
Most people have to work out an hour a day most days of the week, with a combination of cardio and strength training during the week, and make significant changes to their eating habits. Then an average weight loss is about 0.4 kg a week, but 0.5-1 kg a week is by no means uncommon.
If you have a good reason for losing body fat, your mind will help you make the right choices. Before eating anything, think "what matters most to me?" If it is being more healthy, do you really want to eat that snack? To quote Thierry, a personal trainer "If you are not willing to give up your ... [calorie-dense diet], do not even bother to sign up at the gym, it is a total waste of time and money."
Sadly many people who claim "my diet is optimal" and "I work out a lot" but are still putting on body fat are simply deluding themselves. Without exception, people who come into hospital and cannot eat (e.g. for abdominal surgery) lose weight rapidly, without exercise. That's not a good way to do it, but it shows that with fewer calories going in, the body fat will go.
You get out of your body what you put into it. When you're at the gym, there's no point in going if you sit on a bike and read a newspaper or watch the TV - you have to get out of breath and sweat! You get out of exercise what you put into it! You can do it - if you really want to.
Commit to a healthy life through what you eat and how you exercise. It is hard - but a lot easier than the alternative. And it is great to feel and look fit!
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