Weight Loss Is Simple and Achievable
A lot of people who are aiming to shed pounds get lured by crash diets that promise svelte figures in a matter of weeks. These diets may actually aid people to lose weight very fast. However, for majority of these cases, the dieters end up regaining the weight they have lost just as quickly. There are even instances where the dieters end up heavier compared to their initial weights.
The most sensible way to lose weight is to switch to a healthier lifestyle that incorporates eating a well-balanced diet with an effective exercise program. By committing yourself to a healthier lifestyle, you can put a stop to the vicious cycle of fluctuating weight control problems.
There is a simple equation concerning weight loss: You have to eat fewer calories than what you burn. You can lose weight by eating less calorie-laden foods, or by increasing the calories that you burn through increased physical activity and exercise. This report offers you a simple plan for combining a healthy diet with optimum calorie-burning exercises for resolving your weight control problems.
Healthy Diet Plan
Healthy eating starts with being a smart eater. You know what you should be eating, and you also know the best way to eat. Your food choices affect your overall health and prevent diseases such as heart ailments, cancer, diabetes, even depression. Your goal is to cut back on calories, but not on nutrition. Applying the habits of healthy eating is also key to boosting your energy, sharpening your memory and stabilizing your mood.
The Five Basic Food Groups and the Three Macronutrients
Let’s start-off with a review of the basic food groups. A healthy eating plan should include fruits and vegetables, bread and cereals, milk and dairy foods, meat, fish and alternatives, and healthy fats. These five major food groups need to be represented in your meal choices everyday to provide your body the sustenance it needs. They can be categorized further within the 3 macronutrients, namely, carbohydrates, protein and fats.
Carbohydrates. Our body’s primary source of energy is carbohydrates. We need to get the bulk of our carbohydrates from whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables and other sources of intact carbohydrates. These are the best sources of carbohydrates because aside from providing us with our energy needs, these foods also deliver essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and a host of important phytonutrients.
Examples of whole grain foods include whole wheat bread, whole-wheat crackers, whole-wheat cereal flakes, brown rice, oatmeal and popcorn. Compared to refined grains, whole grains are better sources of fiber and important nutrients such as selenium, potassium and magnesium.
Choose a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. It is preferable to consume fruits that have low sugar content but have high nutritional value in terms of antioxidants and phytonutrients. Such fruits include berries, in general, and summer fruits such as melons, peaches, nectarines and apricots. Apples, pears and citrus fruit have moderate amounts of sugar. On the other hand, tropical fruits such as pineapple, pomegranate, mangoes, bananas and fresh figs have high sugar content. Dried fruits such as dates, raisins, prunes and figs are extremely high in sugar. Instead of buying dried fruits, you might want to try dehydrated berries and summer fruits instead.
As for vegetables, leafy vegetables have the least amount of carbohydrates but are richest in phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. These include lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard and herbs. Vegetables coming from stems and flowers, such as asparagus, cauliflower and broccoli, as well as mushrooms, have low sugar -content. High-sugar vegetables include those coming from plant roots and seeds. These include parsnips, water chestnuts, potatoes, sweet potatoes yams, and legumes such as peas and corn. Vegetables with moderately high sugar content include those coming from the botanical fruit of plants such as squash, green beans, tomatoes, okra and eggplant. Avocado is exceptional, in that it has lower sugar than the others.
Proteins. Consuming adequate quality protein is another important element in achieving weight loss. The nitrogen found in protein is essential to building body structure and DNA synthesis. It is advisable to exceed the FDA’s recommended daily allowance of just 50 grams or 200 calories of protein because this recommendation is based solely on maintaining nitrogen balance in our body. Aside from maintaining nitrogen balance, protein acts as a signaling molecule in metabolism and preserves muscle function and health. The latter is especially important during weight loss because muscles enhance burning of calories.
The ideal amount of protein consumption for weight loss is to consume ¾ of your body weight in grams of protein per day. For example, if your ideal weight is 160 pounds and your current weight is 200 pounds, then you should be consuming from 120 to 150 grams of protein per day. Since each gram of protein is about four calories, this translates to around 480 to 600 calories per day from protein.
Protein is made up of various amino acids. The most important amino acids are branch chain amino acids (BCAA) such as leucine, isoleucine and valine. The body breaks down muscle when it needs energy to get these amino acids. By providing the body with BCAA, you prevent the body from breaking down muscle.
Sources of protein that are rich in BCAA include red meat, poultry, dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt, and protein powder and drinks such as whey and soya.
Dairy products, aside from providing protein, are also rich sources of calcium. The health benefits of calcium has been generally linked to maintenance of bone density and the prevention of osteoporosis. Recent research, however, has highlighted another health benefit of consuming calcium-rich dairy products. Although preliminary studies have only been conducted on mice, findings reveal that calcium stored in fat cells plays an important role in how fat is stored and broken down by the body. Evidently, the more calcium there is in a fat cell, the more fat it will burn. High-calcium diets were convincingly correlated to reduced body fat storage.
Fats. Fats have traditionally been seen as bad for our health. However, it is not so much the amount of fat and oils in the diet, but the type of fat that we consume that has been strongly correlated to obesity, diabetes and other health problems.
Bad fats, such as saturated fats in meat and dairy products, and most especially, trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils used in commercially prepared baked goods, snack foods, fast foods and processed foods, are the ones that increase a person’s risk for certain diseases. However, good fats, such as monounsaturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats are good for the heart and other parts of the body. These good fats play vital roles in the body such as the provision of fuel and insulation, and serving as building blocks for cell membranes. They are also needed in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, E, D and K.
Good sources of monounsaturated fats include almonds, hazelnuts, canola oil and olive oil. Polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, include sunflower, soybean, corn oil, flax seeds, walnuts and fish.
Calorie and Nutrient Calculators
So, how much of these food groups should we be consuming to achieve weight loss? It would all depend on your target ideal weight. Gender, age, height and how much exercise you perform would also be factors to consider in determining your recommended daily calorie intake. You may try out this calorie calculator to determine how much calories you need to consume to lose weight or to maintain weight: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
For determining the balance between your macronutrients, that is, your carbohydrates, proteins and fats, you may also try out this calculator:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm
The portioning of your carbohydrates, proteins and fats, can range from a zone diet ratio of 40:30:30, to a low-carbohydrate diet ratio of 25:40:35. Just by inputting your ideal daily calorie intake, the number of meals you eat per day, and your preferred ratio between your macronutrients, and the calculator would instantly give you the amount of calories and grams for each of the nutrient type for the whole day, and for each meal.
You might be wondering why the number of meals per day in the calculator ranges from 3 to 6. The reason behind that is that
your eating schedule can also help you lose weight. Eating 5 to 6 smaller meals a day can keep you from feeling hunger pangs throughout the day and boost your metabolism. The actual process of breaking down food burns up calories, and eating several meals a day burns up more calories during the digestion process. So, then, it would be a good idea to have around 5 smaller meals approximately 3 hours apart than to just have 3 regular meals. Just remember to choose nutrient-dense foods and to keep within your ideal daily calorie range.
Now, we’ll go to the second part of the weight loss equation—creating a calorie deficit by burning more calories through physical activity and exercises.
Exercise
Which exercises are best for losing weight? The straightforward answer to this question is the exercise that you could and would do regularly. The most frequently cited reasons why people stop losing weight through exercise are boredom and injury. You have to choose an activity that you enjoy doing.
There are two main types of exercises: cardiovascular or aerobic exercises, and strength-training exercises. Both types of exercises can help you lose weight.
Cardio Exercises
Cardio exercise is any sustained rhythmic activity that involves large muscle groups. It makes the lungs and heart work harder as the body’s need for oxygen is increased. Increased work leads to increased energy needs, making you burn more calories in the process.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to cardio training. The first one focuses on slow and steady cardio exercises, and the second one recommends high intensity cardio exercises. Slow and steady cardio exercises are usually low intensity exercises that are performed for a duration of about 45 minutes to one hour. It burns more fat, rather than carbohydrates, and are easy on the joints.
High intensity cardio exercises use explosive movements, increase the body’s metabolism throughout the day, and burn up a lot of calories within a much shorter duration of about 20 to 30 minutes.
The choice between slow and steady cardio exercises and high intensity cardio exercises would largely depend on your fitness level and age. You can easily vary the intensity of any cardio exercise by going faster or by jumping higher or by trying out new activities that your body is not used to.
To give you an idea of how much calories cardio exercises can help you burn, here is a list of popular cardio exercises together with the approximate number of calories they would burn for a 140-150 pound person in a time span of 30 minutes:
• Step aerobics: 340 calories
• Stationary bike: 238 calories
• Swimming: 270 calories
• Walking at 4 miles per hour: 170 calories
• Running at 5 miles per hour: 270 calories
• Mowing the lawn with a push mower: 200 calories
• Cross-country skiing: 330 calories
• Elliptical trainer: 300 calories
• Rowing: 300 calories
• Jumping rope: 330 calories
• Racquetball: 400 calories
• Rock climbing: 380 calories
One advantage of cardio exercises is that it increases your body metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising. That means additional calories continue to be burned off long after you stop exercising. On top of that, if you opt to do high intensity cardio, you burn more calories at half the time. High intensity cardio is performed at around 70 percent and up of your maximum exertion level. This is particularly suited for people with busy schedules who can only fit in a limited amount of time for workouts. High intensity cardio does pose some risks such as over training, overuse injuries and burnout. Working out too hard might also make you hate exercising and completely dampen your motivation to continue with your exercise program.
One variation of high intensity cardio exercises is what is called high intensity interval training (HIIT). The principle behind HIIT is that if you do cardio exercises at a steady pace, your body achieves a steady state. This means that your body has adjusted to the speed you are going and tries to conserve energy. To avoid this, you might want to try interval training. All you need to do is to keep on changing your speed and intensity level every 2 minutes or so. This process helps the body to elude getting into a steady state and, consequently, burns more calories. For example, you can run at a fast pace for 30 to 60 seconds, and keep on alternating this with 1 to 2 minutes of walking until you reach your target amount of time for exercising.
Now, let’s go to the second type of exercise that will help you to shed your unwanted pounds: strength training.
Strength Training
Strength training is a very important part of a weight loss program for the simple reason that a lot of people starve themselves into weight loss. While it is true that you need a calorie deficit to achieve weight loss, you also need to know that it is your lean body mass, the muscle mass underneath the body fat, which burns calories throughout the day.
People who are obese actually have a very strong skeleton, as well as strong muscles. Their bodies intentionally built up those bones and muscles to be able to sustain all the extra weight from the body fat as they move around. Overweight people require more effort to stand up, walk across a parking lot, go up a flight of stairs, and to lift their arms. A 300-pound person might comparably be doing a 300-pound leg press each time he tries to get up from a chair. The heavier people are, the stronger their muscles have to be for them to be able to do their regular activities.
These extra bone density and muscle mass can actually help you in your weight loss efforts. While you are trying to lose body fat, if you manage to keep this lean body mass, you can maintain the high metabolism that is associated with them. However, if you resort to starving yourself, you would lose these muscle resources. The body will get rid of this extra muscle mass because there would no longer be an extra load to support.
As the body eliminates this muscle mass, your metabolism would slow down. You have to remember that it is the lean body mass that burns calories throughout the day, even when you are resting. Reducing your muscle mass would make you vulnerable to regaining the body fat that you have lost. Since you no longer have the muscle mass you once have that automatically burns calories, overeating just a little bit will make you start packing body fat again.
The ideal solution to this situation is to include strength training in your weight loss program. Incorporating strength training would allow you to maintain the muscle mass that you already have underneath your body fat while you are in the process of losing body fat. You will get slimmer, but you will still have the muscles that you had when you were overweight.
If you’re a man, you would have the bonus of having those muscles actually showing up. If you’re a woman, you don’t have to fear the prospect of looking too bulky and muscular. Women do not have enough of the anabolic hormone, testosterone, to create bulky muscles. Strength training will burn up intra-muscular fat such that the newer muscle mass would only be occupying the space that was used for storing intramuscular fat. Your overall muscle size would most likely be smaller than when you had a lower body fat to lean body mass ratio.
It is important to keep in mind that the body can easily shed unused muscle mass within a few months. Regaining muscle mass, however, can take months or years of strength training. So, it would be much better to start your strength-training regimen before you lose the muscle mass you already have, than much later, when you have already slimmed down.
You also have to keep in mind that losing weight only makes sense if you are losing excess body fat, not lean muscle mass. Do not make the bathroom scale the sole measure of your weight loss progress. If you lost a total of three pounds, but those three pounds actually meant 2 pounds of body fat and 1 pound of muscle mass, you did not do yourself a favor because the lost muscle means you have lowered your metabolism. Aim to lose as much body fat as you can with very minimal muscle loss.
Before you embark on your strength-training workout, here are some tips to help you get the optimum benefit from it:
• Do not take the all-or-nothing approach. It is better to do a little training than none at all. If you can only fit one session of weight training into your weekly schedule instead of two or three, you would still benefit from it.
• Use the proper amount of resistance. You should choose a weight that fatigues you after 10-12 repetitions.
• Follow correct form. If you are unable to keep proper form, you are probably using weights that are too heavy. Improper form will increase your risk for injuries. A good rule of thumb for determining proper form is that the specific body part follows its normal path of movement.
• Rest and recovery is important in strength training. A muscle needs anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to repair and rebuild itself after a workout. Insufficient rest would lead to tissue breakdown instead of muscle building.
Strength training can be done in the gym, as well as at home. If you do not have time to go to the gym, you can perform strength training at home using your own body weight as resistance. You can also use modified household items as weights. In lieu of dumbbells, a can of soup can be used for chest flies and curls. You can also use small bottles filled with sand.
Here’s a list of strength training exercises that you can perform without weights or machines:
• Chest exercises:
o Push ups
o Incline push-ups: This is like a regular push up but with your feet elevated on a bench, bed or chair. It targets more of the upper pectorals.
• Back exercises:
o Chin-ups and underhand chin-ups.
• Thighs:
o Squats
o Lunges
• Abdominals:
o Crunches
• Calves:
o Calf raises
If you have access to the gym, choose exercises that make use of compound movements. The following are exercises that work multiple muscle groups :
• Chest and back:
o Bench presses
o Pull ups
o Barbell curls
• Legs:
o Deep squats
o Stiff-legged deadlifts
o Dumbbell lunges
• Abs:
o Lying floor leg raise with crunch
• Triceps:
o Close grip bench press
o Dips
• Biceps and back:
o Wide-grip pull-ups
o Chin ups
o Bent over barbell rows
o Cable row
• Shoulders, trapezoids and abs:
o Military press
o Alternate arm seated dumbbell press
o Shrugs
o Upright rows
You can focus on just two muscle groups per session, and alternately exercise the other muscle groups on the next session to ensure enough rest and recovery. Regularly exercising all the muscle groups would prevent muscle imbalances that can lead to injuries.
Summary
To sum up, weight loss is a simple and achievable goal. You just have to keep in mind the principles behind it. Aim for a balanced and nutrient-rich diet that would fall within your ideal daily calorie range. Burn up calories by performing varying intensities of aerobic exercises. Lastly, develop and maintain your lean body mass and high rate of metabolism by incorporating strength training exercises in your weight loss program, and eventually, in your weight maintenance regimen.