Lose My Fat
How To Lose Weight
And keep it off once and for all
So many diet programs help you lose weight, but more often than not you just gain it all back. I did, many times over. Read on for how to lose weight & keep it off.
Gaining weight is a common struggle for women, and it's no secret that there are many, many programs out there to help us lose weight. I've tried those programs - just about all of them. My name is Bethany Smith and I'm 27. In the last five or six years, I've gained 55 pounds. 55 pounds in my twenties! And for just about as long as I've been gaining weight, I've been working on losing it. I've tried Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, My Body Makeover, Metabolic Research Diet, 5 Factor Diet... you name it, I've done it. And I lost weight with every single plan I tried. But I also gained all of it back, plus more! Now I know that a single program doesn't do the job. A program teaches you to lose weight, but gives you no tools for keeping it off long term, while still enjoying your life. Since I've been working so hard at this, researching different ways to lose weight, trying all of them, I've come across the way to lose weight & keep it off. Step 1: Drink ALOT of water, every day This is the first key to gearing your body up to lose weight & keep it off. Many things happen inside your body when you're not drinking enough water. First, your body gets dehydrated, making you thirsty. The problem with thirst is that we've begun to mistake "thirst" for the desire for something sweet. So we usually don't even recognize thirst anymore... and when our body tells us we need water, we turn to sugar, putting more pounds on our body. Secondly, when we're dehydrated, our body begins to hold onto water more tightly. This is called water retention and makes us bloated and carry more weight just in water than we should. Third, when we're dehydrated, we don't digest food properly and wind up carrying extra weight in our colon. Yuck! And lastly, when we're dehydrated... we get tired easily and definitely don't want to exercise. So the first key is to begin drinking about half of your body weight in ounces of water every day. Step 2: STOP eating white flour & processed sugar These two foods single handedly add more weight to our bodies every month than any other foods. Both white flour & processed sugar are so over processed that as soon as they enter our body, they instantly turn to sugar. Let me explain more. Complex sugars & grains - like natural fruit, oatmeal, whole grain bread, and rice, enter our body... they're broken up by the stomach... then the intestines begin to digest them. The vitamins & minerals are sent into our blood stream... the starches begin to be converted into glucose for energy for our bodies... and the body is metabolizing & digesting that food. White flour & processed sugar SKIPS all of that. When those foods enter your body, the digestive system sees that they are already processed, and sends a huge amount of glucose into our system. That's bad, because our body only needs a little glucose at a time to use for energy. Now that a whole mess of glucose has been dumped into our blood stream, our insulin spikes up to whisk the extra glucose away into fat cells - bad - and then our adrenaline kicks in to get our insulin under control. That adrenaline rush is the "sugar high" we get, and then when our adrenal glands settle back down we get the familiar sugar "crash". Bottom line - white flour & processed sugar require ALOT of energy & calories to properly digest & pass through our body.... and unless you just ran a marathon you don't have that kind of momentum in your body. So it's just going to wind up as fat on your body.... so SKIP foods that are made with flour, unless it is WHOLE GRAIN flour... and skip foods with processed sugar. Sugar's in almost everything. Almost every single cereal available has a huge amount of sugar, ketchup is high in sugar, even ranch dressing. And I shouldn't have to remind you about the obvious... brownies, cookies, and desserts. As for bread, pasta, and other foods made with flour - just make sure they say "WHOLE GRAIN". Step 3: Get your metabolism up by eating more often. Metabolism is like this shiny magical gift that burns calories regardless of what you're doing. If your metabolism is high, you can be sitting at your desk and your body will be burning calories. Metabolism is the energy inside your body that burns calories. When you eat more often, it's like you're stoking the fire of your metabolism. A good policy is to eat a well-balanced meal about every three hours. Well balanced means a healthy carbohydrate - such as brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain bread, or a potato - with a lean protein, such as egg whites, fish, chicken, or turkey. A typical day's menu looks like this for me: Meal 1: Turkey bacon with a slice of tomato & low fat cheese on a whole grain English muffin, toasted in the oven of course Meal 2: Chicken sandwich with broccoli Meal 3: Protein shake or cold tuna & whole wheat pasta salad Meal 4: Chicken fajitas with corn tortillas Meal 5: Sugar free pudding blended with a scoop of protein powder & skim milk As you can see, I eat very tasty food and I never feel hungry or deprived. And by eating this often, I stay satisfied throughout the day, avoid cravings, and boost my metabolism. I recently hurt my knee and was unable to workout for about a week. Because I had been eating this way for so long, I actually lost weight while I was not working out, simply because my metabolism kept burning calories for me. Step 4: Avoid fried foods & reduce fatty foods Okay. I'm going to say it. This is going to counter everything else you've read about... but I don't avoid high fat foods completely. About once a week I enjoy a good steak. I eat some butter with my oatmeal... I enjoy a little fat here & there for taste. But the key is to reduce it. And avoid trans-fats (usually fried foods and things like margarine & peanut butter) at all costs. Trans-fats are these processed fats that are kind of semi-solid, and when they go in your body they can't be processed other than just to find a place and stick. Usually the sides of your arteries is where these fats wind up sticking. Oh yeah, and in your gall bladder. Yuck. So skip the fried foods, and cut out the high fat foods whenever you can, and save them for here & there when you'll really enjoy them. Fat is harder for your body to digest, so low fat is a good idea... but remember we're going after a lifestyle of weight loss. So if you're a steak lover, I'm sorry... cutting it out permanently just isn't going to work for you. Step 5: Find some exercise you like, and do it ALL THE TIME Here's a hard truth. You're going to need to wrap your head around it... so give yourself some slack and space to do that. You need to exercise. It is possible to lose weight without exercising. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
BUT... exercising is good for you. 1) Aerobic exercising (like running, walking, jumping rope, elliptical machine, bike riding, etc) is good for your heart & lungs. Aerobic exercising burns a ton of calories too, which is good... but for long term weight loss and health your heart & lungs needs to be in good working order. 2) Muscle burns a BUNCH of calories. And building muscle spikes your metabolism up further - meaning, again, that if you have a bunch of muscle in your body, you can be taking a nap and burning calories... and who doesn't want that?? So get up and exercise. My personal routine is to work on strength training three days a week, running two days a week, and stretching 1 day a week. Whichever type of exercise you like, start with that and just do it. Exercise makes you feel better, and it helps you keep weight off long term. Step 6: Keep track of how well you do, and reward yourself This is so key, and I do this every day!! Every single day I give myself a point for drinking all the water I needed to drink, a point for exercising, and a point for each balanced, healthy meal I enjoyed. Why is that important? Because... on the days that come up here and there where I'm finding myself craving something... like the cookie cake being passed around the office, or pizza, or whatever else I happen to find myself really wanting to enjoy... I can take a look at my journal. I can see that "Hey! I've eaten 25 healthy meals this week!" And either that's going to make me want to continue to make another healthy choice right this second, or it's going to make me feel pretty okay about my choice to enjoy a slice of pizza. I also reward myself. I set a goal to reach a certain number of points - usually 80% of what I could possibly get or more - by a certain date, and when I reach that goal I give myself a predefined reward. Usually a night out with the girls or a shopping trip. :) When you keep track like this, espeically giving yourself a point per meal, you stay focused on this being a lifestyle. You don't get all wrapped up in "I already blew today by eating a bad breakfast, so I might as well have a burger & fries for lunch..." On the contrary... keeping track of your "points" reminds you that regardless of your breakfast choice, you have four or five more opportunities to make healthy choices all day long. Step 7: Take a day off Again, this is probably contrary to all weight loss methods out there. But my philosophy is that you're in this for the long haul. You're in this not just to lose weight, but to stay at your ideal weight for the rest of your life. Let me say that again. THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Is there any one food that you absolutely love eating that you're just not sure that you can give up FOREVER?? I have several foods like that, and that's why weight loss methods never worked for me before. I enjoy one day a week - usually Saturday unless a holiday or special occasion falls on a weekday - where I enjoy whatever the heck I want to eat. Yesterday was Saturday, and I enjoyed a breakfast burrito (with a white flour tortilla), a barbecue sandwich on a toasted white bun (mmm) and last night enjoyed beer & snacks. Yummy! Having a single day off gives me a chance to enjoy the foods I look forward to... to have a treat day where I can get ice cream with friends or have drinks or eat some deliciously unhealthy entrees. Most people fear that if they advise you to enjoy some unhealthy foods, you'll be unable to get back on track the next day. This is a valid concern, and be advised that if you have a full day of binging on sugar and crappy foods, the next day you might not feel very well. But it's my belief that if you have one day a week to look forward to, making healthy choices the other 6 days is easier. That's how it works for me. I mentioned the cookie cake & pizza above... most of the time during the week when those situations come up, I look at it and think, "Would I be okay waiting until Saturday to enjoy this food?" Most of the time the answer is yes, and I comfortably pass it up. Occasionally the answer is no and I enjoy the food guilt free, because of all the other healthy choices I've made and will continue to make the rest of my life... but usually delayed gratification works just fine for me. Well, there you have it. Those are the keys to weight loss... follow these steps and you should see yourself begin to lose weight, and by following these guidelines as your general lifestyle - you won't ever have to worry about being overweight ever again!
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