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Nutrition Weight Management 30 Tips to Lose Weight
| 30 Tips to Lose Weight |
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| Written by Jeff Behar, MS, MBA | |
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Losing weight is as simple as eating less and exercising more, right?If only it were that simple! As most of us know losing weight can be very challenging, both mentally and physically.There are many things that influence overeating. Stress (stress hormones, like cortisol), environment and of course lifestyle habits are major contributors. A basic understanding of when, where can help explain why you may be overeating. Once you know the why, you can than devise a plan to increase your odds of losing weight and keeping it off for good!!
The Skinny on Looking Skinny
First tip: right down everything you eat...and I mean everything, in a food log. Note time, and any contributory factor you can identify (running late, ate fast food, stressed at work, grabbed some junk food, etc.).
Next, determine how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. This can be done using one of the tools available to you at www.musclemagfitness.com, or you can do a few simple calculations. For the simple calculation you do not need to be a math wiz.
Here is a simple way to find out how many calories your body requires to maintain your current weight.Multiply your current weight by 15. This is roughly the number of calories per pound of body weight needed to maintain your current weight if you are moderately active. Moderately active means getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day in the form of exercise (walking at a brisk pace, climbing stairs, or active gardening).
Let's say you're a man who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, and you need to lose about 20 pounds to put you in a healthy weight range. If you multiply 200 by 15, you will get 3,000, which is the number of calories per day that you need in order to maintain your current weight (weight-maintenance calories). To lose a 2 pounds of body weight per week, you will need to lose 7000 calories less, or 1000 per day.If you are sedentary, you will also need to build more activity into your day. In order to lose at least a pound a week, try to do at least 45 minutes of physical activity on most days, and reduce your daily calorie intake by at least 500 calories.
Because your body will soon adapt to restricted calories as a survival mechanism it is important that you average and cycle your calories to reach the desired deficit (7000 per week in the example above). That would mean decreasing your calories in a manner such as this:
1500
2000
2500
1500
3000
1500
2000
Using the example above you have reduced your caloric intake from an average of 3000 calories a day to an average of 2000 calories a day. That would be 7000 calories less a week for a loss of 2 pounds per week.
Meeting your Calorie Target
How can you meet your daily calorie target? The best approach is to add up the number of calories per serving of all the foods that you eat, using a food log like a menu. You can buy books at a bookstore or find information on the web that lists calories per serving for many foods. You can also find some of this information at MuscleMagFitness.com under the tools/resources tab in the tool bar.Also take heed to the nutrition labels on all packaged foods and beverages. They will provide calories per serving information, and often also provide grams of carbs, fats, protein and more. Ingredients listed are usually in the order of amounts as well.
Reading Before Eating
Always read the labels before eating. This will not only start to educate you about what you are putting into your body, but it will also help prevent you from eating the wrong things in error.
Do Not Forget Counting the Drinks
Drinks can have calories as well, and are often not tacked by dieters, and these same dieters often wonder why they are not losing weight!!When tracking you’re calories always noting the number of calories and the serving sizes.
Hate Counting?
If you hate counting calories, there are different approaches where you choose certain meals, foods and eat at specific times using specific portions (like the Weight Watcher points system).
The Sensible Approach
Whichever method you choose, research shows that a regular eating schedule - with meals and snacks planned for certain times each day - makes for the most successful approach. This is also important for your long-term success in keeping the weight off for good. Sticking with an eating schedule increases your chance of maintaining your new weight.If you decide to not count calories (which personally I believe is the best way), and plan on trying a common sense approach it is important that you follow a few simple guidelines which will help increase your chances and success in losing and keeping off the weight.
Understand basic food principles.
You May Understand the Glycemic Index, But do not forget to consider the Glycemic Load. It is important to understand how your food affects your blood sugar, hormones and fat storage. Understanding the Glycemic Index (GI) is a good first step (The GI is a measure of the rate at which a carb breaks down and releases glucose into the bloodstream; the higher the GI, the greater the effect on insulin secretion), but it is important to understand a bit more. One of the drawbacks of using only the GI is that it can be misleading. GI tests aren't based on typical portion sizes of foods. Instead, researchers use a standard measure of 50 grams of carbohydrates of the foods that they are testing; therefore, portion sizes vary depending on the amount of available carbohydrates in the particular food. Additionally, if you look at Glycemic Load, drinking a gallon of OJ would derail your diet more than having a candy bar. Just something to consider when eating and planning your meals.
Eat slowly.
For more than 30 years, dieters have been told to eat slowly to reduce their intake of food. This idea "It started in about 1972 as a hypothesis that eating slowly would allow the body time for the development of satiety [fullness] and we would eat less," according to Kathleen Melanson, assistant professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Rhode Island. "Since then we've heard it everywhere and it has become common knowledge. But no studies had been conducted to prove it." Not until recently!!! In a laboratory study of college-age women over the past year led by Melanson confirmed the long-held belief. In the study, 30 women made two visits to Melanson's lab, and each time they were given a large plate of pasta and told to eat as much as they wanted. When they were told to eat quickly, they consumed 646 calories in nine minutes, but when they were encouraged to pause between bites and chew each mouthful 15 to 20 times, they ate just 579 calories in 29 minutes.
The study demonstrated that satiety signals need time to develop. The women took in fewer calories when they ate more slowly, and they had a greater feeling of satiety at meal completion and 60 minutes afterwards!!! This data strongly suggests benefits to eating more slowly. The study also interviewed the participants who stated that they enjoyed the meal more when they ate slowly than when they ate quickly. Of important note, one potentially confounding factor in the study was that the volunteers were provided water to drink with their meal, and when eating slowly they had considerably more time to drink before completing their meal. The greater consumption of water might have contributed to satiety under the slow condition. However, Melanson said that this factor reflects the real-world situation, since eating slowly allows more time for water consumption.
Eat a heart healthy diet. A Heart Healthy Diet is one with lots of fiber, fruits, vegetables, nuts, good fats, lean cuts of meat, and minimal sugar and processed foods. Eat Good Lean Protein with Every Meal. This helps regulate blood sugar. Carb only meals can spike these levels.
Add Chicken and Turkey breast to your diet.
Both provide great protein, and are low in fat.
Add a little fish to your diet.
Fish contains good healthy fats.
Do not cut out the meat!
Although Chicken and fish are typically considered healthier than red meat because many cuts of red meat can have too much saturated fat, today this is not always the case anymore. Now, lean cuts of red meat are readily available to consumers. If you follow a heart-healthy diet, it doesn't make a difference whether you eat red meat or white meat, as long as you choose lean cuts.
Do Not Overeat.
Overeating causes weight gain and fat storage.
Eat frequently (every three hours).
Eating small meals every two to three hours helps keep your body fed, minimizes blood sugar spikes, helps maintain lean muscle mass, and helps
keep your energy level stabilized.
Drink lots of water.
Water can help you lose weight and feel full. It also helps with food digestion, toxins elimination and helps hydrate the skin. Drinking cold water is best. Studies show that drinking cold water rather than tepid water can burn calories; drinking about 8 ounces of ice-cold water (1 degree Celsius) would cause the body to expend about 9 calories. Although this is not a huge deal, if you drank 100 ounces a day this way you could lose a pound a month, besides the calories you might not eat while drinking the water, which would also help you, feel fuller. (For more on this refer to Jeff Behar's article Understanding the Importance of proper Hydration, http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/behar12.htm).
Consume foods that Enhance Insulin Sensitivity (make your insulin work better).
This would include foods high in the mineral chromium: broccoli, whole grains, shellfish, mushrooms and brewer’s yeast, as well as spices such as: cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, turmeric.
Minimize the bad fats.
Fats are 9 calories a gram more than double that of protein and carbohydrates. Keeping fats below 30% and cholesterol intake below 200 mg will markedly cut your risk of heart disease.
Avoid trans fats
These fats contribute to weight gain, and over the long term contribute to insulin resistance (the underlying metabolic problem in Type 2 Diabetes) and also elevate your cardiovascular risk.
Avoid fried foods.
For stovetop cooking, it's better either to stir-fry foods in nonstick pans lightly coated with a cooking-oil spray or to braise them in broth or wine. Baking, broiling, and roasting add no extra fat to your meals.
Avoid fast foods.
Hot dogs, hamburgers, tacos, fried chicken, french fries, burritoes, and other fast-food meals and snacks tend to promote weight gain for two reasons. First, they are high in fat, calories, or both. Second, the "value meals" are often excessively large and tempt you to overeat.
Minimize beverages that contain calories.
Drinks that contain corn syrup and other simple surgars can add up quickly and often leave you still feeling hungry.
Increase your fiber.
Fiber increases satiety (the feeling of fullness) by adding bulk to foods without additional calories Fiber can also help stabilize blood sugar levels by delaying stomach emptying which slows the rate of carbohydrate absorption, improves the body’s regulation of blood sugar, reduces the risk of insulin resistance/sensitivity and lowers insulin needs.
Fiber also has many health benefits. Increasing your consumption can also help decrease blood cholesterol levels, and therefore, reduces the risk of heart disease. It can also decrease the risk of colon cancer by increasing the speed of elimination; reducing the amount of time harmful toxins are in contact with the intestinal cells.
The recommended dietary fiber intake is 14g per 1,000 calories consumed. This can be achieved by eating more vegetables, whole grains, beans, certain fruits and cereals. A gradual increase is recommended to minimize the side effectsof fiber, such as cramping, diarrhea, and intestinal gas. It is also very important to increase your fluid intake as you increase your fiber intake.
Choose foods that are filling and low in calories.
That means meals and snacks made with whole grains, such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and oatmeal, as well as legumes, such as lentils and other beans.
Minimize the consumption of high Glycemic Foods.
Consumption of high Glycemic carbohydrates (which to some people’s surprise include, white rice, white potatoes, sugar) results in surges of blood glucose and insulin that, derail diets, zap energy, hamper training gains and over time, can lead to the development of Type 2 Diabetes in carbohydrate sensitive / insulin resistant individuals.
Never eat carbohydrates without protein.
By consuming some high-quality protein at every meal/snack your blood glucose and insulin levels are more stable and appetite is minimized compared to a carb only meal.
Do not overload on low Glycemic Carbohydrates.
Too many carbohydrates, even good carbohydrates can raise blood sugar. For example drinking a gallon of OJ creates a higher Glycemic Load effect on your body than eating a cupcake. Just something to consider when eating and planning your meals.
Limit Fruit Intake to 2 To 3 Servings A Day At Most.
Limit fruit to two servings a day. Avoid the “sweeter,” high Glycemic index tropical fruits: bananas, mangos, pineapple and papaya.
Increase your vegetable consumption.
Eating five servings a day of vegetables helps keep you looking good, keeps blood sugar levels stable, and also helps keep you healthy by providing important vitamins and minerals that your body needs. There are numerous studies showing that those who increase their daily servings of fruit and vegetables lower their risk dramatically for insulin resistance, obesity, hypertension, heart attacks, and cancer.
Choose the Colorful veggies.
Colorful fruits and vegetables of the vine get their wide range of vivid colors from health-protecting substances such as lycopene, vitamin C and vitamin A. Use them generously in dishes to enhance nutrients with very few calories
Use low-fat or nonfat dairy foods.
Milk, yogurt, and cheese and other low-fat dairy products are packed with calcium and protein and may also help you lose weight. Research suggests that dairy food, when part of a reduced-calorie diet, can enhance weight loss while strengthening bones and keeping you feeling full and satisfied. Be careful though, but the whole-milk versions of these dairy products are very high in fat, so substitute them for the low fat or fat free varieties whenever possible.
Minimize consumption of alcohol;
Avoid salad dressings, margarines, and other foods high in soybean oil. These calories do NOT do the body good!
Use Tools that are Available to Help Ensure Your Success.
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