Do you have tips for losing weight? (Serious Answers only!)?

Question

I need to lose weight and was hoping someone could give me some good tips on losing weight, exercising, foods and so forth. Anything that you found helpful on your journey would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

Sometimes keeping a food diary can help. Sometimes we don't remember how much we have snacked on during the day. The food diary can help you see if you are snacking excessively or help you see a bad habit.

If snacking is your problem you can look into a couple of options. You can cut down on your snacking or plan for healthier snacks. Don't drastically change your diet unless you know that you can stick with it. Otherwise you just gain all of the weight back because you go back to old habits. Just change a little at a time. Try having two "healthy meals" a week. Something as simple as having grilled food, instead of something fried.

Also, to lose weight you really need to do some type of exercise. Find something that you enjoy doing. You will be more likely to stick with it. Maybe walking, swimming, yoga, dance, aerobics. Just whatever you find interesting. If you bore easily you may want to try doing more than one thing. For instance, walking with friends on Monday and Wednesday, yoga on Tuesday and Thursday. The next week try dance on Mon. and wed. and aerobics or Tues. and Thurs.. You just have to find what works for you. The most important thing is to keep it fun and interesting. Take time and try some new things!

I hope these suggestions were helpful. Good luck and just keep the faith in yourself. You can do it. You just have to decide that you are ready to.

Answer 2

Well the first step is in burning more calories than you consume. If you are wanting to build muscle tone then I would recommend you begin with 2-3 weeks of cardio, NO muscle toning excercises such as pushups, crunches etc at this time.

A great way to begin your cardio exercise is to begin in the morning this will actually give you more energy throughout the day, and you wont have the excuse of "it's been a hard day i'll do it tomorrow". Begin with something like:

Monday - speed walk 1 mile

Tuesday - speed walk a lap then jog a lap, continue this repetition for half an hour.

Wednesday - speed walk 1.5 Miles

Thursday - try to jog the entire half an hr

Friday jog 1 mile

Continue building up your cardio and you will begin to lose a large part of your water weight. After 3 weeks or so of cardio you can begin muscle toning exercises so that not only will you have lost weight, but you will be happier with your look and you will notice you have more energy.

Once you decide you are ready to work on your toning I would recomment what I call "SuperSets"

5-10 cycles of

10 regular pushups
10 situps
10 wide pushups
10 reverse crunches
10 close pushups *hand form a diamond shape about middle of your chest
10 double crunches

you will want to do each of these exercises one after the other with no hesitation to keep blood pumping to different regions of the body and you will notice that your strength increases quickly. If you cannot finish a set of pushups you may go to your knees to finish. Goodluck
Thursday -

Answer 3

One thing that curbs the appetite like crazy is grapefruit.

I hate grapefruit!!! lol .... until I found the big, Ruby Red ones. They are delicious. Nothing like the old fashioned ones.

Try eating them daily, especially for breakfast, or drink the juice. Make sure it's Ruby Red too... the other one is kind of bitter. (Unless you decide you like that one better.)

I know it's a little commercialized these days, but Special K (with strawberries, yummy) is great. It fills you up and helps you lose weight.

Some people have found that the "low-carb" is the way to go. For me, I could never give up my carbs, so I chose the low-fat diet. I think if we torture ourselves, we fail. We give up and go back to our old ways. Find a diet that you can be happy with. After all, your goal is "happiness" isn't it? A diet should be "do-able."

I bought a bicycle (one like I had when I was little), and one "biking outfit". I felt prepared when I had the outfit on :) lol ... the first few days I rode it, I didn't start out like Lance Armstrong, but more like Olivia Walton when she got her new bike on the show. I just kind of drifted along, without a care in the world. It was so relaxing! Before I knew it, I was going faster and faster ... further and further. This was such a breathe of fresh air, I almost forgot that I was burning calories!

You really have to find your inner peace. Accept that you're beautiful like you are, but you can change if you want to! Accept that you may fail, but you will not be defeated. You will always get back on the horse.

Don't forget to stop for ice cream every once in a while, with sprinkles and all!!

Support yourself and those around you. When you see someone that's a little heavy, try complementing them in some way. "Love the shoes!" or "Who gave you that cool haircut?" .... being there yourself, you can imagine what they're going through. It's not easy being overweight, feeling like the whole world thinks you're "disgusting". Making someone else feel better may encourage them to change what makes them unhappy ... the weight!!! Then you'll start a circle ... you'll feel better about making them smile, you'll want to run a mile! Heck, you may even run into them on the trail someday!

This may sound a little far-fetched, but we as a society are so caught up in pills, diets, and hype that we forget about the true nature of our lives. Your body can slim down on its on, without spending hundreds of dollars on help!

You just have to decide that you're better than how you feel today... and do something about it. God don't make junk! only junk food :)

One last tip: Get the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes". Watch it over and over. You'll get the picture.

"Don't EVER say NEVER to me."

Good luck :)

Answer 4

I stopped drinking soda. Adding apple cider vinegar w/mother (plup) to juices. It's a great detox and metabolism boost. Started drinking excessive amounts of water. I also ate sugar free sweets ( I can't do without sweets) And cut down on the breads and ate more hard cheeses (non processed) and meats as well ( no pork or processed meats). I walked every morning for 30-45 minutes. I lost 61 lbs in 2 months. It was awesome.

Answer 5

Well first of all drink lots of water. That is a major key that a lot of people do not realize.
Also walk. Even if its as simple as walking up stairs instead of the elevator. Or parking in the furthest possible parking space away.
Just move. Even if you do not have time to exercise moving your body when you are walking-swinging your arms, hips, going from tip toes to regular walking and alternating etc all helps.
Dancing etc also makes it fun...and you do not have to have any special equipment just a radio and lots of imagination!!!

As far as foods...first of all cut your portions in half. This is important. Its not always about what you eat but how much of it you eat.
Take your dinner cut it in half and put the rest in the fridge and do not think about it.
Eat slowly making sure to chew your food to mush and take sips of water every 5-10 bites or so.
I know it sounds funny but it does help!!!

This is going to sound weird too but I have found the more junk food I keep in my house the less I want it. If I do not buy it and then buy a bag of chips we want to sit and eat them all. But if we have a bunch of bags of chips just sitting there at all times it takes us a couple weeks to get through them instead of a couple days.

Also instead of grabbing chips grab crackers or fruits. There is a lot of fruits out there and most grocery stores are getting better about carrying a wide variety. I keep cut up fruits and vegetables in my fridge at all times. If they are cut up I am more likely to grab them when I am wanting a quick snack!!!
Trail mixes are also a great quick snack. Cheese too.

Also and I will close with this for now. If you have the option get a "change of life" buddy. Since I consider weight loss a change of life not a diet. If you have someone to do it with you it helps so much!!! They know what you are going through and help keep you strong and motivated!!!

Answer 6

Homeopathic Treatment for Excessive Fat and Weight :-
PHYTOLACCA BERRY's Mother Tincture is perhaps the safest and sure fire way of loosing excessive fat around abdomen. With Phytolacca Berry once you loose the excessive fat and weight you don't get it back because you body takes care of itself after that and keeps you from gathering up excessive fat. It is prescribed after having a baby too, to get the tummy to loose its flab and to make it flatter and tighter. And after loosing weight with this you don't get flabby it tightens up the flab and skin along with helping your body to shed the excessive accumulation of fat around the girth
The dosage is 15 to 20 drops of the tincture in half a cup of hot water thrice a day half hour before or after meals.
Avoid Chocolates, Coffee, Mints, Red Meat and Carbonated and Alcoholic drinks while taking Homeopathic Medicines. You have to take it for at least 30 to 45 days after that you start to feel the results.
To the best of my knowledge its the safest and the most sure fire way of loosing fat and weight and keeping it of for keeps. Excellent remedy for Obese people who cant seem to shed weight despite trying.
Homeopathic Remedies can be found at all Major Herbal Stores or could be bought on line, In most of the world Homeopathic remedies are quite cheap and easy to find and they do not need a prescription.
Take care and God Bless !

Answer 7

I like susan powters "stop the insanity" program. I, personally don't follow all of the exercises but I do follow the very low fat plan. I have two of her very simple cook books and count fat grams and calories....and stay very very low on the fat grams...

she also has a formula that you can follow that shows you how much percentage of fat is in the foods that you eat... it is very simple.... total fat grams...(X)....9 divided by the total calories... keep it between 15-25% total fat for the day and you will be surprised!

Answer 8

Do 45 minutes cardio workouts a few times a week

Answer 9

The mix of cardio and toning five times a week will keep metabolism humming

Answer 10

get coffee with friends to go walk as you talk and sip