It seems so overwelming... How does a person even begin to lose over 75 lbs?

Question

I don't even know where to start?! I need to lose at least 75 lbs. Yes, I am heavy, but before I gained the weight I was pretty atheletic and I still have a great muscle mass. I try to get to the gym every night and I know that exercise will help me... but what kind of exercise? Walking? Also, the part I have the hardest time dealing with is the eating! I can eat healthy all day long, but portion sizes really get to me. I want to see results and I want them immediately. When I go a week and don't lose more than a pound, I get upset and want to quit. How do I stop this behavior? It's soooo much easier said than done!

Answer 1

Your history as an athlete should help. Try to remember what it felt like to be fit... then keep that feeling in mind as a goal. You are way ahead of people who have never experienced being in shape. You know it's worth it.

Don't target losing more than about 2 lbs per week. If you try to lose faster, your body will go into "starvation mode" and get very stingy about burning calories while at the same time very efficient about storing any calories that you do provide. And it will make you feel awful.

There is no site specific way of losing fat... the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn't true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.

The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.

Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs... almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to eliminate about 3500 calories. You can do this by burning more with exercise or by modifying your diet to reduce intake. If you do a Google search on say, "swimming calories" you will quickly find a website with tables of calories burned for a given exercise. You can use such lists to estimate how many calories you are burning up with your routine.

For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.

Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet... that isn't overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.

There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat... abdominal muscles will form in the position that you work them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.

If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.


Aloha

Answer 2

You need to try and change your mindset from the need to see immediate results to knowing whatever you are doing is making you healthier. If you expect immediate results then you are more likely to want to quit. YOu didn't gain 75 extra pounds over night so they are definitely not going away overnight- unfortunately. And you can eat big portions- just make sure at least 2/3 of your plate is veggies. If you aren't eating enough then your metabolism will complain about it.

So you start by losing 1lb at a time and pick an exercise (or two) that you enjoy doing. If you enjoy it you are more likely to do it. Since you still have great muscle mass add some weight training in too because this is terrific for assisting your body in burning fat- even while you aren't exercising.

Good luck to you and be good to yourself. You CAN do it.

Answer 3

OK you did not gain the weight at more than a pound a week; so why are you trying to lose it any faster? Instant results do not exist. It took time to gain it,and it will take time to lose it.

Losing weight at 1 pound a week is excellent progress, in just one year that will be almost 70% of what you want to lose. Right? 1 pound x 52 weeks = 52 pounds!!

Now as for portion size, it should only be the size of your fist. Any larger and it is too big, any smaller and you will crave more.

I really suggest you try a diet & exercise program and stick to it at least six weeks. Preferably 8. In that time (6 - 8 weeks) you should see a difference, about 5 - 10 pounds. You cannot lose weight any faster than that and stay healthy.

Whatever you do eat right and skip the fad diet schemes. The only thing you lose with popular diets is your money.

Answer 4

Eat healthy small meals 4-5 times a day. Just stop when you feel that you're not hungry any more. I've been dieting and exercising for a while. Didn't really see any major results until I was into my 3rd month. You don't want to drop too dramatically b/c that's not healthy either. Also, my family tends to build muscle... I had to use less weight and more reps to get results. Join Curves... that's how I started...... their machines are all resistance based and everyone is really supportive. They also have classes that you can join that teach you about nutrition. I'd definatly try Curves though!!! I'm on month 6 and I've lost 35 lbs already.

Answer 5

I was 75 pounds overweight myself. I started out at 248 pounds on July 15, 2006. I have lost 32 pounds since. I am using Stack Body Tune Up because I need help with controlling my cravings. I now stay away from the snack machine and my lunch and dinner are about half the size of what they used to be.

I also have a blog where I have posted some of my lessons learned while losing this weight.

If I can be of further assistance, let me know.

[e-mail]
http://www.geocities.com/pktull

Answer 6

I've lost about 80lbs so far... have not modified my diet much at all other than cutting out some of the extra breads and quit eating fast food entirely. Other than that all I did was start attending martial arts classes three times a week. Hour long workout flies by, it is at a set time so you can't just say "oh, I will just go later" like you can at the gym. You can do this :)

Answer 7

I was diagnosed with diabetes at 33, 5'4" and over 230 pounds. OUCH! I knew I was fat and just couldn't do anything about it. Until my health jumped in. I met with a GREAT nutritionist and was placed on a 1600 calorie low carb diet. 1600 calories with low-moderate excericse leave you weighing 160 pounds. So by following my diet very carefully I lost about 70 pounds in 3 months. Trust me it was not easy. The first step was my drinking habits, I do not mean alcohol, but tons of soda. Just swithcing to diet drinks took off the first 10 pounds. Oh and lots and lots of ice cold water. First water fills you up, second cold water burns calories to warm it up to body tempature. I know this is long, go to my 360 page if you want more info.

Answer 8

It'll take time but start by walking, then work up to jogging, then eventually you could run. Or just stick with taking daily walks. Cut out the junk food and eat your fruits and veggies. Willpower is what it is going to take. But you can do it! Just think how good you'll feel once you've reached your goal! Good luck and kick @ss!♥

Answer 9

You can't get quick results, I tried! Exercise, exercise, exercises! Just move. Don't worry about the eating right now, just get your body use to working out. Eventually your body and spirit will be clear and start thinking positive about yourself regarding your workout and eventually your eating habit. Check out fitness magazines and books to keep you informed and motivated regarding exercises and eating healthy.

Answer 10

I've lost 20lbs in two months. Quit eating potato and bread. Only eat lean red meat, chicken and fish. Also started walking and exercising in the pool. I feel great I have another 20lbs to go to reach my goal.