Lose Weight?

Question

I really want to lose some weight. Maybe like 10 pounds and tone up. Im getting married in June and want to look great. I hate working out though. I just cannot get into it. I have a tread mill and bowflex but cant stick to a routine. To most people Im not Fat fat but I have gained a lot of weight the past year and I hate it. Im 5'6" and about 140 I think. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas of what I can do? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Congratulation on the engagement! Here are some aggressive but realistic suggestions.


For all of the "quick and easy" weight loss diet pill suggestions, remember, if something sounds too good to be true... it probably is, particularly if you have to pay for it.


On Yahoo!Answers I find certain questions being asked repeatedly which is simply a reflection of new people participating. A couple of common question amounts to "How do I lose weight," or more specifically, "How do I lose abdominal fat?" I have gotten very positive responses from my answers when I paused to reply (and now beginning to get "It works!" emails that are very gratifying. I like helping people)... so have recently decided to put a good solid answer on my Yahoo!360 Blog (September 10) that I can point people to. These are my thoughts as a physician and athlete.

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

First of all, congratulations on your engagement.

Second of all, congratulations for thinking about losing weight so far in advance of your wedding. Ten pounds should be pretty easy to lose in advance of your final gown fitting, whenever that is (unless it's like tomorrow!).

Just try to find something fun, and it won't be difficult to motivate yourself to do it regularly. Maybe a group/team sport would suit you - a tennis, soccer, golf (minus the cart, and maybe without the caddie, either) or basketball league, maybe? As a bonus, these activities would occur on a regular schedule.

For me, it was swimming - I loved, loved, LOVED to do it as a kid and then stopped when I hit puberty. Two years ago, I used the pool when I visited a spa in Stockholm and thought, "Why did I ever stop doing this?!" Once I found a place back home that didn't have an overcrowded pool, it's been as easy as anything to keep motivated.

Just find something you love to do. It may take you a few tries, but you've got plenty of time to get it right! : D

Answer 3

Here's what I did, just by giving up on dieting.
I started eating more protein and a little more fat (like reduced fat instead of fat-free), and I graze on food throughout the day, just teeny bits until dinner. Then I really watch my portion sizes. No junk food or soda.

And take yourself for a brisk walk everyday. Walk fast, head up, works best if you have music with you. I usually walk anywhere from around the block to 16 blocks round trip.

I'm 5'9" and was 185 at one time. Now I'm at 139. The pounds just melted away.

Good luck, and congrats!

Answer 4

Look into a tune up with Stack Body Tune Up and some energy from Advanced Cell Therapy. I have been using these since July 15, 2006 and have lost 33.5 pounds.

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

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

Answer 5

join a free service at www.sparkpeople.com and stay in touch with thousands of ppl like you. You can keep track of your meals and exercises and find a weight loss buddy! You can look at your progress and great recipes!

I just joined recently and I love it. It keeps me motivated!!!!! so does my weight loss buddy :)

Answer 6

Try the South Beach. It is the best. You loss 3-5 pounds a week if you stick with it. No cabs! Good Luck!

Answer 7

walk your dog

Answer 8

Avoid eating while rading listening songs and watching tv at your home or keep by kepping your hands busy

Answer 9

keep a food journal and weight yourself regularly to track your progress

Answer 10

automate your eating by planning your meals ahead of time that way you re less likely to make an unhealthy last minute food choice