i love working out and have slowly been losing weight but.....?

Question

i dont really look after what i eat as if i diet i will get more paranoid about food.

in the last 5 years ive lost weight and have gone from a size 16 down to a 10-12 which i currently am. i usually go to the gym 2-3 times a week.

im planning on looking after what i eat without dieting so i can lose my pot belly and other wobbly bits but im going to be on a budget with the foods. will cutting out carbs (not all of them) like bread and pasta and getting more protein foods in me will this help me more.

how long would it be until i got results or would that depend on how much i work out??

Answer 1

In my experience:
work out to keep fit.
eat a balanced, healthy diet - with a bit of everything - to stay healthy.
eat (and drink, other than water) less to lose weight.

The only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than you use. Exercising uses more - but oh so slowly, and it makes you feel hungrier and thirstier. If you respond by eating more then you'll take in more calories and not lose weight. You'll be fitter, and replace fat with muscle, but not achieve your goal.

If you eat fatty foods or those with lots of sugar you'll take in more calories so a balanced diet will also help you lose weight - but if you eat too much, even of healthy food, then it wont. And if you try to cut something out, or right down, it'll likely just make you unhealthy unless you research very carefully to make sure you eat all the things your body needs.

So eat less. you are right in that diets dont work. You need to find habits which you can stick with. The best thing is to cut down portion sizes. Literally just eat less of everything. you'll probably still feel a bit hungry - but thats the point. If you are losing weight then you always will feel hungry. So get used to it. Actually the most calories are probably in alcohol - drink water instead and watch the pounds roll off!!

How fast? Well, the bigger the gap between calories consumed and burnt off the faster. But actually its probably healthier and more sustainable to do it slowly.

Overall - eat a varied diet, with smaller portions, keep working out and you'll have a healthy, fit, sustainable weight.

Oh ,and by the way, there are certain domestic physical activities which seem to burn off a few calories quite helpfully. You said you enjoy working out ........

Answer 2

Hi Mentalkitten4973. Congrats on dropping down several sizes! That has to feel great! I'm impressed by your desire to continue progressing your health and fitness, and especially with your recognition of how a person's eating habits play a crucial role.

As far as basic guidlines of healthy 'eating habits' (has a better connotation than 'diet'), here are some tips:

Eat small meals about every 3 hours. Portion sizes should be moderate, so you'll be hungry again in about 3 hours. This promotes a more level hormonal balance in your body, which influences what your body does with the calories consumed.

Keep your meals balanced throughout the day. Balanced meaning, about the same amount of grams of protein, carbs, and fats. The exception being before bedtime. Your last meal or snack of the day should be strictly lean protein. No carbs or fats within a few hours of bedtime.

Make sure your source of carbohydrates are in the form of complex carbs and/or fiber. Ex: Whole wheat products. These particular foods rank low on the "Glycemic Index", and generally have a preferred effect on your insulin levels (which will influence your weight loss progress).

Make sure your soures of fat are low in saturated fats.

Perfom your cardiovascular exercise first thing when you wake up on an empty stomach.


As far as low/no carb diets. If you haven't been low carbing, you'll notice some quick changes on the scale when you begin a low carb diet. This is primarily water weight. You're actually depleting your body of sugar stored in your muscle tissue called 'glycogen'.

I would recommend that you allow yourself carbs (complex and/or fiber), in sensible amounts, limiting them as you near bedtime, and don't try and lose more than a pound of weight in a week. It's better to be patient and ensure you're burning as much fat as possible, rather than trying to make big gains in regards to the scale and burn lean tissue with fat.

Hope this helps! Have fun!

Justin Brink
B.S. Kinesiology, CPT
http://www.acclaimedfitness.com

Answer 3

Well done, size 16 to a size 10. You should be proud. As a rule of thumb, it takes approx nine weeks to make any obvious visual difference on your body. As for foods I would suggest not dieting, I would suggest moderating or slight changes. For example, instead of eating a bowl of sugar for breakfast, eat something which is high in fibre. As for lunch have what you like but use less fatty stuff. A cold chicken salad sandwich with a little light mayo or salad cream is great. For your evening meals I would encourage eating what ever you like, just know whats in it so you know what you will get out of it.

Top tip, if you eat very little food such as skipping a meal, over time your body will adapt to this change and start storing reserve energy in the form of fat. If you eat little and often, your body will get used to the constant top up of energy and be quite happy to get rid of any excess fat.

Also enjoy what exercise you do, this will make you feel good on the inside which will show on the outside.

Keep up the good work.

Answer 4

Working out will always help. Keep doing it as you are, you already as seeing the results.

I agree, do not look at your food intake as diet, rather look at it as having healthier habits.

Avoiding or reduce fatty foods: white flour products like white bread, pastry and such. Reduction alcohol intake and avoiding or reducing white rice. Watch for sugar in your food and drinks. (Avoid it or reduce it)

Enjoy your veggies, fruit, lean meat, poultry, fish, whole grain products, etc. etc. There is so much to have without a problem and with a reasonable budget. Buy what is in season regarding fish, fruit, veggies and such.

It will be fine to have a treat every once in a while,no big deal.

Do some more resistance training for your abs and flabby spots.

Keep`up your good work

Answer 5

find calorie/fitness calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose.
eat 5-6 small meals a day (eat every 2-3 hours)
5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day
8 glasses of water
have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy
have lean meat (protein) for dinner - repairs muscle
cardio exercise 4-6 times a week for 30-50min, light weight training
dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, past etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily.
ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)

Answer 6

It does depend on how much you work out but also on your metabolic rate. If you persevere with a healthy diet and regular exercise then it shouldn't be long and you'll feel healthier too. Just make sure that you find a balance with your working out so you don't over do it if you're not getting results straight away.

Answer 7

you need a gd combination of food groups and fitness, and although popular belief is that if you cut out most carbs you lose weight quicker it actually aint true, sure if you cut out bread, pasta and potatoes alltogether you will lose some weight at first but it slows down and stops....ur body needs a healthy balance of all food groups and regular fitness to keep itself trim and top condition.

try and eat brown rice n bread instead of white, multi-coloured pasta is better for you than the normal pasta, eat plenty of fresh fruit, any green veg is very good for u, also drink plenty of water....water helps cleanse the body, get rid of toxins and actually helps ur body release stored water (a.k.a water retention), its been studied that if you drink at least 2 pints of fresh water at breakfast, lunch and dinner it helps anyone to lose weight, also water is a natural apitite suppressant! most people dont know that.

best advice i can give is to eat fresh produce daily, remove skin from chicken (the skin is full of fat) try to grill, steam or pot roast meat or even griddle meat. use ur fave fruit to make smoothies for breakfast, you can add certain nuts and oats etc to smoothies and they really are filling, if you fancy a sarni try having a wrap or pita instead of normal bread. cut out or cut down on fast foods, when eating out look at the menu carefully and most resturants will tailer a meal to your liking, dont be scared to say you want the salad with no dressing & ask whats in a cetain dish if ur not sure.
drink plenty of water, cranberry juice is very gd for you, and dont forget to treat urself, after all you only live once and deserve a treat once in a while.

it is hard at first when you dramatically change ur eating habits (i know, ive done it) but after a while it becomes routeen and you do it all automatically, but dont beat urself up if you lets things slip, just actknoledge that you went wrong and start again.

if you want any smoothie recepies let me know, id be happy to forward some to you.

Answer 8

if you work out its more important what you eat than if you dont work out ..when you eat a good rule of thumb is a carb a protien and a fruit or veggie.. the loop hole on that is fruit is a carb itself... things like harb boiled eggs w/o yoke and and apple would be a meal with a glass of water... not very appetizing i know but it works

Answer 9

of course it will depend on how much you work out, and cutting out carbs will definitely help, but you should also pay attention on how you combine your food groups