Losing Weight Basics

 

1- Control your portions. One reason why you might have gained weight is due to eating portions that are too large. To start losing weight, you will need to eat smaller portions. Eating smaller portions can also help you to keep eating some of your favorite foods while still losing weight.

• For example, before loading up your plate with half a frozen pizza, check the label to see what a portion size is and only put this amount on your plate.
• Or, if you want to have a bowl of cereal, check the box to see how much you can have for one serving and use a measuring cup to get the exact amount.
• Controlling portions doesn't have to mean you're hungry all the time if you try strategies to make yourself feel more full.

 

 

2- Write down everything you eat this week. People who keep food diaries, according to a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, lose an average of 6 pounds (2.75 kg) more than people who don't keep a record of everything that they eat. So force yourself to write down the good, the bad and the ugly. Keep these tips in mind:

• Be complete. Write it all down, including beverages, condiments, and a description of how the food was prepared. Don't pretend you didn't have that extra glass of wine after dinner. If it goes into your stomach, it goes into the journal.
• Be accurate. Record your portion sizes in your food diary. Don't eat too little or too much - keep track. Also, read the ingredients list so that you can be accurate about serving sizes.
• Be consistent. Carry your food journal everywhere that you go. As an alternative, you can use a diet-tracking app on your smartphone or tablet.

 

3- Figure out how many calories you should eat each day to lose weight. Losing weight isn't all about weight. The more aware you are of the calories in the food you eat, the more easily you'll be able to eat the right amount of food and do the right amount of exercise to drop a couple of pounds. Take your food journal and look up each item individually. Keep a running tally and add up your calorie total for the day.

• Next, look up how much a person of your age, height, weight, and energy level needs per day in calories.
• Add about 170 calories to your total. Recent studies estimate that we tend to eat slightly more than we're able to keep track of in a day.

 

4- Make a meal plan, and stick to it. Decide what you're going to eat this week before you're standing at the fridge and trying to figure it out on the fly. Buy the right healthy ingredients to eat the way you want to eat, and plan it out by the calorie.

• Be realistic. If you like to eat out a lot, don't try to totally eliminate eating out. Instead, plan on eating home-cooked meals six days a week.
• Cut down on the snacking, or try to make them healthy snacks. Fresh vegetables with guacamole, unsalted almonds, or fruit make for great weight-loss snacks.
• Let yourself have non-food treats. Promise yourself that if you can follow this for six weeks and exercise (if that is one of your goals), you will treat yourself to a pedicure or a massage.
• Work indulgence foods into your calorie plan. If you do want to have something that is a little higher in calories, then make sure that you work it into your overall calorie goal for the day. For example, if you are following an 1,800 calorie plan, and you want to have a brownie that is 300 calories, then you would only have 1,500 calories left for the day.

 

5- Eat fewer calories than you burn. The only surefire way to lose weight is to eat less than you burn over the course of a day. Sounds simple, but it takes work and consistency. That means exercise. If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, you need to start exercising. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times a week to get started.

• Try to tally your energy-output each day. It's helpful to keep track of these with pedometers, or other weight-loss tracking apps that you can use to make this easier. Read the section about exercise for more specific tips.
• Set mini-goals. Instead of thinking that you need to lose 20 pounds, think that you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds this week. Or you can focus on non-pound goals like skipping after-dinner snacks this week or only drinking alcohol on weekends.
• It is important to understand that weight is entirely a function of input and output. The input is the food you eat and the calories contained therein. The output is your energy output. To lose weight the output needs to be greater than the input. It is that simple. Do not believe any of the diet fads. If you are currently not gaining or losing weight then just burning 300 extra calories per week or eating/drinking 300 calories less per week (2 sodas for example or a small burger) WILL make you lose weight - in this case around 5 pounds of fat per year.

6- Drink at least 2 liters (0.53 US gal) of water each day. Water has the double effect of both hydrating your body and filling your stomach with a certain volume of a liquid that has zero calories. The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (0.8 US gal) (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

• Drinking water about 30 minutes before meals can reduce a number of calories people end up consuming, especially in older individuals.
• Research showed that dieters who drank half a liter of water before meals lost 44% more weight over a period of 12 weeks, compared to those who didn’t.