04-01-2008
09:18 PM
6 Loves
Carole,
The first thing is that you know how to do this. Secondly, you also probably know that it isn't as hard as you think it is, but that doesn't mean by any stretch that it is easy. If it were, I would look like Heidi Klum right now and I will assure you that I don't. I lost 36 pounds last year as my New Year's resolution and I have successfully kept it off for over a year now. Here is what I did to lose the weight.
1). First of all, you need to create a calorie deficit. I chose to lower my caloric intake to 1200-1300 calories a day.
2). You need to log everything you eat. It is easy to log your calories and keep up with how much you are burning/intaking via a free online program called fitday (http://www.fitday.com). By plugging in your stats (height, weight, activity level and goals) you can get a fairly accurate idea of how many calories your body burns daily. This will help you decide how much of a deficit to create.
3). Keep in mind that a pound of body fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. I took a very scientific approach to my weight loss and tracked my intake and burning daily in a spreadsheet that was created to self-calculate the difference and divide by 3500. The really great part of that was that I could track exactly how much weight I was losing despite water weight gain fluctuations. This helped me not get discouraged.
4). Accountability is one of the reasons why weight-loss programs such as WW or LA fitness work so well. But you don't have to pay money to get great support. A wonderful support website that features real people, with real goals and healthy expectations is available to everyone. It has a funny title, but it seriously helped me and millions and other to reach their goals. It is called 3 fat chicks.com and can be found here: http://www.3fatchicks.com
5). Finally, keep the following things in mind:
Weightlifting and building muscle is far more important to fat loss than is cardio. Not that cardio is bad, but when you build muscle, it helps speed up your metabolism so you burn more resting!
If you fall off the wagon and eat a piece of cake, the world won't end. It probably won't even result in your gaining a pound, just pick yourself up, wipe off the cake crumbs and continue with your plan. Don't use one pitfall to justify more pitfalls.
Allow yourself a day where you get to experience some treats. Too much restriction isn't good for your goals or your soul.
Experiment with different foods to add excitement to your diet. Please don't try to exist on beets and tuna! Try exotic fruits, foreign cuisines that are lower in calories, cook at home when you can and be mindful that in restaurants, even seemingly healthy foods can be made bad by additives. ( I just discovered that the BAKED whitefish at Luby's has 1099 calories a filet! )
Finally, you can do this! Just look at the support around you! Best of luck to you and we all look forward to your blogged successes!
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