Hi I'm trying to shift some weight, and it's not that I'm horribly overweight, I'm just a bit over what I would like to be. My mum is quite good at these sorts of things, so she said she'll give me a hand, but has anyone got any good advice aside from the obvious exercise and eating a more balanced diet (which I am doing anyway)?
My number-one tip is to not drink anything but water. It is recommended that you drink 6-8 glasses of liquid per day. If, for example, you drink 8 glasses of coke (or any other soft drink, they all have almost identical amounts of energy), that equates to 3442 kJ. This is over a third of the average recommended daily intake, and about 1.5 times as much energy as is in a normal meal - with absolutely no nutrients or other redeeming features to show for it. Coffee and tea can be just as bad, or worse, depending on what you add to them. None of them are good for your teeth (discolouration, sugar-baths encourage decay, phosphates in coke and some other soft drinks lead to leaching of calcium from teeth and bones). Alcohol has more energy in it than soft drinks do, weight-for-weight. If you drink water instead, it comes to a grand total of 0 kJ with all the benefits and none of the downsides. If you swapped 8 glasses for water, you could have a whole extra meal and still be consuming less energy than you were beforehand (although this will be undoing the any benefits you gain, but still..). Plus, for me anyway, water is very effective at stemming hunger. A lot of the time when you think you are hungry, you are probably just thirsty. Water will quell the thirst far quicker than something full of sugar. You can substitute for diet versions if you like because they typically have next to no energy in them. They will however still have the other downsides (like the aforementioned teeth discolouraton and phosphates).
Sugar is the devil, loose it. No soda, honey, sweeters, anything with high fructose corn syrup, glucose. Basically if its not in a piece of fruit, its bad sugar
I'm trying to loose weight, too I hate feeling so self conscious. Exactly. If you're faithful and drink only water, after a while it becomes habit and you won't think about sugary drinks any more! And, of course, make sure you're getting enough exercise. (i know i am a hypocrite, as i sit like a bump on a log in my chair and type )
My tip: find something that doesn't feel like exercise. I've lost 25 lbs in about 4 months playing Dance Central on Xbox Kinect, and switching to just water. And just make sure you keep up with nutrients. Eat breakfast to make your metabolism get going, and just eat smaller portions. If you try to make a drastic change, your body will try to hold onto everything it's got, meaning no weight loss. The thing about exercise is that it seems like a terrible word, whiiiiich is why you need to just find an activity that keeps you active that doesn't feel like a chore.
Smaller Portions. At first you may still be hungry but as you get accustomed to the smaller sizes you'll not be hungry.
