Weight Problem

Don't try to eat less dear; I tried it before, and I got tubbier because it messes up your metabolism. One thing I do is switch from vegetarian to a normal, for lack of a better word, diet every other month, lol.

Idk if that works for everyone; I'm barely active. :/

And dancing's a fun way to exercise too! :]

 

FOOD: Eat 3 small healthy meals a day, and 3 nutricious snacks in between. The more complex the food is, the better, because it stays with you and provides energy over a longer period of time. So cutting out the sugar is critical - as well as caffeine - as they tend to provide highs and lows that you need to deal with.

EXERCISE: Get active. Take up some kind of activity that you can enjoy (or at least not hate!) and do it 3 or 4 times a week. The objective is to elevate your heart rate for 25 minutes or so. It does'nt have to be extreme - and start out slow and over time ramp it up to keep the heart rate elevated (as you get used to the exercise).

It's not going to show results right away though. It took me 4 months to lose 15lbs. Unfortunately I've gained half of it back - mainly because I stopped taking my own advice above. So you need to be patient.

Also - you really should be doing it for you - not for someone else. Being healthy is something everyone should do for their lifetime - not for a relationship or a particular person.

Good luck!

 

I'm going to have an article in the upcoming Full Spectrum - be sure to grab it

 

Eating less caused you to eat more?

My personal experience is that you have to do two things: reduce the calories going in (reduce how much you eat or at least how much sugary and fatty things you eat) and increase the calories going out (regular cardio exercise).

Things to consider:

--if you get hungry, try drinking some water first... sometimes we confuse the signals for hunger and for thirst and we're really thirsty when we feel hungry

--any extra calories you consume that you don't burn during the day get converted into fat, but calories from fat are easier to convert into storage fat in your body, so eat less fatty stuff because essentially it goes right to where your body stores fat (in men, usually around the middle)

--starving yourself will actually hamper your efforts to lose weight because your body will go into super conservation mode and often starts eating "good" weight (muscle tissue, organs, etc.) before it uses up its fat stores

--cut ALL pop/soda and sweetened fruit drinks (Snapple, fruit "punch," etc.)... just stop drinking them... they are totally empty calories... drink mainly water and 100% pure fruit juices, but remember that even "good" juices (100% fruit, otherwise unsweetened) are very high calorie and you'd be better off eating fresh fruit than drinking fruit juice because then you get more of the nutrients and the fibre

--if you drink milk, switch to 1% or skim

--try not to totally deny yourself because then you set up weird mental resistance... instead, try to cut back on things you like eating but which aren't healthy or are really high-calorie foods... don't have second portions, reduce your portion size somewhat, watch your condiment consumption (salad dressings, sauces). If you eat dessert every night, try every other, if you eat it every other, try just 2 or 3 times a week.

--Don't eat any fast food. Like maybe Subway but nothing like McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, etc. None of that food is at all properly nutritious and all of it is super high-calorie.

--Use plain yogourt instead of sour cream or mayonnaise.

--If you eat peanut butter and jam on toast or in sandwiches, consider cutting the peanut butter or at least switching to a "natural" peanut butter that is basically all peanuts (with maybe a little bit of salt). And look for reduced calorie fruit spreads instead of jam. E. D. Smith makes these awesome ones that are called Triple Fruits and have like 1/3 less sugar than regular jam.

--Have tomato-based sauce on your pasta instead of cream sauces.

--Get your dressings and sauces on the side so you can control how much of it goes on your food.

It's also good to remember that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn just "at rest." So cardio exercise is good but you can also try doing some basic weightlifting or just push-ups because if you increase your muscle mass, you will increase the amount of calories you burn. It's one of those actually useful/nice/positive feedback loops.

More than anything it's good to focus on the fact that just because you can fit more food in, you don't have to. Yeah you may feel a little hungry for a while but I think if you cut back gradually, you'd be surprised how soon your body adjusts and you stop feeling desperately hungry even though you've eaten enough. Basically it's pretty easy for us to fool ourselves into being hungry but it's likewise easy to fool ourselves into thinking we aren't.

One final thing: I've found that for me, the point where I really need to make healthy food choices is when I'm shopping for food. That is, there's no point wanting to eat more healthily if I go and buy a lot of unhealthy fattening food because if you like a giant Costco-sized box of chocolate bars sitting at home, or a bunch of 2L bottles of pop, chances are eventually you're going to eat them all and drink all the pop. So if you instead stock your place (or get your parents to stock your place) with healthy stuff, you'll find you end up eating better just because the junky food isn't as readily available.

Plus if you have water when eating out, you save LOADS of money. Well here in Vancouver you do because our tap water is rated some of the best in the world, so you don't need to buy bottled water. I'm sure that's different in different places but hey, it's worth considering.

 

Joey covered it rather nicely.

 

Joey's advice is spot on. If you try completely cut out foods you like you won't be able to stick with your plan. Which is why you just try to cut back, because that's more sustainable. This is basically the principle that Weight Watchers teaches.

Personally I find what always hampers my efforts is snacking. So I find it important to not have any junk food around (cookies, chips, chocolate, etc) and instead have stuff like fruit or veggies. Then if I'm snacking, I'm at least eating something healthy and filling. When I pack a lunch I also bring lots of healthy snacks to nibble on throughout the day so I won't be buying stuff from a vending machine.

It is also important to eat a good complete breakfast in the morning. in addition to helping your metabolism, it will help keep you from feeling hungry and resist the temptation of snacking in the morning.

By eating good most of the time, I won't feel guilty if I occasionally eat something unhealthy.

I know others have mentioned cutting out caffeine. Personally I like coffee too much to give it up completely. Instead, I watch what I put in it. Instead of the disgusting "Double-Double" (2 cream, 2 sugar) I put just milk in it. This way the actual calories in the coffee is quite low.

I also agree on drinking lots of water. Here on the east coast we also have very highly rated municipal water so I fill up my water bottle a few times a day which keeps me from buying a soda from the vending machine. Polycarbonate "Nalgene" style water bottles are very popular, though there's concerns of stuff leeching into the water. Bottles made out of HDPE (High Density Poly-Ethelene) are made of a softer translucent plastic that is considered safer.

As far as eating at fast food restaurants, I've found that if I'm at a Wendy's, I'm not doing too bad by having a baked potato and a chili. Being careful to not go overboard on sour cream or butter.

And of course exercising is important. Try to find something enjoyable. I find walking can be an enjoyable form of exercise that's easy to be motivated to do.

 

You're welcome!