Healthy Weight Loss Guide

Healthy Weight Loss - Is it possible with fast food?

2008-05-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

When trying to lose weight, or even just trying to live a healthier lifestyle, fast food is often considered the bad guy. The bad rep is rightfully deserved too, what with all the sugars and fats and sodium and cholesterol your favorite cheeseburger at McDonald's offers.

But it sure does taste good, doesn't it? I know some people who swear that they can't stand all the oil and grease of fast foods after a few months of eating clean, but not everyone is like that. I know I certainly am not.

Now while I agree that fast food must be avoided, I don't believe in the all or nothing approach. You deserve to be in the best shape of your life, but you also deserve to enjoy eating. You can be in great health and physical shape, and still have your McNuggets. There's no need to deprive yourself of anything.

With that in mind, here are some key thoughts to remember on the issue of fast food and healthy weight loss:

Fast foods, while unhealthy, aren't going to do you much harm when taken in moderation. If you eat one Big Mac a year, do you really think that it will magically lay waste to all the progress you've made by sticking to your diet the rest of the time?

Don't believe the non-fat, low-sugar labels. Whatever the label says, you're STILL eating fast food. Just take it as it is, and get back to eating healthy tomorrow.

Fast food doesn't make you fat.. OVEREATING makes you fat. There's nothing special about calories from fast food. A calorie is a calorie. Whether it comes from a cheeseburger or a salad, 100 calories is still 100 calories.

Don't stuff yourself on fast food. It's a lot of empty calories (meaning calories that serve offer minimal nutrients). Just because you're eating fast food, doesn't mean you have to OVEREAT on it. And finally..

Enjoy your meal. You're already eating it. You're already cheating on your diet. Might as well enjoy it. Because you're not having any for a long time again.

Just because you want to get in better shape and better health, doesn't mean you have to give up ALL fast food. There's a way to get the best of both worlds, and this is it.

Building Muscle to Achieve Healthy Weight Loss

2008-05-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

Pop quiz! What weighs more: a pound of MUSCLE or a pound of FAT?

The answer? They weigh the same. A pound is a pound, regardless. However, a pound of muscle is infinitely more desirable than one of fat when it comes to healthy weight loss. There are a couple reasons why.

The most obvious way building muscle will help you lose weight is just that: BUILDING MUSCLE. Muscles don't grow overnight. You can't decide to want a bigger chest or a larger pair of biceps and just hope they pop up when you wake up. You've got to work for them. You need to do some resistance training. Wait a minute. That sounds like exercise. And doesn't exercise burn calories? Hmmmmm...

MUSCLE also burns more calories than fat. Muscles constantly need "fuel" to burn, and this "fuel" usually comes in the form of calories. Basically, the more muscle you have, the more calories you're burning, even when you're just standing still. To achieve optimum efficiency with weight loss goals, it is important to burn as many calories as possible.

Also, DIETING sucks. It has to be done, but it's the scourge of weight loss. Once you've built up a decent amount of muscle, you can get away with that extra non-fat muffin every once in a while. The extra calories your newly added muscle needs will take care of that for you.

Another thing is the PSYCHOLOGICAL BOOST you get when you start to see your gains in muscle. You will actually see your clothes fitting you better.. your shoulders broadening. You feel harder, stronger, better, faster (to quote Mr. Kanye West). You feel like you have more bounce in your step; that you have more energy. This high and feeling of accomplishment should help you break down any motivational barriers.

These are the weight-loss benefits of building more muscle. Next time, I'll talk about the general benefits to health and self-esteem. After that, we'll get started on a weight-loss weight-training program.

Healthy Weight Loss by Dieting

2008-03-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

When people want to lose weight, the most common mistake they make is they go on a starvation diet. You'll lose weight, alright, but that's not healthy weight loss. It's called an eating disorder, and you don't want that.

Here are the differences between a healthy weight loss diet and one that isn't:

A healthy diet will have you eating 6 small meals a day. An unhealthy one will not have you eating.
A healthy diet will include sources of fiber, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. An unhealthy one will include water.
On a healthy diet, you'll lose around 1-2 lbs. of fat per week. On an unhealthy one, you'll lose a lot more, most of it muscle.

Actually, those are the most basic differences only. There's a lot of specifics involved, but a rudimentary understanding of these facts will be enough for most people. Always know your fundamentals. Now that we've discussed that, let's talk about how your diet will affect your healthy weight loss goals.

A few facts:

Think of the body as a machine. This machine has a lot of functions, from breathing to running errands to exercising to sleeping. As all machines, the body needs fuel. The fuel your body uses for its activities are units of energy called CALORIES. The rate at which your body uses this fuel is called your metabolic rate.

I guess the question you're asking now is "How many calories should I be burning to drop this weight?"

Healthy weight loss is all about losing FAT. Now a pound of fat is around 3500 calories. To lose a pound of fat a week, you will have to have a calorie deficiency of 3500 calories a week, or 500 calories a day (while doing resistance training to preserve muscle).

That's easy, right? Starve yourself for a week, and create a calorie deficit of 14000 calories. That's an easy loss of 4 pounds! A month of this and you've got a total loss of 16 pounds! Easy as pie!

Well, that's true. A caloric deficit, no matter how unhealthy, will always result in weight loss. That's basic science. Of course, the majority of the weight lost will be muscle. See, the body is made to adapt to certain situations. If you go on a starvation diet, your body will set itself into starvation mode. It will try to hold onto as much fat as possible, to store for future use. I'm sure we've all seen people who are skinny, yet lack muscle tone and actually have bellies. Is that the kind of look you're looking for? Not only is it unattractive, it is also dangerously unhealthy.

So now that we've covered the basics, let's get to setting up a proper healthy weight loss diet:

Consult your doctor first - Always the first step when dealing with any sort of weight loss or exercise program. Once you get your doctor's approval..
List down your normal diet for a week - This will give you something solid to improve on and work with. Also, try to determine your calorie intake using that list. You can get a rough estimate of calories in your food by using Google.
Take your weight and list it down - This is self-explanatory.
Reduce your daily calorie intake (based on the list you made) by 500 calories - 500 calories is not a very big number. If you take out the sodas and the ice cream, I'm sure you can achieve this easily.
Eat 5-6 small meals a day, spaced 2-3 hours apart - This will have your body believing that there is plenty of food to be had, and keep it burning calories. In short, this will RAISE your metabolic rate, letting you burn more calories.
Make sure your diet includes sources of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats - The amounts will vary, but protein and HEALTHY fats (i.e. fish oils) should make up the most of your diet. Your carbohydrates will preferably be vegetables and fruits.

Remember, weight loss happens in the kitchen, not in the gym. No amount of cardio will help you lose weight if you continue to eat more calories than you burn. It's basic math. Good luck, and I hope this helps with your diet for healthy weight loss.

Healthy Weight Loss - It CAN be done!

2008-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

For many people out there, healthy weight loss is an impossible ideal. They think that to lose weight they have to go on starvation diets or take weight loss supplements loaded with unwanted side effects.

Well, healthy weight loss IS possible and attainable for everybody! Uh-oh, you know what comes next. I'm about to pitch some new diet or exercise or weight loss cream that will magically peel inches off your stomach, buns and thighs. You're not getting off that easy. It's going to take more than a few sit-ups a day or electrocuting your abs if you really want to lose weight the healthy way.. but it IS doable.

The best way to lose weight is to create a caloric deficit. This basically means that you are burning more calories than you consume, forcing your body to burn its fat and energy stores for fuel in your everyday life. There are two ways you can do this:

Decrease your calorie intake
Increase your calorie use

Decreasing your calorie intake, in other terms, is dieting. Eating less = consuming less calories = weight loss. But that's not healthy weight loss. Would you say that stick thin models who weigh 80 pounds are healthy? Of course not. There are healthy diets and unhealthy diets. I'll discuss that in another post. This is just a primer.

Now about increasing your calorie use. This isn't rocket science. You burn more calories by exercising and by raising your metabolism. Exercising is self-explanatory.. your body needs energy to perform everything it does, and exercise is no different. Your body uses calories for fuel whether you are sitting down, writing, playing cards, or playing football. Obviously, some activities require more fuel than others. For example, you'll burn more calories playing basketball as opposed to watching TV. It's just common sense.

Another way to increase caloric burn is by gaining muscle. I'll talk more about it in detail next time. I think this post is long enough.

Remember, healthy weight loss might seem hard, but the healthy way is the only way.

M