My experience: I've lost 70 pounds, I use to weigh 240. I'm 5'6" I thought if it took me 10 years to put it on I could allow myself 7 to take it off and rethink my life style.. actually get back to the lifestyle I had. As a child I was not fat. I gained the weight in my early adulthood.
DIET
Beginning: 2 months
1. Eat the same foods you do now.. everything, just
decrease the portion size. Eat your food more slowly. When at a buffet, take small portions of everything the first time and then go back for smaller portions the second time...
Use smaller plates for your meals.
2. Eat only when your stomach growls. It does not matter what time of day, but eat. EAT NO MORE than you can place in your hand if it is not breakfast, lunch or dinner.
3. No high calorie foods after 7 pm except 2 handfuls of mixed nuts and only if your stomach is growling.
4. Learn about the function of food in your body
Carbohydrates
Learn the difference between slow carbs and fast carbs.
5. Drink 1 8oz glass of ice water every 2 hours.
6. Begin to increase your Omega 3 and 6
EFCs
in your diet.
3rd month
1. Slowly start to replace processed foods with better carbohydrates.
Increase your fibrous vegetables intake at your 3 major meal times.
2. Replace sugar cravings (candy bars etc..) with fruit and 1000mg vitamin C daily.
3. Continue to learn about nutrition. See above link.
4th month Middle
1. Face your addiction to food. What causes you to go to the refrigerator.
Substitute another activity you enjoy doing instead of going to the refrigerator.
2. Start to eat 6 meals a day.
Calculate your BMR and nutrition requirements of protein/carb/fats.
Ease those amounts into your small portion, less sugar meals you are eating now.
5th month
1. Establish your diet in your mind as good progress and continue to make it more healthy and continue to eat small portions of food. Buffets: Take only one serving of each food item you enjoy.
2. Eat everything you enjoy eating. To deny yourself will sabotage your diet at this point.. Just eat SMALLER and less frequent servings of the cakes, cookies, chips, and fast foods.
6 month and beyond There is no end. It is a life style change.
1. Clean up your diet by eating the junk foods even less. Set a goal for yourself that you can live with such that you don't binge. Continue to identify the tiggers that cause you to binge and find alternatives to the binging.
2. Keep portions of food small and frequent.
3. Eat a variety of foods and take the time to enjoy them while eating them.
4. Add carb cycling and carb tapering into a stricter clean diet.
EXERCISE
Beginning:
First two weeks
Walk 15 minutes every day.
Invest in a mp3 player.
Listen to your favorite music or even tv show while walking.
Second two weeks
Walk 20 minutes
Second month
Walk 30 minutes every day.
You must make a commitment to 30 minutes of some exercise every day.
Study and understand the body's response to exercise.
Fifth month
Begin a
weight training program at home or in a gym whichever you are more comfortable doing.
Low weights/low reps for 4 weeks. all body parts.
bar only no weight greater than 8 pounds.
one
exercise for legs, arms, chest, abs, back each day. 5 minutes each exercise. 3 sets 10 slow controlled reps with 20 second break in between sets.
Continue walking for 30 minutes. Increase the distance you walk in 30 minutes by 1/4.
6th Month and Beyond
Increase weights and keep reps low
Move to a 3 day split on exercises. Increase work-out to 45 minutes.
Establish your own unique routine that will meet your needs for the physique you want.
Find an aerobic exercise routine that you like and add that on days you do not weight train.
Crunches will be difficult at first but don't give up on them. Start in a the sitting up position and slowly lower your back to the ground.
Pull the arch in your back flat with your abdominal muscles, breath out slowly pushing your back into the floor. Hold for 3 seconds and release.
Sit back up and repeat.
Do 3 sets of these with 6 repetitions to start.
What do I recommend when obese friends are eating out?
See above in the diet about buffets.
Best thing for eating out is to limit portions of food. Make the meal last for two meals. One while out and one at home. I'm a firm believer in doggy bags now.
Try to eat more complex carbohydrates and stay away from the processed foods and sweets. This; however, makes dieting a denial of appetite, therefore, limit portions.
How do I help friends who are obese?
I share my experience with them and wait to talk with them until they bring up a weight related health issue they are having.
I tell them how my blood pressure is lower, my cholesterol levels are good, I sleep better, I feel better.
How do I encourage them to continue their training and diet to lose weight?
I tell them that the compliments about my looks, the ability to sit in chairs and on public transportation comfortably, having more energy for the day, being able to purchase sexy clothes in the missus instead of woman's department are motivators for me to continue the program. Once they start to see the changes it is self-motivating.
I show my obese friends my before picture and they see me now and say, "Wow!" I tell them they can do it too, but they have to make a commitment to it and to the lifestyle change just as I did.
I tell them it becomes a habit just like eating too much WAS a habit. The hardest part about changing habits is the initial retraining of the mind and body. Once that is accomplished it is second nature.
The bottom line:
Execute some form of exercise everyday and find the diet with just enough carbohydrates to promote fat burning and keep your mental appetite satisfied as well.
I'm still losing weight and the body is definitely shaping up with some nice firm lean muscular curves. It's no fast fix but the weight is staying off.
Yeppers
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