5. What are the best ways to lose weight?
Description
This article is from the Fitness FAQ, by Jeff Gleixner (glex@cray.com) with numerous contributions by others.
5. What are the best ways to lose weight?
Don't be so concerned about how much you weigh. Instead be concerned
about how much of that weight is FAT. You want the weight loss to be
caused by losing FAT, not muscle or water.
To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in.
To do it efficiently and to make sure it stays off the following
three steps should be taken and should become part of your every day
life.
-Start an aerobic program. The activity should be something
that you like doing, and look forward to doing. The activity
doesn't need to be an aerobics class. Instead it could be
walking, biking, inline/ice skating, dancing, etc. Anything
that will elevate your HR and keep it around your Training Zone
for at least 12 minutes. Remember the longer the better..
-Modify what you eat. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, chicken,
rice, potatoes, etc. Read the labels. 1g FAT = 9 calories
(to make the math a little easier round that up to 10 calories)
1g protein or carbohydrates = 4 calories. Don't be fooled by
"95% FAT free"! Look carefully at how many calories come from
FAT. i.e. if something has 120 calories, which is pretty low,
but it has 9 g FAT and 5 g protein and 5 g carbohydrates, almost
70% of that product is FAT. Try to eliminate the FAT that you
eat. There is FAT in virtually everything so shooting for a
0% FAT diet will probably put you in the 10%-20%, just because
not everything is FAT free, and you do need some FAT in your
diet. Simply switching the obvious foods will make a big
difference, such as, skim instead of whole milk, chicken instead
of hamburger, bagels instead of croissants, etc. Also eating small
meals more frequently during the day will raise your metabolism
and keep you from getting that "I'M STARVING" feeling.
-Resistance Training: To build muscle that will, in turn, help
burn calories throughout the day. A simple weight program
where you slowly add weight and perform basic exercises every
other day, such as, Squats, Bench Press, Pull-downs, and Military
Presses are enough for most people.
General hints on Weight Loss:
* Don't go on starvation diets. This will slow down
your metabolism and may actually make you FATter.
* Don't take products such as SlimFast. Drinking SlimFast
may work in the beginning, but you need to modify your
eating habits for a lifetime.
* Don't buy anything that looks like a gimmick. The
Thighmaster, Fat burning pills, some portable
thing-a-ma-jig. Spend the money on good food and save
it for your new clothes you'll need in a couple of months.
* Get your BF% calculated and check it every other month.
* Forget about the scale and buy a full length mirror.
Standing in front of it nude will tell you much more than
the scale will. "A picture is worth a thousand words"
* Whatever you do HAVE FUN! If you start on some horrible
(grapefruit) diet, a month later you're going to hate it
and, more than likely, end up putting on more FAT.
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