Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category
How Many Calories Should Have a Day?
Since I am very well versed in weight loss I have noticed a trend in the question how many calories should have a day. What I have noticed is that the average person looking to lose weight starts to focus in on how many calories a food contains and sometimes that glancing search may wander over to carbohydrates or proteins and even the sugars portion of the nutrition chart on the back of all the food you eat.
As I speak with people looking for information about what to eat, or how much to eat I always drag the conversation to the statement that must be understood about food and nutrition. I always begin my answer with the statement of fact that to lose, or gain a pound of fat the number 3,500 calories must be plugged into the equation.
It must be understood that to lose one pound of fat, a person must burn off 3,500 more calories than are eaten. To gain one pound of fat a person must eat 3,500 more calories than are burned off, through exercise or movement. This number must be understood and plugged into the question of how many calories should have a day. Once the dieter understands that ALL weight hinges on that number, the attention turns towards the nutrition charts
To lose weight and achieve actual weight loss is not a matter of how many 100 calorie snacks you could “settle for” in the course of a day. The most important question is what TYPE of calories should I be eating when I am restricting my caloric intake? How many calories should have a day is really a lopsided question because to answer it a person needs to receive the information of what type of calories need to be eaten. I could write an entire graduate student paper on the subject with an answer that would bore you to abandonment long before the needed understanding takes root in your thought process. After all…you really just wanted a simple answer to the miss-typed question of how many calories should have a day.
I will skip all the boring information of how you need the right mix of calories to allow the metabolism in your body to release the fat from the cells. I will skip the boring details of why you get hungry after consuming a salad so quickly and why a turkey salad is so much more settling for longer-term appetite suppression. I will skip a number of calories completely and refer you to the weight loss program that does not count one single calorie. I used to be so confused about types and quantities of calories, while I was losing my 115 pounds, that I knew I was in over my head. I found a way to lose weight, without much exercise and without counting a single calorie.
What I will say is that I learned the word MEDI is in Medifast because the science has been perfected over the last 30+ years to allow a meal replacement program that facilitates weight loss, without having to wonder how many calories should have a day. I could answer the question with the amount of calories you will be eating a day while on the Medifast Weight Loss Program but that answer is not what is important either. What I can say because of my weight loss story is that when using Medifast the important concern has nothing to do with counting calories because the ingredients are what facilitates the weight loss, and those ingredients work in tandem with the calories.
How many calories should you have in a day? It is a great question and it is one that you really do not have the time to take the college course that is required to understand. Instead of trying to separate and appreciate what a calorie is and how ingredients impact those calories…just check out Medifast and your understanding will become crystal clear. Medifast has already figured out all the science and you just need to wrap your head around the answer in your head that is holding you back from reaching that goal. Weight loss is only a mystery to you because you have not reached your goal yet. Reach that goal and you will understand.
Lose weight quickly and safely with Medifast.
Top Five Weight Loss Myths
There is so much misinformation that is circulating around the internet about weight loss that it is hard to decide what is good and works and what is bad and does not work. You sit in your chair and not only feel bloated you are getting depressed about your weight gain and the feeling of being powerless to be able to take control of your life. There is a really good chance that the reason for your budding depression is because you have been led around with incorrect and inaccurate information. Let’s look at some weight loss facts and let you be the judge!
1) Diets Work In The Long-Term
All diets fail as you can attest to because here you sit today and your weight is still there. You have tried so many fad diets and yet you still think that maybe that one diet will come along that works. Give up on the diet and start on your new lifestyle because any diet is doomed to fail. Diets have a start date and an end date. What happens if you stop eating carbs and lose 100 pounds? If 100 pounds was your goal and your diet was a “success” what now? Do you go back to carbs or are you ready to give them up forever? More than likely your diet will end long before your weight loss is forever. Quit looking for a diet and start a “live-it.” Start a program that you can lose a pound here and there and stick with it for the long haul. This is how a weight loss plan lasts for a lifetime. True weight loss is not a dash to the finish line. True weight loss is for the rest of your life!
2) Not Eating Will Help Me Lose Weight
The uninformed weight loss attempt will include eating fewer calories during the day. If you want to lose weight you need to be able to give your food the energy it needs to survive. If you just cut back on the food supply it is not healthy and actually defeats the purpose. When a person cuts back on calories their body goes into a sort of starvation mode and starts to restrict the burning of fat and starts to increase the burning of muscle. This hurts your weight loss attempt and actually when you start eating normal again you will add more fat than when you started to try and lose weight. You MUST eat to lose weight, which leads us to the next myth.
3) Three Meals a Day Is Best
If you want to lose weight you should not eat three meals a day. If you want to lose weight you should supply only enough calories every four hours to get you to the next mini-meal. If you eat 2,500 calories at one meal your body takes what it needs to operate and then converts the rest to fat. If you eat less more often then there will no excess calories to turn into fat and since you are not hungry your body will burn fat and not muscle. If you want to lose weight then you need to eat to lose weight.
4) I Can Do Without My Favorite Foods
If you love pizza are you planning to never eat it again? What about chocolate? What about Pepsi? Every time people start diets they start off with rigid rules and make absurd rules like no pizza ever again. What this results in is the event of having a slice and then feeling as if you are a failure and that you can’t make your diet work and then you just give up and stop trying. If you really want to lose weight it is not a dash to the goal, it is a marathon. If you are trying to lose weight then you need to go back to myth #1 and work that slice of pizza into your life. You are foolish if you think that you can go through life without ever eating your favorite foods again. If you ate a couple of slices of pizza tonight that is not the end of the world. True weight loss is all about choices and choosing a reward ever now and then is not failure. If you are losing weight and eat pizza one night and get back on track the next day the weight loss world will not crumble. You can’t deprive yourself from food and be a success for the long-term because in the long-term you will surrender to your desires and then you will feel like a failure and give up. By incorporating your favorite foods every now and then you are setting yourself up for long-term success and also staying away from fad diets. It all goes back to your diet not being a diet, but a live-it.
5) Everyone Can Lose Weight But Me
The chance of you having a medical condition exist and should never be over looked but chances are that if you really tried to lose weight you could make it happen with the proper motivation. For some people that motivation may be heart failure or the death of a sibling or a spouse. Whatever your reason for reading this here and now it proves you have some motivation. You too can lose weight but only if you educate and apply yourself. If you really want to lose weight then you too can make it happen. Join a support group and just start getting more active. If you really want it bad enough then just go for it and make it happen. You can lose weight but you have to want it bad enough for that motivation to last. You need sustained motivation.
Are these really the top five weight loss myths? Maybe not but they really are worth your time to realize that what you just read can empower you to move on to the next level of your weight loss journey. That next level is the beginning of your weight loss journey. That journey began with the knowledge that tears away only five weight loss myths. Keep learning about health, fitness and weight loss and your journey will be a lifetime of health. Yes, you too can do it, now just get up and go for it. Every journey begins with the first step and you have gained some knowledge and that is your first step.
Eating At McDonald’s and Losing Weight
You want to lose weight and you are trying to lose that 20 pounds or that 100 pounds. You are doing pretty well in your weight loss attempt and then it happens. Your group wants to go out and eat and you pull into a McDonald’s fast food restaurant. You think all is lost for your diet but that is not true. We are here to tell you that you can go to a McDonalds and eat some food and not have to blow out your diet. If you think this is not true then chances are you are not doing too well on your “diet” and have been struggling for quite awhile to lose the weight. If you fall into this category then read on and learn how to break away from the diet madness and get off the merry-go-round of trying to lose weight.
If you think you cannot walk into almost any restaurant and order healthy food then you have not fully grasped the entire driving elements of true and pure healthy weight loss. If you truly want to lose the weight you need to change your mind set. You need to break the pattern of all your prior “diets” and stop looking at losing weight as something that happens only during a set time period on the calendar. You need to stop thinking that you need to lose those 20 pounds to go to that wedding or go on that vacation. You are hesitating to go to that reunion because you have gained too much weight and now you want to lose it fast. This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding how weight loss really works. If you were to go on a weight loss crusade and starved yourself into losing 20 pounds you will end up gaining more than 20 pounds after you end your diet. The reason is basic human physiology. Your body has a defense mechanism that when your body is starved for food it will stop burning the fat and start burning muscle. Sure you will reach your short term weight loss goal but when you start eating normally again you will not only gain the weight you lost, but will pack on a few pounds to help you if you are to experience the issue of starvation again. This is when your body will think it has to overcompensate in case the reasons for your prior drastic weight loss were to happen again. This is one major reason why you keep gaining weight slowly over the years. This is an issue of yo-yo dieting.
If you want to really lose the weight you can eat at McDonalds or pretty much any other place you stop at. This is because one meal is not going to make you gain 20 pounds. The 20 pounds you are trying to lose have been gained by months of poor eating choices. If you really want to lose the weight then you need to skip the “diet” and start a “live-it”. This may sound corny but it is the truth. If you were to embark on a life long journey you would be able to enter a McDonalds and eat decent food choices that will not cripple your weight loss. If you entered McDonald’s and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and a parfait and water you would only consume 580 calories. If you went further and asked for no sauce and used ketchup you would even have less calories. You could also choose a salad and have an even healthier meal choice. If you are now sitting in front of your monitor thinking I do not want to choose that I want (need) to have a burger, fries and a soda. If this is how you think then you may have revealed your true cause of your weight problem. You just may not be ready to commit yourself to weight loss. If you are not ready then do not beat yourself up over the issue. If you truly want to lose the weight you must know that in order to really be able to lose the weight you need to lose no more than an average of one or two pounds a week. This way your body does not really notice it is happening. This way you will lose the weight and you will be able to keep the weight off for the rest of your own personal forever.
If you are really on a weight loss journey then you know it is not going to happen in a month or two. You must commit yourself to exercise and you must commit yourself to eating better choices. If the majority of your choices are healthy and good for you then if you strayed from your path every now and then one meal will not matter enough to cause you to “blow your diet”.
A true desire to lose weight will push your commitment past a week or two. That commitment will empower you to shed the weight for the long haul and not just to go to a wedding. A true desire to lose weight will empower you to stay the course month after month until one day you wake up and you are healthier. One day you will wake up and notice the change. Through perseverance and determination you will be able to hear someone out of the blue comment that you look like you are losing weight.
Make the correct choices in your life and when you want to eat that cheese burger at McDonald’s it will have little effect on your life. One meal will not matter when the majority of your meals are healthy and mixed with exercise a few times every week. If you need support in your cause then we recommend eDiets as a support group. They are awesome and if you need a nudge there are a ton of people there ready to offer real help. When we say people we mean real people just like you. If you have had trouble in the past losing weight change your mindset and join eDiets. If you do, your chances for success have just tripled!
I Choose Thin, what do you choose?
Holiday Diet Tips, Weight Gain and Choices
Soon it will be the holiday season and you will be presented with choices of where to eat, what to eat and especially, how much to eat. These are questions that you may already be mulling around inside that head of yours and studies have revealed that most people go into the season with preset beliefs that weight gain is inevitable. If weight gain is something you are committed to doing this holiday season then go for it and eat all you desire and actually go ahead and eat more than that. While you are at it why don’t you just eat so much food that you will be forced to throw up.
Okay, that may seem a bit extreme but to take from, an old joke, the punch line ”we have already established what your standards are, now we are just negotiating what you will do.” The point is that if you are entering into the holiday season with the intention to gain weight as something that has to happen, then that is the end result you will manifest for your life. You will either to decide to gain weight or do what you can to not gain any weight. Here are some tips or suggestions to help you get through the holiday season without packing on ten pounds to the bathroom scale.
1. Cut back on the “stuff”. You can go all out for a meal and make the home look like something out of a Dickens’s novel without laying out a spread of appetizers that offer little but diameter to your waistline. Learn to shave calories where you can with little to no effect to the event you are gathering for. Trim back on the cheeses, make dips from fat free sour cream where the flavoring can hide the fact that the fat is out for the holiday. Go light on the gravies and leave the nuts in the dish. Go easy on the things that are more or less just impulse eating. Sure it all taste so good but there is no reason you have to eat it all. If you must eat something only take a small portion and move on.
2. When you are roaming around the festivities hold a drink in your dominate hand. (No! DO not use this as a chance to booze it up.) The fact that your dominant hand is busy will make you self conscious every time you reach for a fistful of calories.
3. Chew gum. Keep those teeth busy and your mouth full. Popping 5 calories from a stick of gum in your mouth is better than 750 calories from an assortment of sweet stuff.
4. Eat as you would any other day. All too often people will anticipate over eating at a party so they starve themselves all day long. What this does is to set you up before going to a party and then going on a binge night out overeating. One suggestion would even be to stock up on FullBar to use before the event. FullBar would allow you to show up and not be that hungry and actually it would help you from over eating. Whatever you decide, eat before during the day and do not go to a party hungry.
5. Do not drink alcohol all night long. Booze is nothing but empty calories and who needs them? If you must drink then do not make each and every drink one that has liquor as an ingredient. Better yet just drink water. Water will keep you from getting a DUI, it will help prevent empty calories and it will even help tame your appetite.
6. If you must help out at the party, then help anywhere but in the kitchen. In that place it is too easy to pop food into the pie whole and then do it again and again. If you can’t stand the diet then get out of the kitchen!
7. Wear snug clothing to the party. This type of clothing will help you feel bloated if you over do it and will set off the alarm before the damage is done. Snug clothing does not have to be too tight, but tight enough to make you think twice about that third slice of pie.
Here are some examples of the reality of your night out:
1 roll is equal to 150 calories, butter is 180 calories, chips will cost you another 150 calories, 2 cookies will hit you up for 240 calories……the list could go on until you make your New Year’s resolution, so just choose wisely for the holiday festive events. Do not approach the season searching for the white flag of surrender. Do not think that weight gain is something that the holiday season has to bring upon you. As with everything in life, it is all about choices and the name of this website was not chosen by accident.
I CHOOSE THIN, what do you choose?
Weight Loss and The Beach: From Dad’s Perspective
I have taken the beach for granted for quite awhile and today my wife asked me to go to the beach. At first I did not want to go because I do not get many days off from work and I felt as if I just needed to relax. It was then my wife told me that the beach would be the perfect place to go and unwind. Come and take a tongue in cheek look at why the beach is a great place for weight loss.
While I was at the beach today I realized just how lucky I am to be living where I live. I am very close to Pensacola, Florida. I have to try to “squeeze” this topic into weight loss so I came up with the following reasons why the beach is a great place to lose weight!
1) Seeing all of the young “hard Bodies” makes you want to walk around holding your stomach in which is great exercise.
2) Being in the hot sun helps you to sweat which helps you drop some of that dreaded water weight.
3) Swimming in the water is great exercise that uses muscles you do not use.
4) Lugging all of that beach stuff from the car to the surf is a great way to get that cardio up and push the endurance envelope.
5) Bending over to wipe all the sand off your feet provides a great limbering and toning workout.
6) Walking back to your towel from the surf gets that heart pumping and muscles moving.
7) Drinking all that water to cool off helps your daily water intake consumption.
Chasing your beach umbrella is a fabulous cardio workout because of all the sprinting involved.
9) Rubbing suntan lotion on yourself helps your hands go where they have not been for years. Great stretching exercises.
10)All of the dancing you do when walking back to your car over the scorching black top is also great cardio.
Yup! The beach is a great place to go and relax and unwind and get your daily exercise requirement. I am glad I live near the beach but now since I had such a great time the wife wants me to go somewhere on vacation that has a beach!