My question is on a few different levels. Please feel free to be longwinded because I really want to learn about this.
I’ve been losing weight over the last 2 months on diet alone. I’ve lost about 12 pounds this way. I understand how this works – you can lose weight by reducing caloric intake and changing the types of foods you eat.
What I want to understand is how exercise makes you lose weight. I have the beginnnings of understanding on this – that you’re burning calories with the exercise…like if you eat 1400 calories in a day and you burn 300 then your body only thinks you have eaten 1100, right?
But then how do all those old calories come off? The ones from three months ago that made me gain weight?
On the same vein, if i’ve only been losing weight with diet (steadily), and then i have one really good workout, when will it be reflected in my weight? I’m not saying I expect to lose all my weight with one workout, I’m trying to simplify the question.
You burn calories at rest. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you will burn while exercising, and the more you will burn at rest, the idea is to raise your metabolism.
If you just QUIT eating, your body will go into starvation mode and think to itself "HEY no food coming in… all systems SLOW down we need to conserve what we’ve got" So you have to eat.
If you have good muscle tone it is your goal not to lose it. You want to gain muscle and lose fat. Muscle also weighs more than fat, so instead of going so much by the ’scale’, you should be judging progress by how your clothes fit instead.
So a person needs to eat… healthily. Every 4 hours, so you dont have that low blood sugar ‘crashing’ thing going on. No sugar, little fat, a lot of greens and veggies, drink much fluids (64 ounces a day plus an extra 8 ounces for every 20 pounds overweight), a ‘deck of cards’ sized portion worth of protein every day (only one day a week red meat) and complex carbohydrates (whole grains).
IF you are taking in less food than the 2500 calories a person of normal weight would eat, then it is logical to assume you would be taking in less vitamins than you need, SO you need a daily vitamin supplement.
The ideal exercise regimen would include 30 minutes of walking daily, three times a week aerobic training (get heart-rate up)
and two or three times a week weight training. All this can be done at home (without a gym) but a gym with a personal fitness trainer is always nice. Oprah has one, why shouldn’t YOU?
Also don’t forget about:
-stress (dont need that… laughter best medicine, stay in good humor, be happy)
-rest (need to sleep and get those REMs)
-not smoking
-little alcohol or caffiene
I also say that you should do things to make yourself happy, like a nice hair trim (trip to salon for facial manicure pedicure etc.)
buy a nice new shirt every time you lose five pounds and get your teeth bleached at the dentist office.
Good luck on reaching your goal and congratulations on your progress thus far.
