| |
|
|
 |
| |
 |
 |
Want to lose weight? |
| |
You’re not alone. Studies show that sixty-five percent of Americans tried some form of weight loss last year, yet only twenty percent of them were successful. Why the discrepancy? Why are some people able to shed those unwanted pounds while others just keep packing them on and increasing their waist measurements?
If you want to be in that twenty successful percent with your next weight loss attempt, there are five major things you can do to ensure your success.
Pick a diet or an eating plan that actually works for you. Don’t choose the tomato soup diet if you hate tomatoes. Similarly, it’s pretty difficult to follow a high protein diet if you hate meat. Choose something that meets your eating needs, and you’ll have a much easier time sticking to it.
Keep track of your progress. If you want to lose ten pounds, but you never step on the scale, it’s going to be impossible to tell if you’ve actually met your weight loss goals. Don’t be afraid of those numbers on the scale, they’re the best way to tell if you’re meeting your goals.
Set realistic weight loss goals for yourself. Nobody loses twenty-five pounds in two weeks. Our bodies simply just don’t function that way. Most experts suggest weight loss of two to four pounds per week is both the average and healthy way to lose weight.
Eliminate the dangers. If you know ice cream is a weakness, yet you walk by an ice cream store every day, change your route. Keep the junk food out of your pantry, and you won’t be as tempted to break into it at eleven p.m. some night. Try to set yourself up for success instead of failure, and you’ll likely end up in that twenty percent.
Burn more calories than you eat. The bottom line to weight loss is allowing your body to burn some of the calories it has as stored fat. No diet will keep the weight off if you consume more calories than you burn, so as you evaluate plans, be sure that they do what your body needs to make the weight loss process work. |
| |
Top |
|
Want to gain weight? |
| 1. |
Determine how many calories your body requires per day to maintain your existing weight by calculating your resting |
| |
metabolic rate (RMR). Find a calculator online or use the following equation (called the Mifflin-St Jeor equation): |
| |
RMR = 9.99w + 6.25s - 4.92a + 166g-161 |
| |
- w = weight in kilograms; if you know your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms
- s = height in centimeters; if you know your height in inches, multiply by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters
- a = age in years
- g = gender = 1 for males, 0 for females
- Your daily consumption to maintain your weight should be: RMR x 1.15
(E.g. RMR = 2000, so the maintenance intake is 2000 x 1.15 = 2300)
|
| |
Calculate how many calories you need to consume per day to gain weight. Add at least 500 calories per day to your daily requirement. If you need 2300 calories a day to maintain your current weight, strive to consume 2800 calories daily. If you engage in any physical activity, add more calories to account for the calories burned through physical activity. For instance, a 130 lb. person who does 30 minutes of vigorous weight training burns approximately 180 calories. On that day, he or she should consume 500 + 180 calories in addition to the daily requirement calculated in the previous step. |
| |
|
| 2. |
Change your eating habits. |
| |
Aim for three large meals and 2-3 hefty snacks per day. Drink shakes, milk, or juice instead of water, coffee, tea, or diet soda. Focus on the following foods: |
| |
- Breads - hearty and dense (whole wheat, oat bran, pumpernickel, rye) are more nutritious than white bread; cut thick slices and spread generously with peanut butter, jam, honey, hummus, or cream cheese.
- Vegetables - look for starchy vegetables (potatoes, peas, corns, carrots, winter squash, and beets) versus watery vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, cucumbers).
- Fruit - choose dense fruit (bananas, pears, apples, pineapple, and dried fruit) over watery fruit (oranges, peaches, plums, berries, watermelon).
- Soups - Go for hearty cream soups instead of broth-based soups. If you have trouble with edema or high blood pressure you may want to avoid all store-bought soup.
- Added oils - in cooking, add a generous amount of oil. The healthiest oils are unrefined (extra virgin) oils such as olive, coconut, canola, palm, and of course butter. The less healthy but still acceptable sources of oil are those high in omega-6 fatty acids (pro-inflammatory) such as safflower, sunflower, and peanut oils. The unhealthy oils are those containing trans fat such as shortening, and the antinutrient-rich soybean oil (aka vegetable oil).
- Spreads! - Spreading delicious calorie-rich toppings on toast, crackers, pita, and any other carbohydrate source is an excellent way to increase caloric intake. Some good high-calorie spreads are guacamole, olive oil, cream cheese, hummus, butter, nut butters, sour cream, cheese slices, and mayonnaise. Even better is to mix these with shredded meats like chicken or fish. One of my personal favorites is canned salmon mixed with olive oil and vinegar.
|
| |
Top |
| 3. |
Avoid unhealthy, high-calorie foods. |
| |
Most important is to avoid trans fats, which increase your risk for disease. Foods that are high in trans fats are: pastry products, cakes, cookies, processed meats, margarine, shortening, and packaged snack foods. |
| |
|
| 4. |
Weight train. |
| |
This will not only help convert the additional calories into muscle rather than fat, but it will also stimulate your appetite. The added muscle will increase your metabolism, so you'll need to consume more calories per day to maintain that weight. During the first month of weight training, you may experience tremendous gains if you are faithful to your schedule. However, also expect this to level off after this initiatory period. |
| |
|
| 5. |
Eat more protein. |
| |
Protein is essential for body function to build and repair muscle tissue. If you don't consume enough protein from raw foods or protein supplements then gaining weight and building muscle will be unachievable. Those looking to gain weight should consume at least 1 gram of quality protein per pound of body weight. |
| |
|
|
Top |
| |
|
|
|
