Losing weight Do's and Don't VERY IMPORTANT I never knew before
By Lafemcrafts
@Lafemcrafts (475)
United States
July 10, 2008 9:51pm CST
I finally learned the secret to losing weight after many diffrent diets and diet pills .. its so simple it made me so stupid. I Joined a gym and went to a nutritionist at the gym . she did my mbi .. and asked me my idea of dieting and how many calories I ate a day . I told her I ate between 950- 1100 a day . she took my weight .. height .. and age and came out with a profile.. she told me I needed to eat 1,815 calories a day .. well my mouth fell to the floor and I asked her if she was crazy ... if I ate that much I would gain a ton of weight.. She asked me to trust her and she went on to explain.. by me not eating the right amount of calories I was starving my body. My body was storing the fat becouse it was not sure when I was going to eat again. that the colories I was burning was being taken away from my muscle not my fat. ( things that make you go hummm ) .. She also explained to me my idea of dieting was all wrong.. I needed to re learn how to eat .. I am able to eat what ever I want YES WHAT EVER as long as its in my calorie intake .. here 2 months later I lost 15 lbs and lost 20 inches threwout my body.. I dropped 2 pant sizes and I am thrilled to death .. I also hired that same woman for my personal trainner .. she is awsome .. here is an example of what I ate today ..
Breakfast
1/2 cup quaker oatmeal ( measured dry )
1 tbs of butter
mid moring snack
100 calori quaker snack pack ( choc ship cookies
Lunch
1 wrap with 6 clices of chicken
1 slice of cheese
1 cup of saled
1 tablespoon of mayo
1 yougrt
mid afternoon snack
1 protein bar
dinner
2 oz of pasta
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes
asperagus
1 slice of whole wheat bread
1 tbs butter
after dinner snack
another 100 calorie oreo snack pack
before bed snaack
a 100 calorie icecream
the rest of my caolries went to my flavored coffee creamer.
I make out my menu the night before of what I am going to eat .. I do work full time so I bring my snacks and lunch to work with me .. keeping a diet diary helps me stay on track 100% of my food intake .. it seems like its alot of work but it does become a lifestyle... you would be suprised when you start to measure and track your food how many calories you eat .. I do excersise a few days a week I have become to love it .. I also learned 1-2 lb weight loss is a very healthy loss. if I lose more then that my trainer will rais my calories . Keep in mind if you do excersise make sure you eat something 20 - 40 min after your work out to fuel your body.. if you don't the calories burned will be taken from your muscles not your fat.. we have a saying at the gym .. eat or be eaten.. in other words if you don't eat your body will eat your muscles not your fat .. I would love for some of you to try this method.. not only would you lose but you will not go hungry..
6 responses
@FitCoachJess (278)
• United States
15 Jul 08
AWESOME! Congrats on your PERMANENT weight loss. As a trainer and hypnotherapist, I get so frustrated with people who simply will not listen or believe that you have to EAT to lose weight. Your trainer has given you great advice.
It is important to have an idea about how many calories you are eating, mainly so you know you are eating enough. Some people have no idea how many calories they are eating. But beyond that, I try to get people away from counting calories. Once you have an idea about calories, if you are honest with yourself, you don't need to count anymore.
The diet industry brings in somewhere around 80 BILLION dollars per year in the US, and approximately 95% of that is from repeat business. People keep going on diet after diet, taking pill after pill, trying everything there is to try with little or no results, and by that I mean PERMANENT results.
Every time you go on a low calorie diet, you lose possibly some fat, some water, some intestinal weight, and some muscle (or lean mass). Your muscle IS your metabolism. You cannot afford to lose it. This is the reason that dieters can eat less and less food and still not lose weight.
If you want PERMANENT weight loss there are a few things you need to know. You have to eat. You need to eat enough calories for your body to be able to function. Eating 5-6 small meals a day will keep you from being hungry. You need to exercise. Yes, exercise. There is no getting around this one. Exercise increases your lean mass (muscle), which is what burns calories. You need to do resistance exercise to build muscle, and cardio to burn fat and maintain good health.
Ultimately, you need to do something that you can do for the rest of your life. That means including foods that you love. If you need pizza, have a piece once in a while. Deprivation leads to binge behavior for many people. The trick is to know that you can eat anything you want, just not everything you want all the time.
The last thing I want to share is that you need to be able to imagine yourself the way you want to be. See it, feel it, think about what you will do at your perfect weight, what you will wear and how you will feel in your smaller clothes.
Your body and mind are connected. You can eat less/better and lose weight, you can exercise and lose weight, but if your mind is not on the same page, you will not stick to the other two. So learning how to eat, exercising the right way, and using the body mind connection to help you stay motivated will lead you to PERMANENT weight loss.
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
15 Jul 08
Oh you are so right .. the one thing my trainner had to teach me is to get out of the old mind set and into the new. It took some work but I am in the right mind set. I know I can eat what ever I want as long as I do not go overboard. I have gotten so disaplined that I don't want certain foods I use to eat anymore. Excersice I am so in tune with it now . I never wanted to excersise before but I know its a Have to as you said . Thank you for your great input.. as far as the calorie counting goes, my diary is part of my new lifestyle one I do not mind doing .. will there be times I won't beable to write in it .. no doubt but as you said I know what I need to eat along with the servings .. which is now second nature to me .. the diary is out of habbit now .:)
@falconjetter (161)
• United States
15 Jul 08
A diet diary is a very good start to losing weight. When I was writing down what I was eating I tended to be embarrassed by myself. That is not a feeling a person would be willing to tolerate too many times.
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
15 Jul 08
its amazing when you do keep a diet diary how the calories add up. I know it can be a pain but tis soooo worth it .. each nite I plan out my menu for the next day .. and if I am working long hours that day all my food is with me ready set to go :)
@LilyPad123 (377)
• Singapore
11 Jul 08
First of all i want to congratulate you on your weight loss. And yes the trainer did the right thing for you. I hope you also can pass this along as well. Many people do not understand the true meaning behind dieting. The body itself is a machine , you need to give fuel to it. I hope the best for you on our weight lost.
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
11 Jul 08
thank you .. your so right I never knew it myself.. I never knew I was starving my body .. now I am never as tired as I use to be becouse I am feeding my body.. I hope I can pass this to others and help them to understand :)
@redbutterfly20 (111)
•
12 Jul 08
Wow, congratulations! Yeah I'm having the same problem. I don't eat very much but I'm like fat. It just always seemed unfair to me. I think I'll try this. Mmm Eating Oreos and losing weight in the same sentence sounds REALLY good to me...
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
13 Jul 08
thanks.. as I said you can eat what ever you want as long as its within your calorie in take. I do try to eat lower calorie sweets they are out there just learn to read your lables.. VERY important :) let me know how you do :)
@stagewhisper (901)
• United States
14 Jul 08
Congratulations on the weight loss! It's crazy what can make you lose weight, isn't it? 
I'm learning that myself. You can't starve your body, or your body will retaliate by storing everything you DO eat... which is a pain, haha. There's a way for you to calculate how many calories a day based on how sedentary or active your lifestyle already is. In a given day without exercising, I burn ~1600 calories a day, which means I generally should match that or only go a little below that to lose weight. However, since I'm exercising three or more times a week with relatively heavy exercise, I need to up my calories to around 1800 or so in order to avoid starving myself.
Random question- have you heard of a website called Sparkpeople.com? It's sort of like Weight Watchers, only it doesn't cost a thing. You get to plug in your meals for the day (it keeps track of calories, fat, protein and carbs), and you get a sparkpage for keeping track of your progress. Not only that, but you can also plug in/plan for workouts, both cardio and strengthening (or the website will generate a workout routine for you if you ask it to). It's also got a huge, incredibly supportive forum. I've been there since April and I've permanently lost about 10 pounds so far! Check it out if you like; it's been helping me a lot.
I'm learning that myself. You can't starve your body, or your body will retaliate by storing everything you DO eat... which is a pain, haha. There's a way for you to calculate how many calories a day based on how sedentary or active your lifestyle already is. In a given day without exercising, I burn ~1600 calories a day, which means I generally should match that or only go a little below that to lose weight. However, since I'm exercising three or more times a week with relatively heavy exercise, I need to up my calories to around 1800 or so in order to avoid starving myself.
Random question- have you heard of a website called Sparkpeople.com? It's sort of like Weight Watchers, only it doesn't cost a thing. You get to plug in your meals for the day (it keeps track of calories, fat, protein and carbs), and you get a sparkpage for keeping track of your progress. Not only that, but you can also plug in/plan for workouts, both cardio and strengthening (or the website will generate a workout routine for you if you ask it to). It's also got a huge, incredibly supportive forum. I've been there since April and I've permanently lost about 10 pounds so far! Check it out if you like; it's been helping me a lot. @Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
15 Jul 08
yes I have heard of sparkpeople.com been on there many times and used alot of their recipies.. keep up the good work and keep us posted on how you progress
@arielle_love (67)
• Philippines
13 Jul 08
Congratulations..great job...u've made it!!!
I think discipline is the key...it's hard to diet!! there are too many restrictions in what we wanted to eat!
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
13 Jul 08
Thank you :) I do not think of what I am doing as a diet, but rather changing my eating habbits.. I do eat what ever I want even ice cream and choc. covered pretzles I just stay with in my calorie range. thats the whole concept and it works :)
