weight loss

[-naughty-nice-.livejournal.com]

I dont know if this is a good community for this question, if not, I'll delete no problem.

Right now I weigh around 160ish, and I would like to lose about 15-20 pounds by summer [June]. I try to exercise as often as I can but there isnt always a lot of time because of classes and work. Does any body have any safe, healthy, non anorexia/non bulemia diet ideas or tips? There are so many different diets out there its hard to know which one is better. Please share your stories or anything. Thanks a bunch

Comments

[liquorlyles.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone here is going to support giving you an eating disorder ;) Are you eating healthy? Working out really won't do much unless you eat healthy. I'd suggest (assuming you eat meat) chicken breast and veggies, a lot of protien but you can also eat good carbs (ie: whole wheat breads, fruit) rather than ice cream/candy eat an apple.

I'd suggest ediets.com, they give you really good diet plans that don't starve you or anything and its not really a diet its more of a healthy lifestyle depending on what plan you choose.

[fshk.livejournal.com]

I regularly see a nutritionist for weight loss. I can't recommend a diet but I can give some tips. The first things I did were cutting out beverages with a lot of calories (soda, juice) and became more conscious of portion sizes (for instance, a normal sized portion of meat is about the size of your fist; most restaurants serve about 3 times that). One thing that also helps is keeping a food journal; sometimes you don't realize how much you're eating until it's all laid out in front of you.

My mother had great success with Weight Watchers, and it's a pretty healthy method of dieting, so you could try that also.

[charlotte-s.livejournal.com]

i second this suggestion - weight watchers is wonderful! you learn a lot about portion size and moderation. (i think it's particularly great in that there's a lot of flexibility on the program - it's not a terribly strict diet where you can never eat things you like. this makes it a lot easier to stick to - you don't have one cookie and then decide it's going to be an "off" day.)

[autumn-sylver.livejournal.com]

The first thing I would do is go through the nutrition labels on things you eat every day and see how much fat and sugar is in them. If you do something as simple as cutting out sugar (at least partially), it can go a long way in helping you to lose weight. Some things are obvious, like junk food, but you'd be surprised how many ordinary things have loads of sugar in them. Ketchup has as the second ingredient, liquid sugar. The order of the ingredients means that the first things in the list are what there are most of in the product. So there's almost as much sugar in ketchup as there is tomato. Salad dressings also have a lot of sugar - especially the low fat ones.
They say that a glass of pop has as much as 9 tablespoons of sugar in it.
Other little things you could do are walk instead of taking the bus. Distances that are short by bus, but take about 15-20 minutes or so to walk. You could also take the stairs instead of the elevator.

[sunshinesarah.livejournal.com]

If you don't have much time for exercise, there are ways you can squeeze it in. While you're sitting in class, you can tighten and release your abs. Or if you're watching TV, do a different exercise every commercial or two, like pushups for one or two commercials, then situps for one or two, etc. When you go to work or run errands, park your car further away.

As far as diet goes, make sure that the things you do are things you can keep up for the rest of your life. Check out http://mypyramid.gov/ to learn more about balance. The weight isn't going to stay off unless you make it a lifestyle change.

[ncsu-lady.livejournal.com]

I loved the South Beach diet, but the best tip I have ever recieved regarding dieting was something I read.

The biggest problem with a diet is the second someone falls off the diet (ie, eating something not 'allowed' or having an extra dessert, or not exercising that day etc) is they immediately give up.

I knew that lunch would be my hardest meal to stay on the diet, so I said ok, I'm not going to worry about lunch but I was a little more strict at dinner and breakfast. I easily lost the 15 I wanted to lose and have kept it off.

I started parking further away in parking lots and taking the stairs more often. Little things like that go a LONG way.

[holypornography.livejournal.com]

Eat healthier food! Also maybe make your portions smaller. Eat slower, you'll get filled up sooner.
Do some little exercises before going to bed, such as crunches or whatnot.

[misslynn.livejournal.com]

i'm going to pimp my own community here...

losealittle is for exactly this purpose. :)

i'm guessing this account is a dummy account, so feel free to join with your "regular" username if you wish.

[misslynn.livejournal.com]

did all these women in my community come from here? i'm so amused. :)

[josiethefiend.livejournal.com]

I find that my biggest diet tool is planning ahead. Before I go to the store, I decide what's okay to buy and what isn't. Before I go to sleep, I plan out what's okay for me to have tomorrow for breakfast, and to take to work for lunch. It sounds like a pain, but it's really very easy and takes no time at all.

If I leave food decisions until I'm hungry and busy, I end up with french fries. If I plan ahead, I end up with miso soup or a bag of carrot sticks.

Hope that's helpful. :)

As for exercise, I eat my lunch at work during my breaks, or when I have a minute here and there. Then I use my lunch to go walk around the neighborhood. I also stand up and pace whenever I'm talking on the phone. That's a lot of extra calories burnt by the end of the week.

[fiercekitty.livejournal.com]

I lost 80lbs just by cutting out soda and juice (except for diet versions), lessening my intake of meat, and switching to eating lots of veggies and whole grains. Granted that was over 2 years, but I also still eat a pint of ice cream in a day once in a while so I wasn't totally perfect ;-)

[amarise.livejournal.com]

As mentioned, keeping a food journal is a great idea. I just post private entries in my livejournal so it's easy to keep track of. Additionally, if you're super-organized, www.fitday.com is a wonderful way to keep track of how many calories you're consuming.

No matter which diet you follow, in the end you just have to consume fewer calories than you're burning. 1200 calories a day plus exercise is considered a starvation diet, so use that as a guideline. Be warned, though: Any less than 900 calories a day messes up your metabolism. In fact, there are calculators online you can use to find your basal metabolism rate, which is how many calories per day your body burns by just existing...

[mynameismaryjo.livejournal.com]

consume fewer calories than your burning? thats insane. if im at the gym and i do 40 min on the eliptical machine i burn about 350. i could maybe go on the treadmill and burn off another 150 but after that im pooped. how on earth am i supposed to burn more than i consume?

[preternatural.livejournal.com]

It's not just about how many calories you burn at the gym. You don't appear to be counting the calories that your body expends just to live.

[preternatural.livejournal.com]

Adding: as amarise said in the comment to which you replied, "In fact, there are calculators online you can use to find your basal metabolism rate, which is how many calories per day your body burns by just existing..."

In the end, it IS just that simple: burn up more calories than you consume to lose weight, burn fewer calories you consume to gain weight.

[ahota84.livejournal.com]

You don't need to do more than 40 minutes of cardio (actually it's 30, but if you want quicker results, 40s fine) 3 x a week for weight loss. I see girls at the gym huff it out for an hour and they get sore, give up and never go back. No way.

Take away 200 calories in your diet, burn 350 at the gym. This adds up to a deficit of 550 calories you wouldnt have normally. So if you set your diet at 1500 calories, (make sure you consume more than 1200 daily) and you have the deficit of calories you burned or didn't eat, subtract that from your caloric intake and you're burning more than you consume.

I would suggest doing the calorie counter calculator at self.com to see how much you need to intake to lose weight effectively, and then how much each activity really burns.

I reccently lost 14 pounds in about 3 months and kept it off and added mucsle as well.

[amarise.livejournal.com]

Consume more than you burn total, not just through active exercise. For instance if your metabolism is 1300 calories a day, that's how much it takes just to keep you warm and run your bodily functions. Everything you do burns calories, not just exercise. So if you burn 350 calories at the gym you add that to your basal metabolism, then you still have to factor in your lifestyle (sedentary, light activity, moderate activity, etc)...

[jenbys.livejournal.com]

I know everyone already explained that you have to include your basal metabolic rate (what your body is burning all the time, even when you're not excersizing) + calories burned from exercising and that has to be higher than how many calories you're eating. But I just wanted to say that I had the same misconception when I started trying to lose weight and it really confused and depressed me until my husband explained it to me- so you're not alone!

[jae1202.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I can recommend a "diet" as we seem to prefer the term "lifestyle change" these days.

What's worked for me personally- I only eat when I'm hungry, I eat rather slowly and stop when I'm full. Don't deprive yourself...if you want a candy bar, eat it. Just don't eat three. Or if you're finding that you want one every day, try to only eat half of it. Also, if you start most of your meals with a salad this seems to help. As recommended above, cut out extra empty calories (sodas, fru-fru coffees, candy dishes lying around).

All of this is really common sense, but sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else. Also, walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator (even if it's just downstairs- cause I know it's a lot easier to walk down seven flights than up them.) and learn to fidget quietly.

[purplewiggles86.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel. I was told by my Doc. that I needed to lose 30 pounds to be back in the normal weight braket for me. I was told to cut down on food in-take, drink more water, cut out "bad" carbs, she also put me on relocore (think i spelled that right) to cut down on my stress levels (i eat lots when I'm stressed) and give me more energy. So far I've only lost 5 pounds but I just started it a week ago. Good luck

[rapture-xo.livejournal.com]

5 pounds in a week?! That's awesome! It's a good start - but I want to add in a word of caution. Doctors suggest you only loose 1 - 2 pounds a week as to not shock your body, but of course if your doctor is monitoring this, I'm sure s/he knows best! :)

[vivalamusica.livejournal.com]

In addition to watching your calorie intake, I highly recommend doing strength training. Adding lean muscle to your body will boost your metabolism so that you're burning more calories (and fat) even when you're not working out.

[ahota84.livejournal.com]

I completely second this. Most women don't strength train and don't keep the weight loss off because of this.

[snarkitty.livejournal.com]

I lost 40 pounds in 2004 by watching my calories (about 1500 a day), eliminating soda and drinking lots and lots of water, and by getting a viatim cocktail injected into my butt, hah. Before the low cal I tried atkins, and other various types of things, but the low calories worked the best for me.

[snarkitty.livejournal.com]

Also, a helpful thing with the low calories is that you can have whatever you want, so long as you keep it in your calorie count. That's something I liked :D