Secrets

 

THE SECRET TO WEIGHT LOSS!!

 No matter what any weight loss program tells you, it's all about the calories. Calories are the secret to Weight Loss. They may calculate the calories in certain foods and call them "POINTS" or whatever, but it's STILL about the calories. The magazines, weight loss programs and crazy diets know this. All they're doing is telling you a different story, selling you a different dream and a lot of empty promises. They know people DO NOT WANT TO WORK at weight loss. They want the weight loss without the effort. I hate to be the one to tell you, but it doesn't work that way.

You can't pop a pill, listen to a hypnosis tape or dream about losing weight, follow the diet fad of the week or drink your way to slimness with some berry-flavored concoction. You actually HAVE TO DO THE WORK.

You have to:

(1) Restrict your calorie intake and (2) You have to exercise.

ONE POUND= 3,500 calories  

To lose the 100 pounds I want to lose I have to burn 350,000 Calories! WOW!! When you consider that an HOUR of exercise = 200 to 700 calories (lets average it to 350), that's 1,000 HOURS of working out to lose that much weight. If I combine it with a reduction in caloric INTAKE of 500 calories a day, I can lose ONE pound of weight a week, JUST by reducing my caloric intake beneath what my body needs to function in a day. So, I can cut that to maybe 500 HOURS of exercise combined with 500 calories a day reduction in calories consumed.

How many calories does my body actually need in a day?

Everyone's calorie intake number is different, depending on age, current weight etc. I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on the Internet. To get the hard and fast and perfect numbers for you, you need to consult a nutritionist or your doctor. Most people follow the averages, and that's what I'm doing because I don't have a lot of money to spend on professional help at this stage. If you do, then go for it. Get the entire battery of tests done and invest in yourself! If, like me, you're broke, then this should get you started:

To lose weight you need to find out how many calories you now require to maintain your current weight. To do that, weigh yourself, then multiply your weight by 10. For instance: I weighed 238 pounds when I started. To maintain that weight I need to eat 2,380 calories a day. To lose weight I simply reduce the number of calories by 500 or more, but NEVER going beneath 1,200 calories a day.

If you weigh:

300 pounds = You need to eat 3,000 calories a day to maintain a 300 pound weight.
250 pounds = You need to eat 2,500 calories a day to maintain a 250 pound weight.
185 pounds = You need to eat 1,850 calories a day to maintain a 185 pound weight.

To LOSE weight you reduce the number of calories you consume (EAT) in a day:

300 pounds = 2,000 calories a day = 4 pound weight loss a week.
250 pounds = 1,000 calories a day = 2 pound weight loss a week.
185 pounds = 1,200 calories a day = 1.3 pound weight loss a week.

Notice that the more weight you lose, the harder it is to lose big because you simply hit a point in your calorie intake that you can't drop below (1,200 calories) without health risks. So, you have to add exercise to the mix if you want to lose more weight, or lose it faster. That's how The Biggest Losers are able to shed so much weight so fast! They work out 6-10 HOURS a day! Yeah. And Bob and Julian or whoever the trainer of the day is, aren't there for that whole 6 hours. They have to motivate THEMSELVES.

The other cool thing about exercise is that it builds muscle. Why do you want to build muscle? Because muscles BURN FAT, even when you're sitting still! How COOL is that! Muscles fuel your metabolism! If you exercise and build muscle your body gets more efficient at BURNING those 1,200 calories you have! And so you'll start burning more calories 24/7!!


If you're burning 300 calories an hour (walking, aerobics, running, swimming etc.) then you're burning an additional 2,100 calories a week. But remember, it takes 3,600 calories to make a pound.

MORE WEIGHT LOSS TIPS

• Drink ice water. Add ICE to your bottled water and all your drinks. Why? Cold water burns 15 calories an hour more than room temperature water. That may not sound like much, but 15 is the number of calories in a spoonful of sugar! And, 15 calories times 235 hours = ONE POUND of fat! Just for drinking your water COLD rather than LUKEWARM.

• Drink something HOT before you eat. Okay, you're drinking ice water throughout the day, but 20-30 minutes before your next meal, drink something HOT, like broth, green tea or just plain water, or water with lemon. The hot liquid reduces hunger pangs, enabling you to eat less. If you're feeling hungry during the day, try a hot drink to do the same thing.

BEST WEIGHT LOSS TIPS

Be happy. Be happy with yourself. Be happy with your weight even as you're trying to lose it. Focus MORE on being happy and confident and who you are than on what you look like. So many of us think that we'll GET happy once we lose the weight. Not true. The happier you are with you, who you are, the faster the weight will come off. I discovered that the more in control I felt with my life, the more weight I lost. When I plateaued I stopped looking at what I was eating and my workouts and started looking at what was stressing me out. Every time I had an emotional breakthrough, I had a weight break through within days. Our fat is our baggage. As you drop the emotional baggage the body will drop the physical (fat) baggage.