Losing Weight

hey dude, a lot of the information thrown around here might confuse you if you are just starting out, and theres a lot of good points, So i'll tell you what worked for me.

I did the diets, the problem is that once you're finished dieting, if you havnt changed your standard diet to a healthier one, with proper sized food portions according to your needs and go back to eating the way you did before the diet, you just put the weight back on.
It was really tough for me(really tough, i was in denial for ages) and to be honest it took me around 6 months to finally fully accept that the only way i was gonna be able to do this(loose weight) was by changing my lifestyle. Unfortunately for me, my lifestyle was the one causing me to be overweight, i had a poorly controlled diet, i ate junk and whatever mum cooked. and the only exercise i did was walking the dogs everyday for half an hour. It didnt matter what diet i tried, afterwards i would go back to the same lifestyle and put the weight back on. so what im trying to say is that for a lot of people doing diets fails them because they go back to the same habits as before the diet which is why they are overweight in the first place, so if you try a diet to start off with you have to then make sure you go back to a properly controlled diet, not the one you had before you started!

I've jumped onto the bodybuilders site before linked previously because of the information they have on loosing weight in regards to diet. pretty much there is a science to it, your body NEEDS a certain amount of protein, fat and carbs everyday to function properly. I found it really good for getting some understanding about the 'science behind' nutrition. i also didnt realise how important it was until i started studying it in regards to animals(i work with dogs) and started to realise how important a good diet was for a dog, and all the health problems caused by poor nutrition, and how by simply manipulating diets we can treat quite moderate diseases in the body (athritis, skin conditions, pancreatitis, IBD etc). Im telling you all this cos for me it was my diet stuffing me up, and until i made that decision to change my way of thinking and relating to food and exercise that it finally started to work (im an emotional eater, with a lot of issues, plus in the south american culture its rude to leave food on plates, which for me meant my food sizes where too big and i was generally quite lazy when it came to exercise) Nutrition is important cos even after you loose the weight, your gonna want to keep it off, which means a long term health plan, not a short term one.

With my diet it was small gradual changes because any big and sudden changes i knew i wouldnt be able to keep up and end up failing within the first two weeks! (and i failed a million times) i usually have 3 meals a day, but what you'll find is your metabolism is linked to your food(pls correct me if im wrong guys, but remember im trying to make it simple and generalise abit), so when you eat your metabolism increases to break down the foods and use them. with 3 meals a day i was creating 3 spikes in my metabolism, in my blood sugar and in my energy levels, as they are all related, and a period in between where i wouldnt eat, so my metabolism and energy would drop. this isnt good for weight loss cos when i would go to eat lunch or dinner it had been so long since i had the last meal that i felt like i was starving and would binge eat, also your metabolism drops when you are not eating, and in the process of metabolism fat is converted to energy for the body to use, and i was dropping this down to a minimum, hence why people generally recommend eating smaller meals more often because it generally keeps your metabolism at a steady rate all day, so youre burning energy all day. (this also relates to your diet through the GI index of foods you eat, if it has a low GI, it is slowly metabolised, so doesnt cause a big spike meaning a more steady metabolism. also generally, junk food tends to be high GI, they are metabolised faster, creating spikes and lows in your metabolism.

i have really set ways so starting new habits generally takes about 3 solid weeks of commitment before i can make it a habit too! I started with breakie, didnt change it up too much, before i was having a cup of tea with milk, toast and fillings for toast. so i cut out the milk, changed bread to wholemeal bread and only put nice healthy stuff on my toast such as tomatoes and stuff. (i know im gonna get slammed by a few people here because im eating bread, but theres a few reasons why i do it, 1 is that i have been eating bread for breakfast my whole life, so the change was too much and i generally found whenever i would completely cut out bread from my diet i would only last a couple of days before i binged really bad, 2 is that i cant have a bowl of cereal or oates with milk for breakfast as whenever i do i get unbearable pains in my guts and nausea shortly after breakfast, ive been to the docs about this, but im not allergic to any foods so so far the cause is unknown. 3 is that i wanted to keep the diet true to me, i love love love bread , and i acknowledge that its not the best for weight loss, but ive taken it into consideration when planning my diet.
the next to change was lunch, and the two meals i have before and after. because of work this has been the most difficult to try to fit around my schedule and organise, cos i live at home with my parents my mum helped me heaps the first couple of weeks, she made all of my lunches, but is now starting to wean me into making my own lunches(as im a completely retard in the kitchen). also because i was at work and i had about 6 fast food places literally at the door it was really hard to break the junk food habit. but i changed it now, its been about a month, i have usually fruit or veggies to snack on and a big salad for lunch or home made healthy stirfry with no noddles or rice. like i said this has been the hardest step so far and it was one of my problem spots, now most of the time, i dont even feel like junk food, it doesnt even seem appealing (cos now that im eating better i get the runs from junk!!!)

sorry ive written so much, i hope it makes sense ive been toking while i was writing!!! anyway, theres lots of information out there, just be careful of the sources, everyone has varying opinions because what works best for you may not work for someone else,
it does sound like your eating too little, and it does slow down metabolism and fat burning as someone already mentioned. you can loose weight by eating junk food by controlling the portion and calorie consumption but because it is poor in nutrients, its not really a sustainable or healthy diet, as even tho u may be consuming the right amount of calories, that doesnt mean u are consuming the right amount of nutrients that you may need and vice versa.
the fruit diet detox thing someone mentioned may work for them, but it did not work for me when i first stared as the sudden and severe change in diet meant that i would find myself at the fridge at midnight scoffing down cheese sandwiches cos i was starving. it did nothing to fill me up, i was constantly hungry, tired and cranky. i lasted about a week. for me it may be something to consider once ive already lost the weight, as a form of detox, but i dont recommend to follow that simply to loose the weight, it simply lacks to many nutrients that youre body will need and if youre anything like me with food youre setting yourself up for failure. be realistic with yourself, my change in lifestyle was gradual cos otherwise i would fail, so im taking it step by step, one foot in front of the other.
i havnt spoken about exercise simply cos im tired, and pretty blazed, but ill tell you what i do - i do a 30 minute brisk walk with the dogs in the morning, usually do 3.5km in 30 mins, again this has built up over time, when i started i think it took me something like 45 mins to walk that distance. i dont go to gyms because i cant afford the membership to the ones open really late or really early, and because of work timing and distance i dont make it back in time to make it. (there is one gym i can access, but this too is expensive and full of roid muchers and girls in make up!?!?!?)
so i had to search for things i could do at home, generally i focus on one muscle group a day (upper body, lower body, core..), followed by intensity exercises and then cardio. there is a reasoning behind the order in which u do this that u can find explained in the body building website. and i used the now loss website as its got lots of exercises with video tutorials specifically made to optimising fat burning, it also has some good stuff on nutrition, i think for me what worked the best was to create the calorie deficit, at first i cut down my calories and nutrition too much, and after some initial weight loss, plateud, and then had to go back through and make sure i wasnt cutting down my calories by too much to create muscle loss instead. i guess you have to find that right mix of nutrients needed and calories required, cos when your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows down, as such, slowing down the process in which the body changes fat into energy, when it does this, because the cells in your body are becoming hungry and the fat isnt being converted quick enough, your body turns to anaerobic metabolism, where the body breaks down muscle to use as its energy source instead. this is bad cos you think youre loosing weight when in fact youre not, and your breaking down muscle, i read on one of the websites that muscles being exercised use more energy during periods of rest (when youre not exercising)
anyway hope i helped abit, oh and im about half way to reaching my goal, i havnt weighed what i currently weigh for years. i wAS about 25kg overweight, and even tho its a slow and painful process in which ive had to change my own beliefs and attitude about the whole topic, and convince myself of a few things, its working...

For Losing Fat - DiscussBodybuilding.com
NowLoss.com |  How To Look Good Naked