First of all, I wanna make sure you realize I'm *NOT* a doctor or in any way associated with the medical community. I do, however, have a phenomenal holistic physician that I trust my medical care with. I'm also not a diet success as of yet (meaning I haven't met my goals). But many people have asked...so here goes. :)
In my theory, the key to weight loss is simple...almost too simple: burn more calories than you consume. I also believe, less simplistically, the right combinations of food are key to weight loss and a fit body. I don't believe there's any magic pill or powder that's going to make me thin. I know that weight loss clinics work for some people. I, however, think it's ridiculous to pay money each week to weigh myself and get pats on the back or buy pricey frozen foods. I've got friends for the support and I can make my own meals. I also don't believe surgery is the answer. Not saying that it won't work for you, of course...just letting you know where I stand on things. :)
Rough guess, before I started on my diet, I was probably consuming 3,000-5,000 calories a day and when I say I was stagnant, I mean it. I didn't walk, I didn't dance, I didn't do ANYTHING. I drank, on average a half gallon of sweetened tea a day (when I wasn't drinking soda). Needless to say, I was living VERY unhealthily.
I actually considered surgery about six years ago and when I consulted the surgeon, he told me to talk to a dietician, which I did. I was 100% honest with her and after asking dozens of questions about my food intake and my (lack of) exercise, she came up with a plan (most of which I don't remember details of), but I do remember her telling me that based on my soda consumption that I could drop 60-65lbs in a year's time JUST by cutting it out of my diet. This includes diet soda, too (sodium content is too high in any soda and somehow affects water retention and the body's ability to flush it from your system, I can't remember it all now).
Last January, I decided that I was going to lose some weight...so I joined the gym and researched quite a bit on what kind of diet would work for me. We all know that fried foods aren't good. Neither are a lot of red meats, pork or foods with a high salt content (high blood pressure in addition to the water retention issues I mentioned earlier). In talking with my doctor, I began to learn more about processed foods, also (things like boxed macaroni & cheese, Hamburger Helper, frozen foods, etc). In doing more research on my own, I also realized that foods with a lot of preservatives are harder to digest and tend to be less able to be metabolized by the body.
I went to the gym three times a week on average and worked out for about 45 mins. I would stretch and warm up, then spend time on the stationary bike and then the treadmill. Sometimes I'd just do the track instead of the treadmill...sometimes in addition to it. If I went on the weekends, I'd tread water (I hate swimming laps). I also eliminated soda from my diet entirely. I switched to unsweetened tea when I did drink it. Alcohol was also sworn off, as were fried foods. I went from over 3,000 calories a day to about 1500, 2000 at the most.
I also joined an website called
SparkPeople.com. I absolutely swear by it. It's completely free, so I'm promise I'm not trying to sell you anything. lol. When you join, they walk you through how the SP thing works. You plug in your current weight, where you'd like to be and when. It walks you through some tips and suggestions on what caloric intake you should have if you want to meet the goals you've set. It has hundreds of articles under different categories of what you're most interested in (fitness, healthy eating, certain weight issues such as emotional eating, etc). There are little reward systems if that's motivational for you, etc. It's a great site and I love it. It helps me stay accountable for what I eat & which exercises I do because you plug in what foods you're eating and what fitness you do.
I lost 17lbs in about three weeks doing this. Unfortunately, I got VERY sick with the flu and then had some other unrelated health things going on for about four months following that, so I ended up not going back to the gym (see? Told you I wasn't a success. LOL). I do know, though, that what I did worked. I just allowed myself to get sidetracked by life.
So...when I started on this thing again, I knew I needed to go the same route. The only thing I've done differently is that I'm not as strict on myself with foods. When I crave chocolate, I eat chocolate. But instead of downing a whole bag of chocolate candy, I eat a couple of pieces. When I want fried foods, I eat them. But instead of eating a whole order of fries I dump out half before I even begin eating them. And I know that for X number of calories, it means X amount of time in the gym.
Danny Wood tweeted the other day about something called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and I've read quite a bit about it in the last few days. I'm heading to the gym tonight and will begin my first HIIT workout. I found out information about it here:
http://www.intervaltraining.net/hiit.htmlI'm sorry I've rambled on all this time, but hopefully I've given you some insight as to how things have worked for me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm happy to help. :)
