my blog - trusha's thoughts : April 2013

Part 1: Make a Diet

1
Start with your diet. For fast results, you must change your eating habits. Because you want fast results, you must make some changes. However, just because you want to lose weight doesn't mean you can't eat.
- In fact, you must eat in order to lose weight. Starving yourself causes your metabolism (the mechanism that burns fat) to go into hibernation, so that it can store up energy. This means that starving yourself is actually a really bad idea. You'll do harm to your body and wonder why you're not shedding pounds, even though you haven't eaten anything.
- It goes without saying, but you also don't want to develop an eating disorder. Anorexia and Bulimia are serious conditions that need treatment. If you think you might have an eating disorder, tell someone you trust and seek help immediately. No amount of weight loss is worth jeopardizing your health.
2
Know and understand the food pyramid. Knowing how many servings of different types of food you should eat in a day is essential for healthy weight loss. You will need to eat and drink the following:
- A glass of water or green tea before and after every meal to fill you up more so you don't eat as much and the second to help digest the food faster.[1]:
- Minimum 3 servings of fruit daily.
- Minimum 4 servings of vegetables daily
- 3-7 servings of protein[2] (meat, fish, etc.) and dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.) daily
- 3-5 servings of fats[3] (nuts, peanut butter, etc.) daily
- Eat carbs sparingly. Eating carbs and sugars will make weight loss harder.
3
Make menus for yourself. Know what foods you need not to eat and make healthy menus for yourself. Here are some suggestions on what you should eat.
- Breakfast Ideas: Toast with your favourite spread; a banana (high in potassium[4]!); cereal with skimmed milk and fruit, etc.
- Lunch Ideas: It's best to bring your lunch from canteen but should be less of fat as you can become overweight by consuming it, as that's always healthier than what you can buy at any canteen/tuck shop/cafeteria. Try a sandwich on wholegrain/wholewheat/multi-grain bread (Don't use white bread - it's bleached flour and contains very little nutrients) with lean chicken, ham or butter-fried egg (using butter to fry egg instead of oil); a salad with veggies (tomato, cucumber, lettuce, etc); a glass of milk; veggies (carrot sticks, celery, etc.
- Snack Ideas: veggies and fruit; natural yogurt and berries ; a handful of nuts; veggies (like carrots, beans, snow peas) and low fat dip.
- Dinner Ideas: One idea is: 1/2 veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbohydrates. If your parents make fatty foods for dinner, only have a little and make yourself a salad as well. If you're cooking for yourself here's some easy ideas: Some brown rice ( eating more lean meat than part carbohydrates helps); scrambled eggs; if you really can't be bothered, just make yourself a sandwich or eat some fish (it's high in omega 3 which is good for your brain).
4
Follow the basic rules of healthy eating:
- Breakfast: Carbohydrates, fat, dairy
- Lunch: Veggies, protein
- Dinner: Protein, veggies, carbohydrates (small portion)
- Snacks: Fruit, veggies, dairy, protein
- For each meal, make the veggies the main part, then the protein, then the carbohydrates. There can be dairy with every meal, too.
- A serving fits in the palm of your hand
5
Drink lots of water! You should try to only drink water and unsweetened tea if you're trying to lose weight. Water is the best liquid at keeping you hydrated and even helps keep your skin clear and zit-free!
- Plus, drinking only water means that you won't drink any sugar-water or energy drinks, which can contain up to 800 calories per drink. (Just think: half your daily calories in one drink!) Water is healthy, it tastes good, and it's an essential part of keeping you trim.
- If you find yourself hungry after every meal, drink a big glass of water or green tea (unsweetened) before each meal. It'll help fill you up and doesn't contain any extra calories.
6
Have it all, but in moderation. Don't cut anything out completely. Eat everything in moderation. Eat unhealthy things like red meats once a week or once a month - you'll enjoy them more anyway!
- The only thing that you should cut out (if you'd like) is fast food (McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, etc.), sweets (chocolate, candy, chips, pop, etc.), and other junk food (soft drinks, burgers, soft serves, etc.)
- Fast food and sweets are not natural and are not healthy. Maccas soft serves are made from pig fat, KFC fries are fried in lard, and thick-shakes have pretty much no natural ingredients in them! Gross, right? It's all preservatives and additives. At the end of the day, you know what is good for you and what isn't.

Part 2: Dieting Ideas

1
Consider a low-carbohydrate (Atkins) diet. The theory is that overweight people eat too many carbohydrates. A diet rich in carbs causes the body to release insulin.^[1] The body controls the insulin by producing glucose (sugar), which eventually gets converted into fat. The low-carb diet structures your meals around proteins, soy-products, vegetables, fruits and nuts to avoid this.
- While you want to limit the amount of carbs you eat, you don't want to completely cut them out of your diet. Try to have carbs at least 20% of the time. Your body doesneed glucose in order to function, and carbs are a good source for that.
- Foods that are allowed^[2] as part of the low-carb diet:
  - Unprocessed, high-protein meats, such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey.
  - Unprocessed, high-protein fish, such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and trout.
  - Low-carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens.
  - Full-fat, unprocessed cow, goat, or sheep's milk cheeses.
  - Any artificial, non-sugar sweeteners, such as Splenda or Stevia.
- Foods that are not allowed as part of the low-carb diet:
  - Grains. No pasta, bread, cakes, or pastries.
  - Fruits and fruit juices.
  - Processed foods. These usually have added sugar in them.
  - Starchy vegetables. No potatoes, beets, or corn.
  - Sugar or margarine.
2
Consider a low-calorie diet. If you burn more calories than you take in, you'll lose weight. The low-cal diet^[3] means reducing your intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day for women. It is recommended if you want to lose no more than 2 pounds per week. It is not safe to attempt to lose more than 2 pounds per week unless under strict doctor supervision.
- Limit the amount of fat that you eat to between 35 and 60 grams per day. This means that fats should make up about 20% to 35% of your entire calories for the day.
- Aim to eat about 170 to 240 grams of complex carbohydrates like whole grains, vegetables, and fruits per day. This should make up about 45% to 65% of your entire calories for the day.
- Aim to eat about 55 to 95 grams of low-fat protein, which includes meat, poultry, and fish per day. This should account for about 15% to 25% of your total calorie intake for the day.
3
Consider a ketogenic (keto) diet. Keto diets are like low-carb diets in that you're trying to avoid eating carbohydrates by substituting fats and proteins into your diet. The difference is that Keto diets are higher in fat and lower in protein that the Atkins diet.
- Why fats instead of protein? If you eat too much protein, your body turns the excess protein into glucose, which is what you were trying to avoid in carbs in the first place. On the other hand, fats have no effect on blood sugar and insulin levels.
- Shoot to get about 70-75% of calories from fat, 20-25% from protein, and 5-10% from carbohydrates.^[4] Limit the amount of carbs you eat to between 20 and 50 grams per day.
- Since being strict about how many carbs you eat is an essential part of the keto diet, it's important to understand how to count carbs correctly. Invest in a carb counter guide and study it.

Part 3: Exercise

1
Work exercise into your lifestyle. It shouldn't be a chore! Little changes make a big difference, and will keep the weight from coming back. Walk or jog to school instead of driving. Run with your dog. Do crunches during commercial breaks on TV. Cycle with friends/family.
- Plan your week. Have 3 days where you do intense exercise like running or a spin class at the gym. The other 3 days, do low-intensity exercise like a long walk. The other day is your day off.
- Don't spend your days sitting on the couch watching TV. Get off your butt and exercise! Fast weight loss will only be achieved with diet and exercise.
2
Make your exercises last. An exercise "session" should go for about 30 minutes to an hour. You should burn around 400 calories in a high intensity workout session. If you aren't sweating while doing a high intensity workout, you're not working hard enough. You're working hard enough if you're sweating profusely, breathless (not the whole time, but a good part of the time), and when you're done you can drink lots of water with no effort because you need it that badly.
- Stretch! Always, always, always stretch before and after you exercise. It's really hard to lose weight when you're injured. Stretching also helps your growing muscles not to bunch up so you might look like a weight lifter. If you did stretch right, it would have an effect of a ballerina.
- Do some weight training. Muscles burn calories by just being there. The more muscles you have, the faster you'll lose weight.
3
Invest in sports or hobbies that burn calories. Sports are great because they tap into our competitive energy, getting us to dig deeper than we normally would have. Don't worry about what people say, or whether you're "skilled" enough to join a team; just find a group of girls doing something that you're interested in and ask if you can join. Here are some sports that are big-time calorie busters:
- Spinning/elliptical trainer. Spinning or using the elliptical burns the most^[5] calories for the average U.S. woman, who weighs 163 pounds. The average female burns 841 calories per hour spinning or doing the elliptical.
- Downhill skiing. According to the same source, downhill skiing is another great way to burn tons of calories, except skiing is generally considered fun, whereas spinning can be (wonderful, beautiful) hell. The average female burns 645-841 calories skiing per hour.
- Full-court basketball. Basketball, as we all know, requires good hand-eye coordination and the ability to run up and down the court. The average female playing basket blasts around 812 calories an hour.
- Competitive soccer. Soccer players are known for being among the most fit athletes in the world. No wonder: You're running up and down a really long field! Female soccer players burn 742 calories of grit and determination per hour.
4
Try yoga or Pilates. Deciding that you don't want to do a super-rigorous sport doesn't mean that you have no other options. Lots of girls and women prefer to do lower-intensity workouts such as yoga or Pilates. Both are good for calorie-busting, and leave you feeling refreshed and energized.
- Yoga is a series of stretching exercises that originated in ancient India. There are different kinds of yoga, each burning a different amount of calories:
  - Hatha Yoga, where the student goes through a series of gentle exercises focusing on posture and breathing, can expect to burn 175 calories per hour in an average female.^[6]
  - Vinyasa Yoga, in which poses are tougher and linked together faster, can expect to burn 445 calories per hour in an average female.
  - Bikram Yoga, where the room in which the yoga takes place is heated up to 105 degrees, burns about 635 calories in the average female.
- Pilates is a stretching and body conditioning routine that works the core. It was designed by a German in the early 20th century, and boasts over 10 million practitioners today. Pilates for beginners burns around 200 calories per hour^[7], burning more as you advance in difficulty.

EditTips

Don't eat out of boredom. Find something else to do; like exercise.
Drink water or non-sugared tea. You may also want to consider adding plain lemon, limes, or crystal light packets (artificially sweetened mixes) to water, if you do not like the taste of water.
Eat breakfast. If you're not hungry in the mornings or if it makes you feel sick, only have a little bit and build up to more after a few days. Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, and therefore your weight loss. You must eat enough to keep from going into starvation mode while turning up metabolism to lose weight.
Get very good at saying no when people (or your own appetite) offer you food that will sabotage your diet. Think of saying, "No!" as a healthier lifestyle choice. That should inspire you to take care of your body. Feed it only when needed.
Listen to your body, it can tell you what it needs (thirst=water, hunger=small snack) and when it wants you to stop packing in junk, or when you're full. Don't eat out of habit or boredom or you'll gain weight.
Weigh yourself once a week and keep track of your progress. If you weight disappoints you too much -- then you can check it the next day or two to see how weight varies from day to day.
When you crave junk food just keep your GOAL in mind!
Link exercise with relaxation. If you are stressed or feeling badly about yourself, go on a long walk or go for a swim instead of crashing and eating a high calorie, non-nutritious/fattening snack.
Try to replace soda with water, or apple juice. You can work that off very easily.
Eat 3 slim meals and 2 slim snacks "not" fattening things (or even better; 5 small/slim meals) a day to keep your metabolism in fat-burning mode.
Fitness will pay off in the long run, and it will actually make you feel much better/more satisfied than eating the bad fatty/sugary foods.
You can't lose weight off one particular spot. Doing more sit-ups will not give you a flat stomach. It will just build muscles in that area. You will lose weight off the parts of your body that you are genetically designed to lose.
Eat slowly and chew slowly. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to digest food.
Eat before you go out and don't take enough money to buy food while you're out.
Cut out the sugars (no hard/chewy candies, or chocolates pastries/cookies) to avoid your gaining the next 5 pounds.
Make a list of stuff you can do when you feel like eating but you shouldn't because you're really not hungry.
This is not a fad diet, this is a way of eating for life. Once you're at your goal weight, you can tone down the intense-exercise a tad, but don't stop or metabolism rates will fall.
Stop adding sugar and salt to your food unless it's absolutely necessary.
Don't overdo the exercising because you will get sore and won't be able to continue for a few days consecutively.
Avoid buying the problem foods. If you like sugary foods or don't really eat "healthy", don't keep a supply of such junk food. But make some changes and instead of just immediately cutting them out of your diet, eat them in smaller and smaller portions. Try to see whether you can eat small, low sugar and low fat portions, and slowly cut them out of your diet. Replace them with fresh fruits, salad, cucumber, zucchinis, carrot sticks, etc.

Consume about 1800 to 2400 calories per day, depending on how much exercise you do. Avoid starving.
Try sucking a mint, it's better than chewing gum because your stomach is full of air if you chew it.
Leave up little inspirations around your house, such as your workout room or kitchen, to remind you of your goals and to motivate you!
Buy a dress or a pair of jeans that are too small - now you have something to work towards.
Plan out your meals and snacks for the day. Don't leave a lot of room for random high-fat snacking.
Read "Chew On This" or "Fast Food Nation." You'll never eat junk food again.
To change up your exercise routine, take dance classes or teach yourself with the help of the Internet for at least an hour 3 days a week.
Get some suitable shoes for your exercise.
Go to your local thrift shop and get some 80's aerobics videos. The outfits are incredibly hilarious but the workouts are great.
Buy a calorie counter book; the ones that have all the foods and what their calories are. Counting calories can be incredibly detailed, but the book has some great information at the start of the book, or Use an online source like caloriecount.com, as an alternative to an actual book.
If you worry about your weight you should speak to your doctor for help.
Teens shouldn't have to worry about their weight unless they are overweight or obese.

EditWarnings

Weight does not all come from body fat, muscle adds in weight as well. Starving yourself will weaken your muscles and destroy/lower your metabolism, thus making you even unhealthier. Once you come to your senses, stop starving yourself, it will take a while for your metabolism to recover. Starvation means you would put on a lot of weight very easily when start eating normally for maintenance (when metabolism is lowered your body thinks it is going to die and defends itself by putting on weight at every opportunity).
Don't expect to lose more than a kilo (2.2 pounds) a week. Any more than that is unhealthy. Having said that, you might just get a lucky week and lose 3 kilos. The next week you might not lose any. Weight loss is unpredictable and very hard.
Do not get pills. Also everyone goes through a chubby phase it is just a part of growing up!
Never try to lose weight too quickly. You'll just end up regaining all the lost weight.
Puberty will cause you to gain weight, this is perfectly normal. Don't expect to look like a 12 year old when you're 15. Curves are a beautiful thing.
If you are seriously overweight, you should see a doctor. This 'lifestyle plan' is only recommended for girls wanting to lose 10-15 pounds.
Consult a doctor before starting a diet; doctors will help you to choose the appropriate diet for your situation.