Your eating habits

Question
I weigh 125 pounds. I used to weigh only 108. How can I loose 15 pounds before May 14th? What should and shouldn't I eat? I run at least 2-3 miles a day. should I keep that up or increase my activity? Please inform me of how you lost the weight.

thank you
Leia

Answer
Hi Leia

It would be great to keep up the running but don't overload your body with the running exercises.  Include other types of exercises which I will explain at the end of the email.

Here are some tips that worked for me. You may want to switch off the Atkins diet every few weeks in order to change your metabolism and speed up the weight loss.

I have lost about 80 pounds and its really all about changing your eating habits and portion sizes.

With some changes in your eating habits and exercising habits you may be surprised at the amount of weight that you can lose in a months time period. You can adverage losing about 2 pounds each week safely so it won't take long to lose the weight.

You can make some adjustments in the foods you are eating but don't try to diet. Just make different food choices.

Don't skip meals. Eat three meals a day and even allow yourself to have snacks. Just choose your foods wisely. Eat plenty of fruits and veggies. Don't try to eliminate all fat. Your body needs some fat, or it will start to make more.

Be sure you get enough calcium by drinking skim milk or calcium-fortified orange juice. Drink at least 32 ounces of water each day. This helps to decrease your appetite and is good for your skin and hair.

Also, be careful not to lose weight too quickly. Don't lose more than one pound per week, and don't be discouraged if you don't see results quickly.

1. Stretch your meals to, at least, 20 minutes or longer. Your stomach, mouth and brain are all connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals your brain that you are full. To successfully lose weight, you need to eat slowly for 20 minutes or longer.

2. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is important to your health, your normal diet and to help lose weight. Water is necessary for the metabolism of your stored fat.

3. Make good food choices such as baked chicken, turkey, fish, tuna fish, lean ham, steak, lean beef or hamburger, veggies prepared without butter, brown rice, white rice, fruits--fresh or canned without extra sugar, low calorie jello, fat free yogurts, salads with low calorie and low fat dressings, air-popped popcorn, fat free pretzels, fruit smoothies made with yogurt, pasta in 2 oz servings.

4. Use snack foods wisely. Here are some suggestions for low calorie snacks. Fat free pretzels, fat free yogurt, air popped popcorn, low calorie jello with fat free cool whip, fruit smoothies made with fresh fruit and frozen yogurt, frozen grapes, sugar free popsicles.

5. When you go fat free or low fat, you also cut out much of the taste of the foods you eat. Add the flavor back with herbs and spices.

6. Increase your metabolism by including some of the fat burning foods and breaking your meals into 4 or 5 smaller meals during the day. Include some Catabolic or Negative calorie foods. I have listings of these foods if they would help you out.

7. Negative emotions will also interfere with your weight loss program. It's difficult to stay motivated to lose weight when you feel bad.

8. To lose weight faster, reduce your intake of caffeine. Caffeine leads to an increase of insulin in your body that retards the burning of your stored fat.This is a simple chemical reaction in your body that you can change. Reduce your caffeine intake by 50% and see what happens. Here is a rough guide to use when looking at the amount of caffeine you currently take in: Brewed coffee (6 oz. cup) - 100mg; Instant coffee (6 oz.) - 70mg; Tea (6 oz.) - 50mg; Soft drinks (12oz.) - (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew) - 50mg; Dark chocolate (1 oz.) - 20mg and Milk chocolate (1 oz.) - 6mg.

9. Incease your intake of fiber rich foods. They will help fill you up faster and will help all the food you eat pass through your digestive system more easily.

10. Exercise is probably the most important key to increasing your metabolism and burning off excess fat.

11. To lose weight quickly, never skip a meal. Your first meal after waking starts your metabolism. Your metabolism then speeds up for about eight hours and then starts slowing down until you go to sleep when it goes to low until you wake and eat and start the cycle again. Skip breakfast and your metabolism doesn't get started until lunch time. You've just missed three or four hours of fat burning time. When you skip meals during the day, your metabolism also slows down.

12. There are certain things that should be avoided when trying to lose weight such as--all fried foods--have them baked, broiled, grilled or pan fried using a non fat spray. Avoid rich gravies, sauces,rich desserts, sodas because of the sodium content.

13. Try including some fiber in the diet as it is very healthy for you and also expands in your stomach and gives you a full feeling.

14. Make sure that you have your caloric needs figured out and also keep the fat grams down to only 20 percent of the daily food total.

This is the best way to burn fat and stay healthy.  Your program should consist of a combination of resistance exercise (weight training) and cardiovascular exercise (aerobic).  One or the other won't usually be enough for long term fat loss.       

As stated above, the body likes to burn muscle before it burns fat. Weight training forces your body to conserve and build muscle, thus preserving it.  If you weight train, your body will not burn muscle tissue for energy!  Now your body just has 2 things to burn:  glycogen and fat.  

How do we get the body to burn the fat?   Aerobic exercise!  This consists of any low to moderate intensity, long duration activity.   Cycling, jogging, rowing, dancing, stepping(stair climbing) are all aerobic activities.  These burn primarily fat, after the glycogen is used up.    How do we use the glycogen up?  This is where the weight training comes in.  The trick is to do your weight (anaerobic) workout first, which burns most or all of your glycogen, then do your aerobic exercise!   The body then has nothing left to burn but fat (remember, it won't burn the muscles because it needs them for the weight training).
 
You can still burn fat from cardio without weight training first, but it takes the first 15-20 minutes to burn off the glycogen before it even starts to burn fat.   This glycogen is put to much better use to power a weight session and cuts the duration of your cardio by 20 minutes.   Since you're weight training anyway it makes sense to add just 15 - 20 minutes of aerobic exercise after your workout.    To put it simply:   Do an intense weight workout for about 45 minutes and proceed immediately to your aerobic activity (cycling, Stairmaster etc.) for at least 20 minutes.  This will supercharge your body and keep it in the "fat burning mode" for several hours after (your body can't easily store fat while it's burning fat).  You can sip a carbohydrate drink as you do the aerobics, and have a high protein meal or shake within one hour of completion.  Be sure to drink lots of water throughout.   Do this 4 times per week for maximum benefit.  

If you need added information--let me know.


Take Care
Jackie  

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