how do you keep the weight off?

[Guest]

Hi

 

I was just wondering if some one could help, I can lose weight but I can't keep it off, I was 215 OUCH!! and then in about one month I went to 190 which was amazing but now three months later I am 210!! I don't get it.

I want to weigh about 160, how do I do it. I love to work out but I can't get myself to go. Inplus right now I can't even afford to go to the gym. Anybody have ideas? What do you do. I want to be in shape, I am singal now after 6 years so I need to look good to have the confidence to go out.

[agnf666]

Basically it all depends on what you are eatting and doing??? What kind of exercising are you doing? Are you eatting things that you shouldn't be if you tend to want to lose wieght?

 

You can get one of those exercise videos and do that, or you can go walking, or do crunches and things to that sort.

 

You lost 25lbs in 1 month... That is a little extreme and very unhealthy... but I must ask how did you do that?

[tikigods]

fad diets don't keep the weight off, and some people will actually gain more weight when they get off of them.

 

The best thing you can do is keep up a good exercise routine and keep eatting as healthy as possible. This doesn't mean you can't have a cookie every now and again, but this means don't eat the box of Girl scout cookies in one istting.

 

Create a food journal, and really keep track of your weight and your inches, see if you can find foods that seem to "trigger" you to gain more weight (like for me I can't eat a lot of sugars without exploding)

 

Healthy weight loss takes time, and is something that needs to be maintained, a fad diet will help in short term, but long term requires you to change your lifestyle

[MattB]

I second the food journal and the eating right. Here are a gew things to consider:

 

1. You will typically lose weight at a rate in proportion to how fast you can gain it back. So if you lose a lot of weight fast, it will come back on fast.

 

2. You need to cut calories, but plan your meals so that your body is properly fueled for it's activities. You store fat when your body isn't activly burning off the food you are eating. So eating before bed (a long sedentary time) usually results in most of those calories going towards fat. My making your meals many and small, and eating the bulk of your calories during the day and a light dinner, you will utilize the nutrition better. You don't want to starve yourself or your body will go into a panic survival mode where it will store any nutrients as fat and start to metabolize muscle tissue for fuel. Proper nutrition intake is key to losing weight. One thing that will make a big difference is to give up processed sugar and whit flour. If something has high fructose corn syrup in it, don't eat it. Stick with whole grain breads. They have whole grain breads now that taste similar to white bread if that's an issue for you.

 

3. Exercising is the only way to burn fat. You can't target areas to burn fat. So situps and crunches won't reduce fat only at your stomach. The more muscle mass you work, the more fat you burn. The biggest muscle groups you have are in your legs. That's why running is such a great fat burning exercise. It will reduce your body fat from all areas of your body. It won't come off equally, but that is determined by genetics, not by exercising.

 

4. It's important to take it easy and go slow on working out and on the losing weight. You need to condition your body to burn fat, and metabolicly speaking the faster you go the less fat your body burns. Theres a lot more to it then that, but I'll keep it simple. So basicly you are better off working out for long durations at a slow pace then for short durations at high intensity.

 

5. As for sports to pick up? The easiest and most effective would be running. Spend $80 for a quality pair of running shoes and look up one of Hal Higdon's running plans. He has some which are geared towards people who have never run a step in their life and trains them for a 5k. Having a goal, like running a particular race is a great motivator, as is having a set plan. Races are fun even if you are slow. They are a great social gathering and all the people are very supportive. The fast guys may finish first, but they will be standing along the route at the finish line cheeting everybody else on. Maybe see if you can talk some friends into picking up the plan with you, so you have people to encourage you along or find a local running club. Don't worry about your ability. As long as you have the desire and drive, staying active with a group will provide the motivation.

 

here's a page that is worth a read. It should help you with some questions

http://www.runnersworld.com/category/1,5034,s6-51-184-0-0,00.html

 

Here's a great site for nutrition logging

http://www.fitday.com/

 

I've been logging nutrition for the past few months as well as cutting out HFCS and white flour. I'm doing it as part of my training, but I find that it does really help. It only takes a few minutes a day to do.