How I Lose Weight
I’ve lost weight by eating a balanced, calorie restricted diet. I also exercise regularly and take care of myself overall. By following this plan, you can get healthy and drop pounds all at once. :)
This page is filled with information, explanations, and links.
Eating Plan
DAILY CALORIES
I eat a limited calorie diet. There are a number of ways to figure out how many calories you should eat each day… my personal favorite calculator is the About.com calorie calculator. Based on your age, weight, height, and regular daily activity level, the site will tell you how many calories you should eat each day to lose weight.
NOTE: You should re-check this number every 10-15 Lbs that you lose because as you get lighter, the equation will change.
EATING OUT AND PARTIES
When I’m faced with the situation of eating out (like at a restaurant or a party), I still try and keep my calories in check… but I allow myself to eat 500 more calories than my losing-weight calories. So for example, since my losing-weight calories are 1400/day, when I’m at a party I allow myself 1900 calories/day instead (for that one day). This way I can at least maintain my weight instead of gaining, and I still get to indulge.
Counting Calories
When the food I’m eating doesn’t come from a package with a nutrition label, I use two main websites:
Calorie-Count.com (by About.com): I love this calories database. They have almost everything, and they also grade each food (A-F, like in school) and break it down for you in pie charts.
TheDailyPlate.com (by Livestrong): This is a great supplementary site – The Daily Plate is really great for finding the calories in restaurant food and other stuff that you can’t always find at calorie-count.com.
Non-Processed Eating
As I’ve gone along losing weight, I’ve switched to eating all organic, non-processed foods. I started eating this way because I knew it was a time to make a change and get healthier than I was.
Eating all the CRAP I used to, I just felt like crap myself.
There is a load of research about how processed foods effect humans – processed food stops the body from taking care of itself like it should. The body cannot work properly on all levels with chemicals and preservatives in it… and so when eating chemicals and additives, the body gets stressed, unhappy, sick, and tired.
Within the first month of non-processed eating, I noticed a dramatic improvement in my health - specifically in my quality of sleep, general mood and clarity of mind. I started sleeping the whole night through. I craved sweets drastically less than before, felt happier overall, and finally quit smoking (something I couldn’t do before becase the cravings were enormous).
I encourage you to try eating healthier too. I have heard all the excuses and I can tell you with certainly that they’re not really worth anything. Please see the FAQ for more info on excuses against processed food.
Please keep in mind that though I now eat almost entirely non-processed, I did not make the switch overnight. It took me almost 4 months to make the switch, and I am still learning today. Start small – make one easy switch… like eating 100% whole wheat bread instead of white, or swapping your late afternoon Snickers bar with an apple and some organic chocolate. Once that one switch is easy, make another… and then another… until you are eating a much healthier diet overall.
If you’re looking for more information, I recommend two awesome books for further reading: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalie Rose.
Exercise
When most people think of exercise, they think of trudging through a workout at the gym and being miserable. Honestly, it doesn’t have to be this way! Your workouts don’t have to be horrible, unpleasant, strenuous activities at the gym… you can walk or ride your bike, play a sport where you’re moving often – something like basketball or soccer – or ski, dance, take a yoga class, whatever!
WHAT MATTERS?
All that matters for exercise – for both weight loss an heart health – is that your heart rate goes up. Anything that gets your heart beating quickly and your breathing faster and deeper is an exercise. So yes… doing the dishes, vacuuming, walking fast at the mall, dancing at the club… is all exercise.
FREQUENCY
It’s important to work out several times a week – 3 times/week is a good minimum, for at least 30 minutes per day, including warm-ups. Please remember that it’s not necessary to kill yourself at the gym for hours every day. I personally like to work out for about 30-45 minutes, 4 times/week, and then build in activities on my “off days” – like going to the park or cleaning – that will burn calories too.
WHAT I DO
I usually run (I enjoy it, most of the time anyway) for about an hour. The speed I run at is usually between 5.5 and 6.2 mph on the treadmill (still improving!), but it’s not the speed that matters… only that my heart is working fast and I am breathing deeply.
PLEASE NOTE: I did not start running at this level! I started with only a commitment to be on the treadmill for 20 minutes, 3x/week. Work up to running for the whole 20 minutes (walking when you can’t run) and then start increasing your time and pace! Baby steps :D
I bicycle (I absolutely love it) outdoors… generally for hours at a time, in the evenings or on weekends. I bike when it’s not freezing out, i.e. late spring through fall. I use Map My Run to determine how far I’ve gone on my bike rides.
In addition to the cardio of running and bicycling, I do kettlebell workouts (love them!) 3-4x/week using (currently) a 10 lb kettlebell. See more about kettlebells in the FAQ.
Other Important Stuff
WATER
It’s really important to drink water. Aside from the fact that most of your body is made up of water and that without it you would die, water helps you sleep better, makes your joints work better, and helps you LOSE WEIGHT. You need the water to flush out all the fats that you’re burning off of your body… and all the chemicals that you’re releasing as you lose weight, too.
You should drink a lot of water… I guzzle it! Here’s how you know how much to drink.
- Figure out how much you weigh.
- Divide your weight in half (your weight ÷ 2).
- That new number is X.
- Drink X ounces of water per day.
It’s really not complicated :) Example: When I weighed 200 Lbs I had to drink 100 oz of water every day.
SLEEP
It’s just really important to sleep. Sleep helps you regulate your metabolism and digestion, and keeps you energized so that you can work out regularly without exhaustion. Sleep is a rehabilitative process for the body, so while you sleep you flush out the fat that you burnt that day and repair your muscles so that they’re stronger for the next time you work out.
Sleep… does the body good.
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