1.) Clean house. Discard or give away every unhealthy food item in your living space. You know what you shouldn't be eating! Bring all the candy and chocolates to work and chuck those sugary popsicles. This wasn't an overnight process. It took about a week for my fridge to look like this..
2.) You will not lose weight unless you cut calories! For me this is the "fastest" method to see results, which is the biggest motivator of all. Once you see yourself shrinking, you will want to switch over to other methods of not just weight, but fat, loss to be skinny fit. a. Determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This tells you how many calories you burn per day by just being alive and also with your level of activity. For example, I am 5'4 at started at 136 lbs. My BMR is 1415 and my daily calorie need is 1698 with sedentary activity.
b. Generally, one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. If you burn 3500 calories, you will lose one pound. I wanted to lose at minimum one pound (or 3500 kcal) every week. 3500 kcal / 7 days = cutting 500 kcal per day. Therefore, TDEE - calories to cut = daily calorie limit. (For me,1698-500=1198) However, along with exercise, some weeks, I lost more than one pound.
c. Record everything with My Fitness Pal or a similar application or just use paper. (See Progress section for more details.)
d. Start eating healthy and cut your cravings for unhealthy foods. Try eliminating, from your diet, one "bad" food you absolutely love every 2 weeks. Tell yourself, "I do not eat ______." Like, if you eat a muffin for breakfast everyday, replace it with oatmeal for 2 weeks. If you have a bottle of beer for dinner everyday, replace it with water.
3.) Exercise. Do not just cut calories! I started with only cardio (running) because I shied away from weights. When counting calories, do not subtract the calories you burned at the gym from your daily intake. If you consumed 2000 calories and worked off 400 calories at the gym, it does not mean you can record only 1600 calories for that day. Instead, drink a protein shake and eat a banana (about 250 kcal) after your workout to replenish your muscles.
4.) Let everyone know you are losing weight and get a support system. People close to you will keep you in check. They will constantly ask you, "How is the diet going?" Or even better, go on the weight loss journey with someone. My roommates are also on diets and extremely supportive - otherwise, our current fridge contents would not fly.
No comments:
Post a Comment