My plan to lose fat. Opinions wanted.

[onetwothreefour]

I'm confused, probably because I am not so well versed in the world of getting in shape, which I should be. Do you plan to eat that percentage of macronutrients each day? I could see how you could approximate that, or you could emphasize carbs over protein for example, but I don't understand how you could arrive at such specific numbers.

Your plan sounds complicated to me. From what I've always heard, it's move more and eat less! But whatever works for you!

 

[andy12]

A few pointers:

1. The key is eating unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Processed foods are calorie dense and nutrient empty (or they're sprinkled with fake vitamins). So make your own food. (Allrecipes.com has good recipes, although not all are from scratch. I gained 50 pounds in college and have dropped back thanks to this week's lasagna and yam soup.)

2. So take for example a bottle of Coke (20 oz) and 4 cups of raspberries. They both have the same calories, but because the Coke is water and sugar, it'll be be absorbed quicker and your body will probably not be able to use it so it'll turn to fat. Fruits, like raspberries, have fiber so you feel filled up (less calories overall) and the energy will slowly get used up without turning to fat. So snack on fruits or vegetables, forget chips and soft drinks.

3. As far as working out, eh. For most people, gyms get boring and they fall back into old habits. If you genuinely like getting sweaty (I do although I do sports instead of a gym), go ahead. But you need to start something you can stick to for the rest of your life. To get your metabolism going (especially if you're sleepy in the morning), go for a brisk 30 minute walk in the morning. Take another after dinner. Best part is that walks are free and the scenery is more exciting than a sterile gym.

I recommend reading Food Rules: An Eater's Manual or In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto both by Michael Pollan. They're not diet books per se, but that's the point: you have to change your lifestyle and in such a way that you can keep yourself on it.

 

[InkOfTruth]

I recommend reading Food Rules: An Eater's Manual or In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto both by Michael Pollan. They're not diet books per se, but that's the point: you have to change your lifestyle and in such a way that you can keep yourself on it.

Michael Pollan revolutionized my view, and consumption, of food. Every time I pick up something to eat now, I find myself immediately reading it's nutrition label to see what was used to make it.

 

[Ram]

Stop refined carbohydrates (replace white bread with better alternatives) and go back to fats.

 

[andy12]

Michael Pollan revolutionized my view, and consumption, of food. Every time I pick up something to eat now, I find myself immediately reading it's nutrition label to see what was used to make it.

I try to be more radical. Real food doesn't need labels. So if it has a nutrition label, it's probably not food anyways.

 

[rareboy]

I would try to see if you could reduce to 1750 calories per day by consuming more low fat and low carb stuff and then still try to burn off 500 calories per day with exercise.

I dropped about 30 pounds this way to get back to optimum weight.

 

[Alistair]

You might be interested in a diet I used from Prevention Magazine.It's very close to what you have already described. It was developed by dieticians and nutritionists. I lost 40 pounds using it. It's called the Flat Belly Diet It comes with a detailed menu and shopping lists. It gives you all the information on what you need to change in your diet and lifestyle to improve your health.

You can get a paperback book, or hardback (i'd recommend the paperback) You can also buy several recipe books that give you many 400 calorie meals that follow the diet. I've seen the books everywhere from bookstores to walmart.

My doctor was very impressed with the results I got from it. I found the shopping list priceless. It was so easy to keep on the diet.

 

[KaraBulut]

After much consideration, I am going with a 1850 calorie plan. I know some people say this is too little but most health experts say you are good as long as you dont go under 1800 calories.

That's not too austere if you're getting your calories from low-glycemic, high protein foods.

You might also want to decrease intake over a period of time instead of going on a crash diet (which will leave you tired, hungry and irritable).

The important thing is that if you're going to calorie restrict, you will need to exercise daily to maintain BMR. Otherwise, you will rebound when you return to a more normal diet.

 

[tex554]

exercise 5 days a week (do both weights and cardio)

eat three small meals with breakfast your biggest meal

get 7 to 9 hours of sleep

drink alot of water


stay away from drinking alhohol and drinks that have alot of sugar

good luck!

 

[lostnfound]

Fat loss is primarily a function of diet.

You could run all the miles you wanted, lift as much as possible, but if you're still eating a terrible diet, then your results could be minimal.

First, you are a 230lb man, so why have you chosen to eat only 2000 calories? Yes, fat loss requires eating fewer calories, but for a man of your size, 2000 calories is almost like crash dieting. To figure out how many cals you need to consume:

BMR (basil metabolic rate) = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Then take that number and multiply it by one of the following activity levels:

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Then subtract 500-750 calories from that number to get your target amount of calories.

From my estimation, you will probably need to consume around 2,500-2,800 calories.

Yes, you can go ahead and eat 2000 calories, but realize you will lose fat at a rate so fast, that your skin will not catch up (resulting in loose skin). Also, you will possibly burn out and plateau sooner than you'd like.

Diet should have a good amount of lean protein (my golden rule is to consume at least 1g of protein per 1lb of lean body weight. Like others have said, avoid processed foods and go for real, whole foods, that you cook yourself.

Exercise: mix-up your cardio--don't expect to lose fat effectively if you're planning to jog the same # of miles every day, for months and months. Change the distance, change the intensity, and change the activity (treadmill, jump rope, swimming, bike, etc.)

Find a good weight-lifting routine. Skip the bicep-curls--you want to workout the biggest muscles of your body to burn more calories (legs, back, chest).

Good luck.

 

[AverageJoe]

You won't likely lose 2.5-3 lbs on your plan. Chances are you'll burn less than 3,000 kCal/day, and you'll eat 2300+. Expect to lose 1-1.5lbs/week at most.

General rule: You're always eating more and burning fewer calories than you think you are.

If you just want to lose weight, skip the exercise, and just eat less. Any exercise you do is just a bonus. Too much, and it'll increase your appetite. No sense in trying to adopt too many new habits at once.

Easiest way to lose weight: Eat exactly like normal but throw away 1/4 of the food on your plate. Don't feel guilty about wasting food either. (Eating it does not help anyone; if you're worried about world hunger, ship a bag of rice over to Ethiopia...)

 

[dangermouse]

Seconding the "diet is more important than exercise" statements. The best way is to look at your average Snickers bar (or whatever other delicious chocolatey bar you like) that's about 270 calories, and would take me maybe, 5 minutes to eat. To burn those calories would take about half an hour of exercise in the gym.

However, exercise is still a really powerful tool in your weight loss repetoire. It's important to remember that not only are you burning calories there and then, but exercise increases your metabolic rate for hours afterwards, particular doing weights. Also, increasing your muscle mass will increase the amount of calories you burn even while sedentary, so your body is working for you.

 

[moniker]

Lose weight gradually so you don't eat differently; 2000 calories seems a bit low. Don't get on a program that is so boring that you can never maintain it.