Exercising and Weight Loss Tips

[Mike McC]

Well, seing as how the new year is still brand spanking new, and several of us have vowed to improve our general health, I figured it would be prudent to introduce a thread to help aid our endeavours via the public pooling of knowledge.

I, for one, have no idea what sorts of excersizes are best suited for weight loss. Outside of jogging, that is. Any input would be appreciated.

As for a more dietary solution to weight loss, I do have a couple of suggestions.

• Stop drinking soda. This sounds obvious, but it takes a lot of work to drop soda for some. Drink things like water or tea or juices (in moderation).
• Try to avoid high fructose corn syrup and sugar. Again, sounds obvious, but really, if you look at food labels, some things have obscene amounts of sugar in them, even things that aren't sweet. Note that more natural sources of sweetness, like cane sugar or honey don't have the same effect.

[bluestarultor]

Wow. Been a while since I thought of this, but food bracelets.

Basically, if you're like me (young, wanting to maintain health and not gain fat), yours should look roughly like this:

&OO *OOOOOO * O* O* O *O *O *oooooooo *OOO *OOO *&

In order, daily, two servings of meat, up to six servings of bread max, one serving each of blue/purple, white/brown, green, yellow/orange, and red fruit or veggies under the Five A Day Plan, 8 glasses of water, 3 servings of dairy, and up to 3 servings max of fats and oils.

Strikethrough represents a lanyard cord, stars represent knots, the ampersands represent where it's tied together. Big Os are normal faceted beads in the colors shown, plastic works fine, small Os are small faceted beads to save space.

Keep in mind the stuff you have to eat and the stuff that's a limit and move over a bead for each serving of it you eat until you max out.

[Jagos]

... Food Bracelets?

Forgive me, I've never heard of those before...

[Mike McC]

I dunno about the concept of the food bracelet. From what I've found, everyone seems to have different dietary needs, and generalizing them might work well for some but not as well for others.

[Odjn]

Well, I would avoid most meats. Stick to chicken and fish, turkey and duck are okay-ish but not as good. Vegetables and fruits are your friend- a good snack of blueberries is somewhere about 1/10th the calories of even a few potato chips and is very delicious.

As for eating habits, when you have a snack, don't do anything else, and don't eat out of the box/bag. It's easier to eat more when when you're distracted, and even easier when you have so much nearby. "Just a little more" is something you want to avoid.

Dessert is a lot of bad calories. Try to dump it if it isn't fruit or vegetables.

Smoothies are delicious, filling, and if you use the right ingredients very healthy. I would say cheat a little bit and replace plain yogurt with frozen yogurt or even a low fat vanilla ice cream.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Mike McC

I dunno about the concept of the food bracelet. From what I've found, everyone seems to have different dietary needs, and generalizing them might work well for some but not as well for others.

Well, that's why I said that particular one was for people like me. Obviously, some research is involved in making your own.

[Mirai Gen]

One of the things I found out is that it's exceedingly easy to quit soda if you start drinking tea and scale yourself back to water. There's this Smart Water stuff I don't know if you've tried but it's really good water and it made me more capable of quitting soda.

[Corel]

Originally Posted by Odjn

Well, I would avoid most meats. Stick to chicken and fish, turkey and duck are okay-ish but not as good.

Correctemondo! You will want to stick to lean meats, as above.

The first thing you will want to do Mike McC is decide in a diet/regime that you will stick to. There's no point not eating a whole lot of food then two weeks later you have a hunger attack and you'll be back to square one.

There are lots and lots of different types of dieting out there, how much weight are you wanting to lose? Why do you want to lose weight? Do you not want to lose weight, but in fact look better?

Also for some more personal stuff which you don't have to answer. How much do you weigh at the moment? How tall are you? How active are you on a weekly basis? What body type would you say you had from this list?

Exercising is important, however dieting is your foundation in weight lost, after all it's the stuff you put into your body! A number of things you could do are.

• Make a daily food log of what you're eating. You may be surprised how much crap you will put into your system without realising it.
  
• Stick to around 6 smaller meals a day compared to 3 larger ones a day; this will force your body to not stockpile for when you get hungry, allowing you to kick start your metabolism.
  
• I mentioned this in Dante_Must_Die's thread, but if you're going to do a specific cardio do something you enjoy. Any sport or even weight lifting is a form of exercise.
  
• Don't expect results over night, your body converts your fat layers starting from your core, and the outside last, meaning the places such as the thighs, love handles and stomach are the last effected.
  
• Reiterated; Don't starve yourself as it will backfire on you and it's just plain unhealthy.
  
• And as I said above somewhat, it really should be a life style change to wanting to lose weight and not just an over night thing. You'll go through tough periods, but do not fret!

I'll post a large list of food types that you will want to want to focus and balance on, and what foods that are deemed as healthy, and I'll write a mega post like I did a while ago with some more precise tips for yourself.

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by Mirai Gen

One of the things I found out is that it's exceedingly easy to quit soda if you start drinking tea and scale yourself back to water. There's this Smart Water stuff I don't know if you've tried but it's really good water and it made me more capable of quitting soda.

I'm not personally a fan of the Vitamin waters nor the Smart Waters. We, as Americans, aren't necessarily vitamin deficient. As well, it's distilled water with additional herbs and supplements. I'd say moderation is key since too much is hazardous (note: you can't absorb it all if you already have a healthy diet) whereas water you can't really go wrong.

[Kim]

Try and only eat once a day, and when you do eat, eat a lot then throw it up...

Okay, but seriously, one thing I'd recommend would be more and smaller meals. Basically. eating the same amount of food, but rather than a big breakfast, a big lunch, and a big dinner, instead do a small breakfast, a small brunch, a small lunch, a small afternoon snack, a small dinner, and a small late night snack. This is, of course, assuming I don't have it all bass-ackwards, which I very well might. Mostly, someone gave me the opposite of this advice when I was trying to gain weight a few years back.