The number 1 thing to remember is that diets NEVER work. Don't even try them. Chuck out the quick fixes cause they will not work and will only make it harder to lose the weight at the end of the day.
To lose weight, it's all about lifestyle change.
So set up weekly plans of what you're going to eat and stick to it. This doesn't mean absolutely everything has to be super duper healthy, just try and be healthy and eat small portions more regularly and snack in-between meals with healthy snacks. And never, EVER skip breakfast! This is the one sure way to fail to lose weight as breakfast literally means breaking the fast. You've slept all night and haven't eaten since your last meal the night before. If you don't eat a healthy breakfast, your body becomes very hungry and that's when you start to crave high fat and sugary foods because your body needs energy and it needs it fast, so you are drawn to the bad foods.
If you go to a site like
freedieting.com you can get a calculator for what your calorie intake should be based on age, weight, height and exercise levels. That site also gives you some meal plans for different calorie intake ranges. You'll also notice that they suggest you eat 5 times a day, try and stick to this. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. And try and eat every 3 or so hours. Keep it to smaller portions more times a day and this will kick start your metabolism. A typical day could be as simple as the following:
- Healthy cereal
- Cup of no/low fat yoghurt and an apple
- Chicken wrap
- Protein shake
- Fish and veg
But when you make that eating plan, absolutely do put in cheat days. If you love a take out, put it in there as a once every 2 weeks or a once a month treat. You're trying to make a lifestyle change so you absolutely cannot cut out things you love, just reduce them. If you like chocolate, then put some chocolate in there, just in moderation. And if possible, switch to dark chocolate as that's actually pretty darn good for you.
The other thing to remember is there's loads of ways to make things you love healthier. I love burgers and still eat them, but when I do, I make them myself from scratch using quality beef mince, and not some crappy parts, frozen burger from the supermarket. And turkey/chicken burgers from turkey/chicken mince is both delicious and healthy. I love pizza so I make mini pizzas using English muffins, pizza sauce, mozzarella and a little bit of salami or chicken. I don't even see my own burgers or pizzas as being only half way there or crappy healthy options, I much prefer one of my burgers over a McDonalds mushy thing. It tastes MILES better and knowing it's not all that bad for me just makes it taste even better!
Also, a big and easy one that will make a big difference: if you drink pop/soda, stop! Just stop. I don't even recommend gradually weaning yourself off them, just stop. They're just no good for you at all and they were my worst addiction. I had a point where all I wanted to drink was soda and nothing but. But now, unless I'm out with friends at a bar (I don't drink alcohol) I never touch the stuff! Water all the way! If you live somewhere where water is clean, just drink water. Anything you add to water is just empty calories and water is all your body needs, except post STRENUOUS exercise - we're talking athlete level - where electrolytes are needed to bring restoration. I don't even miss pop, I drink nothing but water at least 29 days of the month! Also, when drinking pop/soda, when you get to the point where you're only drinking it as a treat, drink full soda, not diet. Diet is actually really, really bad for you! It's only really advised if you're trying to lose weight and can't get over a soda addiction. But I cannot stress enough, if you're not addicted to soda, leave diet sodas alone!
Now exercise: it's important but it's 80% diet, 20% exercise. So the focus is on diet, not exercise and that's a problem LOTS of people make. I work out really hard. I train 6 times a week and double up on the weekends. I work out to athlete levels and I can tell you from experience that during a recovery week I can lose or maintain weight, I never gain. But if I eat badly for a week, even with strenuous workouts, I tend to gain.
And in saying that too, exercise doesn't need to be a lot. Going for a 30min walk on top of regular activities will do you a lot of good. People get put off losing weight because workouts can be too hard and there's that one day they don't bother working out and then the next day they wonder if they should even bother because they already missed a day...and so the viscous cycle goes. That's what happens with diets too which is why I stress the idea of lifestyle change with cheat days worked in so there's less likelihood to fail. Having a takeout isn't a failure, it's a cheat day. If you struggle to commit to hard workouts, don't do them! Just go out for long walks, or jump on your bike and cycle a few blocks. Or go for a swim at your local pool. Losing weight doesn't mean doing things as crazy as those folk on 'Biggest Loser' because that's the worst diet you can do! The best way to lose weight is to aim to only lose about 1-2 lbs a week. That way you are keeping it a gradual but consistent weight loss and losing fat in the best possible way that keeps it off. Remember, no one gets fat overnight, it takes time to gradually build up. So why aim to lose it all in an instant. It didn't get there quickly so it won't disappear quickly.
Building muscle first to lose weight is totally backwards though. Again: exercise is only 20% of losing weight, it's 80% diet!
But even light exercise will work muscles. I can't swim because I have ear problems and I'm jealous of anyone who can get in a pool because that is a fantastic workout, especially for people who are overweight as it works a LOT of muscles while the water takes away weight bearing strain on the body. If you can start working muscle, while combining it with a good diet where you're eating smaller amounts more regularly, it's that that's going to boost your metabolism. Muscles are the key for metabolism and eating often will stop your body going into starvation mode where it starts to panic at not having food and holds onto fat, not allowing it to go for fear it won't get the food and nutrition it needs. Your body then starts getting used to having food input more regularly and those starvation modes are held at bay and your metabolism speeds up to cope with having food more often, even if it is less.
As for genetics, genetics don't really make it harder to lose weight unless you have 2 specific and rare mutations. Genetics only give you a predisposition to put on weight. Not everyone who has this is overweight and not everyone who doesn't have it is skinny. So my advice to any "It's in the genetics" individual is to just throw that idea out your head now because it's just one more excuse you don't need to stop you trying when the going gets tough, and trust me, enough of those excuses will present themselves! Maybe genetics got you to where you are, but it's not stopping you from being physically able to lose weight.
I say get back into it and really really focus on the diet before worrying about exercise. You CAN lose weight without exercise, it's a myth that you need exercise to lose weight. But, it's advisable to do exercise to improve metabolism and speed up weight loss as well as actually make you fit and healthy. Diet can't make you physically fit so it leaves you open to cardiovascular problems.
As for exercise, the ultimate combination would be cardio and potentially endurance training with some strength training (weight lifting). When it comes to weight lifting, if you're going for cardio, you do lower weight, high reps. If you're going for pure muscle building, go for higher weight, less reps. I also recommend some Yoga or at least good stretching in-between to keep everything nice and stretched out. The warm up and cool down are absolutely vital aspects of training and should never be missed out. But again, focus on the diet for now and just build up the exercising for now. It would be far better to stick with a lifestyle change and only do a little extra walking than go into it and find workouts too much hard work, especially on top of preparing all the meals a day you need to organise now
.
