First, you need to understand if you have to loose weight
It’s not (all) about beauty and external appearance, although we have to admit that the primary drive for losing weight is normally the desire to have a slimmer, model look like body.
I personally think that EVERY body shape is beautiful, and our perception of beauty changes a lot, especially today where something that’s in fashion now, will be totally old and boring in 3 months! Just think about the sex icon Marilyn Monroe: every woman wanted her body back in the days, but now a body like hers will be judged “fat”. What is wrong with all us??
We need to think of it on a health prospective: with overweight can come a LOT of other health problems, that will make your life miserable. Really. You imagine a day when you can’t go pick up your children at school because you have no breath to walk? Or when you have to take dozen of pills a day that should LOWER your risk of death? Don’t you understand how precious life is? We have only one! Wy waste it?
Some problems linked with overweight and obesity are: hypertension, congestive heart failure, pulmonary embolism, metabolic syndrome (called also the death syndrome or X syndrome), high cholesterol level, back and joint pain, some types of not so funny cancers like bowel cancer (do you know how have to live the bowel cancer’s patients? Scary), breast, uterin, difficulty to breath, asthma,... And the list goes on and on.
SCARY!!!
The BMI is a controversial method to estimate if you are overweight: I said controversial because it takes into account only your height and weight, and not how your weight is composed: a bodybuilder can be as heavy as a morbidly obese person, but you can understand that one is much more healthier than the other (of course if he’s not taking meds to pump up the muscles!)
BUT, this comes into consideration only if you are a strong athlete: if not, you can easily use BMI to find out if you are overweight.
To find out your BMI you just have to do: Kg / m^2 (or use this site: Calculate your BMI ), and if you score:
Underweight <18.5
Healthy Weight 18.5 - 24.9
Overweight 25 - 29.9
Obesity 30 - 34.9
Severe Obesity 35 - 39.9
Extreme obesity (omg!) > 40
So... From 24.9 you should start to get yourself together!! Now is your new star. It’s now your time to shine! Don’t let other tell you something else! Commit to a new you, a healthier you!
Start now. It takes 21 days for a new habit to become accepted from our body: just stick to it for a month, and you will be in a whole different place of being!
The 3 fundamental aspects you need to focus on in order to lose weight are:
- Dietary habits
- Physical activity
- Behavior modifications
Overweight and obesity are disease of energy imbalance. Therefore you need to understand how and when you are using that energy (your exercise) and how and when you are consuming it (as part of your daily food intake).
Dietary Habits
The principal point here is to reduce your calories intake. If you are overweight you probably are eating more than you need. Find out where!
For making this, you need to TRACK ALL what you eat. ALL. Don’t skip on it! I assure you, we usually underestimate how many calories we eat!
There are some cool app for iPhone, i like the MyFitnessPal a lot! It’s free!
The national Lung, Heart and Blood Institute recommend to start with a diet that is 500-1000 calories below your normal calories intake. Here is why you need to count your calories! This will assure you alone a goal of losing about 1-2 lb. per week.
You can reduce your calories for example:
- Reducing your portion size (use smaller plates!!)
- Eating more fruits and veggies
- Consuming more whole grains products
- Selecting leaner cuts of meat
- Drinking water or unsweetened teas instead of caloric beverages
So you see? You don’t need a strict diet! You can enjoy your favorite chocolate brownies, just eat 1 instead of 5!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines for Americans says you should have a diet rich in whole grains (Stop buying industrial and over processed food! Choose brands that are natural and healthy), vegetables, fruits, fibers (buy frozen vegetables if you don’t like to go shop for veggies all the time), try consuming fish (two serving, 8 oz, per week), decrease sodium (you will appear immediately 3 or 4 Kg leaner and toned), limit greasy, processed, fried, salty food (I know! They are good! But your brain is built to considering them good for the time of starvation: are you starving? I don’t think. So don’t listen to it!!)
In general you should assume 45-60% of calories from carbs, 20-35% from fat, and 10-35% from proteins.
Also, a daily intake of an average of 35g of fiber is important! Fibers keep you full and satisfied, they help your digestion, they give you hight quality energy!
If you find it difficult to manage your calories intake (it’s sometimes difficult and annoying to count calories) you can use meal replacements. Just make sure they are FDA approved and healthy. Their use has been shown to result in a weight loss of 7-8%!
The Low Carbs - High Protein diet
It’s an ungoin area of investigation. These diet are based on the concept that carbs are the primary food that overweight people eat, and they can lead to insulin resistance.
The South Beach, Zone, Sugar Buster diet recommend 40% of carbs in your dietary intake.
The Atkins diet only 10%.
Those diets are really effective in lowering BMI, improving heart diseases, increasing HDL, decreasing triglycerids, controlling satiety.
However, after 12 months, there is no significant difference between a low fat diet or a low carbs diet. It's the will power to stick to the diet the key of success, not really the type of diet.
High Volume Diet
This is a simple strategy to lose weight: if you increase the amount of water and fiber, you are ingesting food that is emptier of calories, but satisfies you and gives you the right amount of energy. For example, after potato chips of cheese, you have eaten a LOT of calories but you are still hungry. If you eat the same amount of fruits, veggies, whole grains, oatmeal, lean meat, you are full and you have eaten a lot less calories.
So choose you food in a smart way if you are hungry!
Very Low Calorie Diets
They can be used only for a fast but SHORT weight loss: they are not healthy!
The idea is to assume less than 800Kcal per day. I have tried it, it’s EXTREMELY hard and you will have really little to no energy, so you will perform bad at work, school, sports... But they work: you can lose 12-23 Kg in 3-6 months.
You should ALWAYS be followed by a doctor for a Very Low Calorie Diets. And I mean, real doctor. Not those improvised nutritionists!!
Physical Activity
Exercise alone can make you leaner only if your BMI is already near 23-24. If your BMI is above 24, you need to watch your diet also!
The combination of diet and exercise works really good, because while you melt the fat away, you will also tone! You don’t want giggly arms and belly, do you? Toning is ALL when we look at model-like or lean beach type of bodies. They don’t just are skinny. They are toned!
The exercise is important also because you need to maintain your new lower weight!
You should engage in 150 min per week of moderate intensity exercise or 75 of high intensity activity. You can also spread it throughout your week, but you should do a minimum of 15 min pro session.
To lose weight fast with your diet, 300 min are recommended! Choosing a program like P90X, Insanity, Brazilian Butt Lift or my beloved Blogilates is really helpful, because they usually have already a weekly program ready for you!
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| After a session of Workout my muscles always look huge! |
So... You don’t have excuses! I’m a full time med student, I work, but I still find time to workout 40min per day (not every day). Instead of watching 40 min of tv, I workout. It’s about priorities. Do you want to lose weight? You will find the time! You will find the time to be healthy!!
It’s about little things: for example, take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to school, you will burn a lot of calories just doing simple things!
And also: fitness is a journey. Start slow and build yourself into the routine! You are not expected to perform at your best or finish the entire program the first day you start. But every day, you will be able to add 5 min, or 5 reps, and in less than a month you will be able to do things you never imagined! So cool!!
Remember that if you are overweight because of a health condition (like PCOS, Cushing syndrome, and other hormonal imbalances) you need to address the underlying disease first.
Obesity related to genes is extremely rare.
In the next article I will write about how to create a balanced food lifestyle (not a diet! We don't like to "diet" here on A Model Advices!)
