Lose 5 pounds

Losing a pound a week is considered healthy when targeting weight loss.

Here is a healthy way to lose that pound a week! The plan below is assuming that you would like to at least lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks. As with any diet, exercise, or anything that has to do with your health, always make sure you ask your primary care physician if it is right for you in order to have healthy and effective results. Good luck!

STEPS

1. If you aren’t active you may be consuming more calories than you need, leading to obesity and poor health! As a general rule, a non-active person requires 12 calories per pound per day, in order to just “maintain their current weight”. For example, a 150-pound person who is not active would require 1800 calories per day to maintain their weight. You only need to consume the amount of calories necessary to maintain a healthy weight. Calculate your desired weight and multiply by 12. That is your target daily intake of your weight loss goal. Then begin to restrict calories moderately. Start by decreasing your intake by 200 calories the first week.

Did you know that if something has less than 5 calories per serving, then it is legally allowable to be labeled as having “0 calories”? An example is Sweet ‘N’ Low, an artificial sweetener, which contains 4 calories per packet, but can legally be labeled as having 0 calories. And the dextrose used as a carrier for the saccharin contains a gram of carbohydrates (listed on the label.) Take a quick scan on your labels and the actual ingredient list to get an idea of where you are at in your daily calorie goal.

Continue to faithfully and gradually decrease calorie intake each week, until you are closer to the caloric intake that your body actually needs instead of what it got used to.

Generally, at the end of the 5 weeks, the average dieter is consuming 500 calories less per day than was normal practice before the need for dieting!

Never consume less than 1200 calories per day and never decrease your existing calorie intake by greater than 550 per day. Remember: you need to gradually decrease calories towards your goal. Otherwise, your body’s reaction will be to go into “starvation” mode, causing your metabolism to slow down and to hang on to every possible calories and fat for fuel storage in order to preserve itself.

-There are two things the body requires that have no calories: water and fiber. Vegetables contain both!

The more fiber and water that you consume, the better for you and your weight loss goals.

2. Eat five to six small meals per day, spaced about two to three hours apart. You will need to consider how to schedule this according to your daily activities. Remember that if you eat before you get hungry, you don’t need to consume as much. If you wait until you feel hungry, you will actually think you need more than do you and end up eating more than you actually need.

3. Read the ingredients on your cans and jars and choose foods with the ingredients that are conducive to your weight loss goal, and generally just good for your health overall.

Sugar is addictive and causes cravings for additional food and sugar. This is one reason why many fast foods, and some canned foods at our supermarkets, are loaded up with sugar: we become addicted and buy it. The reason sugar is addictive is that our brains operate on carbohydrates, and sugar is one of the fastest ways to get carbs to the brain. This fast method causes a quick flood of carbs to the brain and gives a quick rush (”also known as a sugar high”). It is then followed by a “crash” when the body produces insulin to combat the high blood sugar. The rush becomes an addiction even at perceived smaller levels, tricking us into thinking we need it to function. Thus, we become dependent on it. In truth it causes less function and more harm than “good”.

However, moderate levels of sugar combined with fiber, like in whole fruits, it is metabolized more adequately, which does provide the functioning we need –and its healthier.

Almost any ingredient that ends in the mysterious “-ose” (dextrose, sucrose, etc.) is a kind of sugar. Honey and syrups are also sugars, as is sucrose (table sugar made from sugar cane or sugar beets) and fructose.

Honey, maple syrup, and fructose (sugar from fruit) is better weight and health choices for “sugar”.

The body metabolizes fructose less quickly, which is a much better for weight and health maintenance. Maple syrup also contains calcium and iron, so it is also more nutritional.

Steer clear of synthetic sweeteners! If there are more than 2 ingredients needed to “make the sweetener”, then it most likely contains too many chemicals that, either individually, or in combination with other ingredients, are bad for you.

Say no to foods that list hydrogenated oils, even “partially hydrogenated oils”, in the ingredients. Hydrogenated oil contains trans-fatty acids, which is even worse for your health than saturated fat!

It is still legally allowed in the U.S. to say one’s products contain 0 grams of trans fat as long as “one serving contains fewer than half a gram of trans fat”. And anything with less than half a gram of fat can also be labeled as “fat-free.” So, check the actual ingredient label, no matter what the front of the package says. And ensure that your food is completely trans fat free.

The “0 gram” labeling rule applies not only to trans fats, but also to carbohydrates and total fats as well.

Steer clear of bad fats but don’t eliminate fat (or carbs for that matter).

Healthy fats, such as mono-unsaturated fat (predominant in olive oil), and foods which contain naturally high amounts of fatty acids such as Omega-3, are perfectly acceptable.

Substitute fatty or sugary foods with an increase in fruit and veggies (fatty or sugary foods add weight gain, fruit and vegetables increase health and contain the fiber and vitamins that satisfy needs and cravings helping you to feel “full”.)

1. Get your daily percentages of calories by utilizing the following needed portions in your daily intake: 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat.

Include:

· one lean source of protein,

· one serving of complex carbohydrates,

· and two to three servings of vegetables and fruit at each meal.

Note: Food cravings are often strongest in the late afternoon, or very late at night. Here are a few suggestions for craving times: Adjust your meals towards a practical schedule and avoid staying up late at night. Sipping water or having a light, low calorie snack like fruits or veggies is a great, healthy way to satisfy hunger when you get cravings. You can also resist food cravings by chewing gum, brushing your teeth with a strong mint toothpaste, by exercising, or have a peppermint (peppermints reduce hunger)! Remember, when you get cravings this is because usually you are burning fat!

5.Don’t think that just trying to consume less -will help you lose more: It won’t. You have to burn 3500 extra calories or consume 3500 fewer calories to lose one pound. The solution here is to find a healthy medium and realize how essential exercise is in order to lose weight and keep it off. Exercise by walking 30-45 minutes every day. Try to pick hills or inclines for moderate resistance. Do not use ankle weights, as this has now been discovered as one of the leading cause of orthopedic injury. If thirty to forty five minutes a day seems to truly cut into your schedule too much, you can also jog instead for twenty to thirty minutes instead (although walking inclines provides more conditioning!).

Don’t become addicted to the scale; focus instead on feeling healthier in losing weight. How you feel about how you look is more supportive of your goal.

When is the best time to exercise? Although certain times are claimed to “aid sleep” or “kick-start” the day or work better for some people, research shows that late afternoon, usually around 4 p.m. or 5 p.m., is consistently the most effective time to exercise.

The reason for this is that late afternoon is when our body temperature is at its highest. Body temperature is at its lowest just before waking. Strength and endurance is also at its highest then, and injuries occur less often as well. However, even though afternoon exercise might be optimal from a physiological standpoint, research also shows that morning exercisers are more likely to stick to it than late-day athletes, and the most important thing in an effective exercise program is consistency. Invariably, the time to exercise depends on which time you think will be your greatest asset. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/WhenToExercise.htm

Plan out a fun exercise timetable. One of the reasons why so many of us do not have time to exercise is because we do not “allow” for it.

Make one and show it to your friends, so as to reinforce the idea and your commitment in it. If you are someone who is always “backing out at the last minute”, ask a friend to exercise with you -or be your trainer! This will make you feel responsible to show up for exercising.