For Girls Looking to Shed a Pound or Two
Long story short, in 2008 I lost over 55 lbs and I figured I would share the little tricks that worked for me and hope that if you have some you’ll share and post em too =) I've been able to maintain 45/55 pounds which is why I still post about wanting to lose more weight but you have to admit... 10 pounds over the course of 2 years is not bad at all ![]()
JUST A SIDE NOTE: I am NOT a nutritionist or personal trainer, you DO NOT HAVE to follow this advice in order to lose weight. There are plenty of other options and everyone knows that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for the next. If for whatever reason you do not agree with what I am saying that is totally fine! I am just sharing the few tips and tricks that worked for me, that’s all =) (These are things that I learned from research, experiences, classes, and nutritionists)
Here it goes:
1. You’ve heard it a million times before but: DRINK WATER! A safe bet is to convert your weight into ounces: so you weigh 160 lbs that’s 160 ounces, halve that: so 80 ounces… that’s how many ounces of water you need to drink simply to replenish yourself. If you drink a little more then that’s really going to help detoxify and quench the thirst of your body.
(fyi: 80 ounces = 10 cups. 1 liter is roughly 4 cups. So if you get a big water bottle, like aquafina or fiji and it says 1L on it you have about 4 cups and should drink at least two of those bottles)
2. 1 pound = 3500 calories. If you do a search for your Basal Metabolic Rate you can get a rough estimate of how many calories you burn on a daily basis based on your day-to-day activities. For example: my BMR is around 2100. So everyday regardless of what I am doing, whether it’s working, eating, showering, sleeping etc, I burn 2100 calories.
The trick is to either ingest less than your BMR or work out enough to increase the BMR to more than your caloric intake. Lets do it by a week:
If I burn 2100 cals per day that’s 14,700 calories BURNED per week by not doing anything at all. Your safest bet is to lose 1-2 pounds per week to really be able to maintain it and do it in a healthy way. Since 1 pound = 3500 calories, 2 pounds per week will be 7,000. So my week’s total minus the 2 pounds: 14,7000-7,000=7,700. Now divide that number by the 7 days in a week: 7,700/7=1,100.
That number is how many calories I need to stay under PER DAY in order to lose the TWO pounds. (keep in mind those are MY numbers used as an example… make sure you find out a rough estimate of your own BMR. And you can eat more if you only want to lose ONE pound per week)
Another great thing about doing it by counting calories is, if you work out and burn say 200 calories (while doing cardio for example) you can the freedom of eating those calories in a different way and still maintaining the max number of calories you can have per day. Woohoo!
3. The actual “diet”
The first thing that I learned how to do was read the ingredients on foods. If the words: high-fructose corn syrup are on it: do not eat/drink it! I think it’s complete BS that there are commercials on right now that are advocating the use and consumption of high fructose corn syrup and saying it’s “fine in moderation” what they don’t tell you is that the body’s natural way of processes glucose is a readily available and semi-fast process, your body has to FIRST convert fructose INTO glucose in order to process it so you’re adding an extra step thus slowing down the entire metabolic rate. (If anyone disagrees with this please see my biochem professor lol!)
The second thing to watch out for is “partially hydrogenated oils” = bad! Another “bad” word is processed… If it’s processed then it’s been stripped of all the good stuff and your body wont get anything out of it. Also, a lot of ingredients say “enriched” that usually means they put vitamins and minerals in it so don’t be too afraid of that.
Another rule of thumb: If you can’t even pronounce half the ingredients on the box/bag/can etc, then you probably shouldn’t put it into your body.
4. Keep track of your calories!!! Remember, 1 lb = 3500 calories so you NEED to keep track of how many you are eating. Fitday.com is a great source to help keep track. Sign up, it’s free, put in your goal weight (it even breaks down how many calories you need to eat per day to reach your goal) and search for the foods that you eat. I do not use this site as much anymore because I’ve gotten good at memorizing how many calories I am eating in each thing and you will probably get to that point too. You’ll indulge, then find out how many calories were in it, and probably promise yourself never to eat it again.
5. Some healthy options are listed online, but for the most part you want to have lean meat, lots of veggies, a few fruits and whole grain stone ground breads. Ezekel “bread” is great, it’s actually made out of beans and grain so it’s not too bad for you. Trader Joe’s sells it, woohoo!
6. You know all those commercials about fiber… listen to THOSE, haha. They are spot on. Fiber slows down the time it takes for your body to breakdown carbs – thus allowing your blood sugar to stay neutral – thus no spikes in insulin = no cravings later.
So I think that is pretty much it… I want to be able to sit down and type out a list of foods but this is already long enough. If anyone wants more healthy options just let me know!! I can also type out the workout that I do every week to stay fit.
Again, please use this as a guideline if you wish, I am not saying this is the ONLY right way of doing things it’s simply what has worked for me so I wanted to share it with you girls =)
Good luck to all of us!!! Woohoo!!!
<3Rita
JUST A SIDE NOTE: I am NOT a nutritionist or personal trainer, you DO NOT HAVE to follow this advice in order to lose weight. There are plenty of other options and everyone knows that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for the next. If for whatever reason you do not agree with what I am saying that is totally fine! I am just sharing the few tips and tricks that worked for me, that’s all =) (These are things that I learned from research, experiences, classes, and nutritionists)
Here it goes:
1. You’ve heard it a million times before but: DRINK WATER! A safe bet is to convert your weight into ounces: so you weigh 160 lbs that’s 160 ounces, halve that: so 80 ounces… that’s how many ounces of water you need to drink simply to replenish yourself. If you drink a little more then that’s really going to help detoxify and quench the thirst of your body.
(fyi: 80 ounces = 10 cups. 1 liter is roughly 4 cups. So if you get a big water bottle, like aquafina or fiji and it says 1L on it you have about 4 cups and should drink at least two of those bottles)
2. 1 pound = 3500 calories. If you do a search for your Basal Metabolic Rate you can get a rough estimate of how many calories you burn on a daily basis based on your day-to-day activities. For example: my BMR is around 2100. So everyday regardless of what I am doing, whether it’s working, eating, showering, sleeping etc, I burn 2100 calories.
The trick is to either ingest less than your BMR or work out enough to increase the BMR to more than your caloric intake. Lets do it by a week:
If I burn 2100 cals per day that’s 14,700 calories BURNED per week by not doing anything at all. Your safest bet is to lose 1-2 pounds per week to really be able to maintain it and do it in a healthy way. Since 1 pound = 3500 calories, 2 pounds per week will be 7,000. So my week’s total minus the 2 pounds: 14,7000-7,000=7,700. Now divide that number by the 7 days in a week: 7,700/7=1,100.
That number is how many calories I need to stay under PER DAY in order to lose the TWO pounds. (keep in mind those are MY numbers used as an example… make sure you find out a rough estimate of your own BMR. And you can eat more if you only want to lose ONE pound per week)
Another great thing about doing it by counting calories is, if you work out and burn say 200 calories (while doing cardio for example) you can the freedom of eating those calories in a different way and still maintaining the max number of calories you can have per day. Woohoo!
3. The actual “diet”
The first thing that I learned how to do was read the ingredients on foods. If the words: high-fructose corn syrup are on it: do not eat/drink it! I think it’s complete BS that there are commercials on right now that are advocating the use and consumption of high fructose corn syrup and saying it’s “fine in moderation” what they don’t tell you is that the body’s natural way of processes glucose is a readily available and semi-fast process, your body has to FIRST convert fructose INTO glucose in order to process it so you’re adding an extra step thus slowing down the entire metabolic rate. (If anyone disagrees with this please see my biochem professor lol!)
The second thing to watch out for is “partially hydrogenated oils” = bad! Another “bad” word is processed… If it’s processed then it’s been stripped of all the good stuff and your body wont get anything out of it. Also, a lot of ingredients say “enriched” that usually means they put vitamins and minerals in it so don’t be too afraid of that.
Another rule of thumb: If you can’t even pronounce half the ingredients on the box/bag/can etc, then you probably shouldn’t put it into your body.
4. Keep track of your calories!!! Remember, 1 lb = 3500 calories so you NEED to keep track of how many you are eating. Fitday.com is a great source to help keep track. Sign up, it’s free, put in your goal weight (it even breaks down how many calories you need to eat per day to reach your goal) and search for the foods that you eat. I do not use this site as much anymore because I’ve gotten good at memorizing how many calories I am eating in each thing and you will probably get to that point too. You’ll indulge, then find out how many calories were in it, and probably promise yourself never to eat it again.
5. Some healthy options are listed online, but for the most part you want to have lean meat, lots of veggies, a few fruits and whole grain stone ground breads. Ezekel “bread” is great, it’s actually made out of beans and grain so it’s not too bad for you. Trader Joe’s sells it, woohoo!
6. You know all those commercials about fiber… listen to THOSE, haha. They are spot on. Fiber slows down the time it takes for your body to breakdown carbs – thus allowing your blood sugar to stay neutral – thus no spikes in insulin = no cravings later.
So I think that is pretty much it… I want to be able to sit down and type out a list of foods but this is already long enough. If anyone wants more healthy options just let me know!! I can also type out the workout that I do every week to stay fit.
Again, please use this as a guideline if you wish, I am not saying this is the ONLY right way of doing things it’s simply what has worked for me so I wanted to share it with you girls =)
Good luck to all of us!!! Woohoo!!!
<3Rita
