Going on a diet
When going on a diet it's important to have a clear goal in mind. A lot of people have extremely ambitious goals that fall flat at the first sight of a piece of pie which is why so many people quit their diets before they even happen. It's hard to go cold turkey, even with past positive experience. So what's a dieter to do?
Weigh your options. Do you want to make a permanent or long term lifestyle change or do you want to just lose a couple pounds for an event? Something in the middle perhaps? That's what a 90-day challenge is all about! You can setup a simple 12 week goal and if you want to keep going, then simply just join the next round!
How do I lose weight?
Despite what everyone says, losing weight was figured out LONG long ago. Cut calories, that's it.
To lose weight you first need to know what your metabolic rate is. A metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body uses in a given day just to stay the same weight forever. You can find your TYPICAL metabolic rate over at this website.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr... this is for typical average people, meaning if you have some sort of condition or impairment to your metabolism then this might not be for you and unfortunately it means this place probably can't help you, but try finding a professional dietician instead!
Great, now we know how many calories you need to stay the same rate. Let's teach you the next step. 1 pound of body fat is equal to roughly 3,500 calories.
So what does that mean? Well, that means in order to lose 1 pound a week you need to eat 500 calories less per day from your daily metabolic rate. So if your metabolic rate is 2,000 calories a day then you need to eat 1,500 calories a day instead in order to lose a pound of fat. The opposite is true as well. If you eat 500 excess calories a day then you can expect to gain a pound per week!
Keeping track of your calories.
There is an app called MyFitnessPal Calorie Tracker. It is an AWESOME app and completely free. Everytime you eat just tell it what you just ate and it will track your calories for you and tell you how much you have for the rest of the day.
I typically like to ration my calories and use 20% for breakfast, 30% for Lunch, 40% for Dinner, and 10% for snacks.
How can I cut out as many calories as possible?
Empty calories! These are things you normally consume that provide little to no nutrients to you. The biggest culprit is soft drinks. A typical single can of coke will cost you about 140 calories. a 20oz bottle will cost you 210 calories! If you cut those two bottles of coke you drink a day you can lose almost an entire pound per week alone on that!
You might think you're safe by drinking iced tea too, but that's just as calorie packed as soda.
If you need that bubbly taste, go for a seltzer and squeeze some lemon or orange in it- or go for a calorie free soda (just don't go overboard).
I went over my daily calorie limit! Is my diet destroyed?
No. a day to day basis will yield little to no results. Really and truthfully you should count your calories on a weekly basis while USE those calories on a daily basis. For example, if you have a 2,000 calorie metabolic rate per day, then that means you can use up to 14,000 calories per week. As long as you don't consume more than 14,000 calories in a week and don't go TOO far past 2,000 calories per day during that week then you'll still lose weight.
I've put on weight since yesterday! What am I doing wrong!?
Don't panic, your body fluctuates in weight daily. Some people by as much as 4 pounds during any 24-hour period. This is weight from water, and *ahem* waste that's still not processed yet so you don't need to worry about what the scale says. If there's a difference over a couple weeks then yes that means you're doing something wrong, but in a 24-hour period you're more than fine.
