Thursday, June 14, 2007

How to go about losing weight? -

Hi.I m fourteen years old, and I m about 200 pounds. I don t have a lot of time to exercise (I have A LOT of homework), but I m generally eating better. Various websites I ve read tell me that the way to lose weight is to burn off all the calories you ve eaten during the day. Now, I don t see how this is possible. Even without my schedule, burning 1500 calories a day (a conservative estimate of my caloric intake) sounds like a lot of exercise.Is this true, that in order to lose weight, you need to burn off ALL of your calories? If so, how do fit people find the time to do this? Any other useful, less-known weight loss tips would be appreciated as well.Thanks. :)

No, no, no. You don t want to burn off everything. Multiply your weight by 10 and that s the number of calories you d need to eat everyday just to maintain your current weight. (200 x 10 = 2000) That s with the average output of exertion and exercise you d get just going through your day...walking around, sitting, standing, etc, without any cardio exercise. So, 2000 calories then to eat and your normal daily acitivites will maintain your current weight. If you want to lose, you don t have to burn off EVERYTHING, just part of it. Find a way to make a small cut in calories and do it everyday, but be smart about it. Don t skip meals or crash diet. For me, the easiest place to cut was breakfast. I m not really hungry in the morning so instead of a huge breakfast with all the trimmings, I just have a protein bar on the way to work. Remember though, some of those protein bars are really meal replacements and can register a whopping 400+ calories. I like the Pure Protein bar, especially the peanut butter/chocolate. I think they re 100 calories and pretty tasty. You get 20 grams of protein too and no sugar.You can find your own way to cut at whatever time is easiest for you. Your key meal could be dinner, or maybe your snacks throughout the day. Just make a small cut somewhere and stick to it everyday. Moderation is the key, along with consistency. Nothing drastic. Over time, you will start to see your weight slowly dip alittle. Not knowing your eating habits makes it hard to advise, but there are other foods that will sabotage your efforts to drop some weight. Colas are the worst culprits. They have become second nature to American culture through advertising and media. Besides being loaded with calories, the sugar in them programs your body to store fat by playing with your insulin, so it s a double whammy. I stopped drinking them 20 years ago and I don t miss them. It s just a matter of realizing how detrimental they are to your health. Do some reading on them and perhaps you ll be motivated to give them up too.Any product with sugar will program your body to store fat. Now, that doesn t mean...give up all treats...just be smart about it. Everyone needs some treats now and then, just realize how it s going to affect your body and don t go overboard.Of course, fatty foods are going to cause problems too. Even so, I still reach over and eat a few french fries off my buddy s plate just to get the salty potato taste...but only a few. I can t tell you when I ve ordered french fries at a fast food restaurant for myself. Another hidden enemy can be milk. Calorically speaking, milk is more a food than a drink. Personally, I d rather EAT something for 200 calories than drink a glass of milk. On the other hand, it supplies protein and vitamin D, which is important. I limit myself to half a glass per day. You being young and still growing, maybe more. Just know that it s relatively high in calories for a beverage. I ve found that limiting my intake of milk really helps me control me weight because everything that s good with milk is bad for you...cookies, cake, doughnuts, etc. Who wants chocolate chip cookies with water??? Nope, not me. At your age, it s a good idea to start thinking about nutrition. Try not to obsess on losing weight, but rather thinking about what s good for your body. Read everything you can about nutrition and educate yourself. And remember...baby steps. Nothing drastic. You ve only 14 so you ve got a long life ahead of you to be healthy and maybe lose some weight. Don t get in a hurry and jump on any fad diets and stay away from any diet that makes you eat all of one thing and none of the other thing, like the high protein diets or the others. Just be sensible and find a tiny way to cut some calories.Regarding exercise, I m going to tell you a secret. Consistency is the key. Some people advocate 3-4 days per week of moderate exercise, and that s a good starting point. But find something you like to do and try to do it everyday. Anything, doesn t have to be drastic...again, moderation is important. Anything that makes you breathe faster than normal is raising your heartrate. You don t have to be gasping for air, just breathing alittle harder. Maybe it s taking all the stairs at school that you can fit in between classes. Maybe it s walking home instead of riding the bus (if you live closeby and it s safe.) Just find something you can do consistently and stick with it. Doing it everyday will raise your metabolism and than will help you burn off those calories you talked about earlier. It s like stoking the fire of an engine, keep stoking it daily and the fire will burn hotter.The most important thing is consistency and moderation. Find your program and make it your way of life, and don t go overboard. If it s reasonable and not too hard, you ll stick with it and, in the long run, you ll be healthier, and yes,

Well I tried the acai berry ..... JK I HATE it when people do that ............. anyways yes you have to burn off all your calories and a little more then you consum . for example if you eat 1000 cal. a day and wanna lose some weight you have to burn 1500 cal. which with a few daily exercises it should be simple ! :) Good Luck !!!Btw there is 3500 cal. in a pound so if you did my example it would take you a week to lose 1 pound.I have a weight question to I would like some answers for please !!!http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090907195837AAcXWCd