Answers to Everyday Questions : What tips do you have on losing weight? (from experience please)?

What tips do you have on losing weight? (from experience please)?

2 Responses to “What tips do you have on losing weight? (from experience please)?”

1. Simonise said :
   June 1st, 2010 at 5:32 am

   It’s a long-term thing. There’s no quick fix and faddy diets don’t work. I’ve read too many bad things about diet pills to have tried them. Exercise is important to tone the body as you lose weight but makes little difference to the rate of loss (unless you’re doing it several hours a day). Brisk walking for 30 minutes is good for heart, lungs and exercise and you just walk for fifteen minutes in some direction then turn around and walk back. Reducing calories is the most important thing, second being the type of food that you eat (low fat most important). Watch for “invisible” sources of calories and fat – for example, butter, marge, spreads are all high fat and high calorie and it takes very little on bread or toast to put you beyond your calorie allowance for the day. Same with what you cook in – change to scrambled eggs instead of fried and save the fat and calories that you’d get from frying. Fruit is really good for you but very high in sugar so make sure that it’s counted properly. I changed to diet fizzy drinks but found I was drinking too much of them and the acid in them causing damage to my teeth, so changed to bottled water that was then very expensive so I bought a filter jug for the fridge and one of those vacuum bottles to take to work with me. Get rid of your scales, just worry about counting calories properly, and feel the difference in your clothes. If you must weigh yourself, don’t do it more than once a month, at the same time on the same day of the week, and do it in regular clothes (jeans and a t-shirt if that’s what you wear most of the time) and don’t kid yourself that “clothes weigh at least 3 lbs”. Understand that it takes real willpower and it will take time. You should be losing 0.5kg to 1kg (1 – 2 lbs) a week and make sure that you treat 8lbs in a month as a bonus and a true success. A 10 lb loss is one waist size down in trousers/jeans but most of us fatties are wearing jeans too tight anyway. Avoid alcohol in any form – beer, wine, spirits.

   I finally joined my local slimming club and took a lot of support from the pithy stories the class leader told. They’re all a bit obvious but sometimes that’s what’s needed.

   I’ve come down from 21st. to 13st. over 16 months (in theory, that’s four months longer than it should take) and have, mostly, stuck to a 1,200 cal. diet high in fruit and veg, chicken, lean pork, no red meat, low carbs, peas are so high in sugar as to be evil, and the occasional “sod it, I’m having a burger, chips and a couple of beers”.
2. Dr Frank said :
   June 1st, 2010 at 5:50 am

   Do you see the box near the top of the page?
   The one labelled ‘Search for questions: ‘?
   Well type in ‘lose weight’.
   You will find over 474,192 pre-existing questions.
   Try the misspellings ‘loose weight’ and there are another 109,707.
   In all there are over half a million Health section questions requesting solutions to being or thinking you might be overweight.
   On average these each yield 6 answers, that is over 3 million answers.

   I can usefully summarise these answers in 4 words:

   EAT LESS DO MORE. Are you desperate enough to try this???