Successful Weight Loss – The Truth.

Working in I.T. is particularly unhealthy for me – so what can I do about it? Research shows that in women, even substantial increases in exercise was not enough to produce weight loss. A low calorie controlled diet is essential however the greatest weight loss was achieved from combining low calories and exercising together.

For men, exercise and diet had an independent effect and were able to decrease weight with exercise alone.

Increasing both exercise and calorie reduction result in the greatest weight loss for both men and women. Women should aim for at least 1,500 calories. Men being more muscular need a minimum of about 2,000 calories per day in caloric intake. If you exercise intensively and regularly you will need to eat more. If however you have a desk job you will sadly need to eat less!

Reducing calories is not dieting! Reduce your portions per meal and cutting out snacks can easily cut down 600+ calories per day, whereas having to burn 600 calories in the gym can be a daunting task. To help us we must understand that the brain often has lag of around 15 minutes to feel full so my advise is:

1. Keep portions small.
2. Aim to finish your meals without feeling full.
3. Eating slowly will help you achieve both of the above. If you have difficulty doing this try placing your cutlery on the table as you chew and cut up smaller mouthfuls. Try conversation at the dinner table by having interesting topics prepared or if your on your own do a cross word puzzle or read a paper.
4. Eating foods with a slow digestion time (Low GI). These include high fibre, fruit and veg as well as protein such as chicken.
5. Eating protein burns more calories during digestion than fats and carbohydrates (bread, pasta).
6. Do not snack rubbish. To do this do not keep snaks in your house.
7. Snak lots of fruit and raw veg and never make yourself hungry.
   
8. Drink two liters of refrigerated water a day to increase your calorie burn by up to 100. The calories are burnt as you heat the cold water to body temperature.
9. Now the hard part... Keep active to accelerate the rate of weight loss. Running is best (20 mins 5 days a week or 50 mins 3 days a week) however you can chose to mix it up with other sports to help motivate you.
10. Lift weights to also accelerate the rate of weight loss by 3 times as much. I am not sure why but in a test the combined exercise group lost almost three times more abdominal subcutaneous fat and 13% more visceral fat than the aerobic-only group!
11. Sleep 8-9 hours a day. If you sleep for less your body produces a hormone called ghrelin that stimulates appetite according to the University of Chicago study.

Why "Diets" Fail...
Studies also show that in the long term, reducing our portions will be more sustainable than diets. Even so; eating a low fat diet will not result in wait loss! A diet consisting of 60% carbohydrates and 40% protein with no fat will result in carbohydrates converted to glucose initially. Then a increase in blood glucose levels, which will start insulin production. A side effect of insulin is an increase in appetite stimulates your body to store fat. If however you eat 30% protein but 70% fat (no carbohydrates) causes the body to "convert" to a fat-burning engine instead of primarily being a glucose-burning engine and you will lose weight.

Alternative view on things see Tim's diet that also works.