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This is one of these questions. . . Well, to be honest, it’s a bit of an insult isn’t it? Everyone knows how to diet and get the best results. Except. . . Well. . . That’s what you would think. After all, everyone coming to this site is a seasoned veteran of the dieting scene. You are the gurus to all your friends and relatives, passing on the benefit of your experience. It’s just there’s been this big new survey. One of the first questions was whether the responders were worried about their weight. As you would expect, the majority said they were really worried about their weight and, hardly another big surprise here, most boasted they were all actively trying to lose some weight. Those with more modest ambitions said they were aiming to stay at the same weight – a slightly more realistic option. An impressive 65% confirmed their long-term health depended on losing weight. Unfortunately, as the survey continued, it became increasingly clear the majority did not know how to diet effectively or make the lifestyle changes to make weight loss possible.

Let’s start with the right answer first. As you all know, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat. This means calculating the base amount you need to keep your lungs and heart pumping the necessary air and blood around. Then ensure you eat only enough on top to cover basic activity, leaving the body to supply the rest of the calories by burning the fact. In fact, you should up your demand for energy by exercising more. This improves the rate at which you should lose weight. Yet, when asked, almost 60% of the great US public did not know how to calculate their basic calorie needs, and only 11% said they could accurately estimate the number of calories they ate every day. When those who claimed to be actively losing weight were asked, less than 20% said they were counting calories. The only action they are taking is changing the type and range of food they eat, and reducing the physical amount. Of course, there’s nothing wrong in eating smaller portions, but smaller portions of what food? Unless you know the calorific value of the food as cooked, you cannot judge how much to eat and lose weight. (more…)

One of those time travel dreams – you know the kind of thing – is to go back and kill your mother’s father so you won’t inherit his genes for male pattern baldness. Even more pleasing would be killing off that sports coach, whoever “he” was (it would have to be a sadistic man), who first starting shouting “No pain, no gain” at the sweating stragglers who don’t think they have to work until it hurts to get fit. Whoever he was recognized early on you don’t get nowhere if your approach is painless. How many times have we started on a diet, trying to think of the smallest changes we can make so our lives stay the same, but we still lose some pounds. Bitter experience should teach us we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zone if we want to see results.

Look around. There are overweight people everywhere. This proves most people never diet seriously. They play pretend or find health risks in some fad diets, see terrible warnings about some of these “weight loss pills” and would rather die than submit to this terrifying surgery stapling the stomach and reducing its volume. These are the excusenicks, committed to never trying anything new, but always for a very good reason. But what do you do when your first plan fails. What’s your Plan B? Well here are a few simple suggestions. Nothing controversial. You’ve probably seen them all before. But with a little effort, these can save you some pounds.

Do something with your spare time. Are you one of the people who stagger into the house and drop anchor on the sofa with the TV, a bowl of tortilla chips and a bottle of soda? Well that’s gotta change!

Exercise! Activity! No more hours in front of your PC reading articles like these, move around your home. If you have stairs, walk up and down them to get your heart beating. Better still, get out into the yard and do a bunch of the things you’ve been avoiding since Winter turned into Spring.

No, really exercise! To lose weight you have to burn all the calories conveniently stored away as fat around your body. At the very least do some vigorous walking round the neighborhood. If that’s too embarrassing or dangerous, find a place to go dancing, learn yoga, remind yourself how much fun it is to swim, or work out in the gym.

Eat less. You have to burn more calories than you eat. Read the backs of packs. If it doesn’t say how many calories, assume the worst and find food that does. The first step is small portions. (more…)