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 M¢25  Funded By Mahalo ? |  October 27, 2009 08:30 AM

What is the best and healthiest diet to lose weight quickly but safely and keep that weight off??

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October 27, 2009 02:02 PM
The prevalence of obesity, and our cultural obsession with being thin (sometimes to excess) have created an entire industry of diet fads. The truth of the matter is that it is still almost entirely a matter of energy balance. If you eat more calories than your body burns, you will gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight.

There are a few wrinkles though. First, if you simply starve yourself, your body's metabolism will become more efficient. This is a survival mechanism that allows your body to survive on far fewer calories. To avoid this you need to eat regularly, preferably more smaller meals. The second wrinkle is that if you don't eat a healthy balanced diet, you will continue to feel hungry, so eat a good balance of fruits, vegetables, protein (i.e. meat, fish, poultry, legumes), grains, etc. as described in http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nutrition.html. You also need to stay active (i.e. work out, walk, ride a bike, dance, etc.) to keep your metabolism up.

Dr. Oz stated in a recent episode of his show that on average, your body will burn per day about 8 calories per pound of body weight, plus 200 calories, plus whatever you burn by being active. Thus, if your weight is e.g. 150 lbs, you should expect to burn 1400 (=150 * 8 + 200) calories plus whatever calories you burn by being active. Many exercise machines will tell you how many calories you burned during a workout, and there are online calculators as well, such as http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc.

Note that as your weight decreases, the number of calories your body will burn at rest will go down (by 8 calories per pound lost), so you'll need to adjust your caloric intake down, and/or your activity level up if you wish to continue losing weight.
Source(s):
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nutrition.html
http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc



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Voted as best: chriswingate, romeo0830
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October 27, 2009 02:09 PM
Thats on the standard person though, you would have to know their metabolic rate (exact) to really know that. I am 300Lb (only 100lb body fat) I eat about 1500-2000 Cal/day; by that math I should be burining lest say 400 cals/day * 7 so 2100calories a week (not stating any exercise). which is about a pound (3000 cals = 1 lb) I know I am not losing that much.

Also if your weight goes down and you are exercising you will also burn more calories from the muscle you build. You would probably gain weight depending on how toned you got.

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October 27, 2009 02:23 PM
Your math needs some corrections. At 300 lbs, the daily burn rate (per Dr. Oz, not me :)) should be 2600 calories. If you really eat only 1500-2000 calories per day, let's take the average number of 1750. You should thus be burning an excess of 850 calories per day, or 5950 calories per week. One pound of fat is equal to 4050 calories, not 3000 (based on 1 pound = 450 g, and 1 g of fat providing 9 calories). According to this math you *should* be losing about 1.5 lbs per week.

However, there are several possible explanations if this is not happening. First, you may be eating more than 1750 calories per day. It is very hard to keep accurate track of all the calories unless you weigh every morsel of food that goes in your mouth and calculate its caloric content per g. Second, you may have caused your metabolism to slow down through excessive reduction in eating, without raising your activity level. Third, the formula is one that's supposed to be true on average. Your metabolism may be naturally more efficient, i.e. slower, than the average.

I agree with your statement that more muscle mass will burn more calories than the same mass in fat. That's another aspect of why working out is important for weight loss.

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October 27, 2009 02:06 PM
I heard Weight Watchers is AMAZING (I dont have the dicipline to do it however).

Also you could look at getting a lapband (its like a rubber band they put on your stomach so you feel fuller faster.

Best thing I can tell you, Hit the gym and do lots of cardio, cut out Soda (diet and other). Eat 2/4 of your plate with Veggitables, dont eat 3 hours before bed, drink lots of water, and stay away from caffinated products...and of course watch what sugary and salty foods you eat. You would be supprised how much junk most people eat when they "snack".

At the moment I am working on going back to veggitarian (no meat but I still eat animal products such as eggs, honey, milk ect ect). Let me tell you I didnt eat meat for 4 days, I ate some last night and felt like CRAP. Its crazy how good you feel off meat, but its kinda tricky when it comes to making sure you get plenty of protein and iron.

*Please do research and talk to a doctor, dont take just some random persons findings as truth on the internet...*

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October 27, 2009 02:26 PM
Coaches I've worked with say that consuming caffeine before a workout increases the impact of the workout, since caffeine is a stimulant so it heats up your metabolism. Having said that, as in all things, moderation is important.

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October 27, 2009 03:56 PM
I have lost weight several different times only to gain them back. There are many ways to lose, the key is keeping it off. That requires a conscience life style change forever. I have lost on Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers, but I am currently losing on my own doing the following:

1000-1200 calories a day- (depending on what you intake has been before starting a regimen) I stay mostly at 1000.

Less than 20 fat grams a day.

Drink lots of water, avoid carbonated drinks. If you get tired of just water, try flavoring it with products like crystal light.(zero calories and fat)

Currently I have lost 27.5 pounds in less than 2 months(exactly two months Nov. 4)

Make sure you take a multi vitamin. Just be careful that you are eating enough and healthy things so that your body does not go into the storage mode, due to minimal intake.

Hope this helps.

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October 27, 2009 09:16 PM
cut back on what you eat and walk ,drink plenty of water

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October 27, 2009 11:15 PM
a best weight lost is use herbs,like for appetite lost if you obesity having,exercises doing and diet,like eating all,but remove a thick part from a food,like potato.
please check my profile and my all voices news about obesity.

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October 29, 2009 03:14 PM
Moderation is the key. With the gambit of diets roaming the internet these days it's hard to choose the correct one. Despite the many diets advertised today, we have more heavy families (and children) then at any other time in history. People want a quick fix unfortunately. The best way to lose weight is to eat smaller portions of healthy foods. Try taking a 9" plate and filling 1/2 of it with vegetables, 1/4 with a starch and another 1/3 with your protein. Round your meal off with a piece of fruit (I prefer to use fruit to snack between meals). Try to aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio activity most days of the week. It's OK to allow yourself one "cheat" meal per week. Nobody likes to feel deprived. Drink plenty of water too to keep yourself well hydrated and take a multi vitamin & mineral supplement while losing weight to keep your body well nourished. Eating high fiber foods will keep your colon and digestive system in tact, but also will fill you up more. Try to eat a little protein and a small amount of healthy fats (like olive or cannola oil) with each meal. You can also pick up a small spiral notepad at Walmart for $1.00 to write down everything you eat and keep track of calories. If you're looking for a tool to keep you motivated as well as a way to track calories, try http://www.calorieking.com. It's an excellent site full of useful tools.

The bottom line is that there are no shortcuts or quick fixes to weight loss. Fad diets do exist in large numbers, but the best way is to take off the weight in a healthy manner buy changing your daily habits. Fad diets will only hurt your metabolism and you will end up gaining the weight back.

It's always great to enlist the support of your family and friends, but if you feel you are going it alone, there are tons of websites with communities for that. Just run a google search.

Lastly, patience is the key. You didn't gain the weight over night, so you won't be able to loose it so fast. Losing 1 - 2 lbs per week is a good way to go. reward yourself with "non food" items such as new clothes, a trip to the salon or an evening out at the movies. Whatever works.

Good luck!

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