Loosing Weight!!

Phase 1: How To Lose Weight

The purpose of Phase 1 is going to make a ton of sense. You see, in order to successfully reach your weight loss goals, you're going to first need to understand how to lose weight. (I told you it would make sense.) That's what Phase 1 is. A complete, yet easy to understand explanation of exactly what is required for weight loss to take place. How it happens, why it happens, and most important of all... what you need to do in order to make it happen. You can not skip ahead. You will need to know this in order to create your weight loss diet plan in Phase 2.

So, to sum up, by the end of this page you're going to know how to lose weight. Sound good? Great. Let's get to it...

You know when you eat food and drink drinks? Well, every one of those foods and every one of those drinks contain calories. Say it with me... calories. The reason I'm mentioning calories to you as though you are 5 years old is because the answer to the almighty "how to lose weight" question all revolves around calories. Not only does everything you eat and drink contain calories, but everything you do burns calories. Literally every step you take and every move you make burns calories. In fact, your body actually burns hundreds and even thousands of calories each day on its own just functioning. You could sit still all day and your body would still burn calories.

So now you may be wondering, if everything you eat contains calories, and everything you do burns calories, shouldn't they just cancel each other out? Yes, they should... and they do. If you consume the exact same number of calories that your body burns each day, your weight would stay exactly the same. If your body naturally burns 3000 calories a day, and you happen to eat 3000 calories a day, your weight would not change. In this example, 3000 calories is what's known as a calorie maintenance level. It's the number of calories required for the body to maintain it's current weight.

I should probably have you repeat "calorie maintenance level" with me, because if there's one thing more important than calories when it comes to losing weight... it's your calorie maintenance level.

Here's another thing you may have been thinking. "I know how to lose weight... burn more calories than I consume. I got that. I know I can do this by eating about 500 calories less than my maintenance level. But, instead of eating below my maintenance level, couldn't I just workout more and therefore burn more calories?" The answer is yes. If your maintenance level is 3000 calories a day, and you are eating the full 3000 calories a day, you could lose weight by working out and burning those 500 calories each day. You'd still end up in the same calorie deficit this way just as you would by eating less.

Weight loss is all about being in that calorie deficit. While you can technically accomplish this either way (through diet or workout), for best results and for best all around health, the trick is to do it using a combination of both. A proper diet plan combined with a proper workout is the ideal weight loss scenario. But, I'll talk more about that later. First I need to cover one final Phase 1 question some of you may have.

"While explaining how to lose weight, you have only really mentioned calories. What about protein, carbs and fat? Don't they matter?" The answer is yes.

You have reached the end of Phase 1. Right now you should fully understand how to lose weight. Feels good, doesn't it? I told you this was simple. What you need to do next is use what you just learned to create your own weight loss diet plan. That's what Phase 2 is. In Phase 2 you will learn exactly how to figure out what your calorie maintenance level is and exactly how many calories you should eat each day. You will also learn how much protein, carbs and fat you should be eating along with examples of which foods to get these nutrients from. You ready? Let's go...

Subtract 500 from your calorie maintenance level.

For example, if you figured your maintenance level to be 3000 calories per day, you would now start eating 2500 calories per day instead. It's really as easy as it sounds. Just subtract 500 from your daily maintenance level and then start eating this new amount of calories each day. By doing so, you would officially be in a calorie deficit. And, as you know, a calorie deficit is what makes weight loss happen.

You're also going to want to try to eat 5-6 smaller meals per day (once every 2-3 hours) and spread those calories out evenly among them. There are three reasons for eating 5-6 smaller meals instead of 1-3 big meals or just randomly throughout the day. The first is that it will help speed up your metabolism. The second is that eating so frequently will help keep you satisfied and less likely to eat something you shouldn't. The third is that you will be supplying your body with the nutrients it needs consistently throughout the day.

All that's left to do now as far as your weight loss diet plan goes is make sure that the calories you are consuming each day are coming from the right food sources...

Protein isn't just an important part of The Lose Weight diet, it's an important part of every diet. As far as food sources go, the best sources of protein tend to come from anything that used to be alive, or anything that came from something that used to be alive. Some high protein foods include:

chicken
fish
lean cuts of meat
turkey
eggs and egg whites
milk

Protein can also be found in all types of nuts, seeds and beans. And of course, there are always protein supplements in the form of powder, shakes and bars.

As far as how much protein you should include in your weight loss diet plan per day, that depends on the person. For example, the average person who doesn't exercise at all needs less protein than someone who does. Something in the range of 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight would be alright in this case. For example, if the person weighed 180lbs, you would do 180 x 0.5 = 90 grams of protein per day.

However, someone who does exercise should eat somewhere in the range of .6 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight. In this example a person weighing 180lbs would look to eat between 108 - 180 grams of protein per day. People really into weight training (and other athletes) are typically the ones who stay closer to the higher end of that equation.

The only other thing you need to know about protein is that 1 gram contains 4 calories. So, for example, if you were to eat 100 grams of protein per day, that would account for 400 calories. (100 x 4 = 400)

Now that you know how much protein and fat your weight loss diet should include, it will be pretty easy to figure out how many carbs you should eat. Quite simply, the rest of your diet should be carbs. Once you factor protein and fat into your total calorie intake, whatever calories are left over to reach the number of calories you figured you need to eat per day... those calories should come from carbs.

One carb contains 4 calories. So, for example, after factoring protein and fat into what you calculated your total calorie intake should be (500 below maintenance level, remember?), let's say you are 1200 calories below that number. In this example you would need to eat 300 carbs per day. (1200 ÷ 4 = 300)

And, just like fat, there is a good type of carbs you should eat (complex carbs), and a bad type of carbs you should try to limit as much as possible (simple carbs). Some sources of "good" carbs are:

beans
brown rice
100% whole wheat bread
whole wheat pasta
sweet potatoes
oatmeal
fruits and vegetables

The bad type of carbs are found in typical snack/junk foods like crackers, pretzels, chips, cookies, etc. as well as white bread, white rice, white potatoes, pasta and any candy, drink or food containing sugar. While you should try to limit these "bad" carbs as much as possible and get most of your carb intake from foods on the "good" list, eating a baked potato or some pasta once in a while won't kill you.

You have reached the end of Phase 2. Right now you should not only know how to lose weight, but you should also know exactly what your specific weight loss diet plan should be so YOU can lose weight. You know how many calories you need to eat, and you know where those calories should come from. For the most part, you're done. Take a breath. It's a good feeling, isn't it?

All that's left now is some final information to not only make sure you continue losing weight, but to make sure you keep the weight off once it's gone. That's what Phase 3 will explain. Also, any questions that may have popped into your head during Phase 1 and 2 (for example, how do you know how many calories/protein/carbs/fat are in certain foods?) will be answered in Phase 3. So... let's go...

What I'm about to say may scare you a little. However, it shouldn't. It is completely normal and is supposed to happen. At some point, you MAY stop losing weight. I can't tell you when exactly, but unless you have a really small amount of weight to lose, there is a chance that at some point your weight loss might come to a stop. Hang on, calm down. It's no big deal. Seriously... if it does happen, it was supposed to happen. The reason for this is because as you gradually begin to lose weight, you're body will start to change. Yeah, you'll look better, you'll be healthier, you'll feel better, but one other change will come to your calorie maintenance level.

For example, let's say you started at 200lbs and you calculated your maintenance level to be 3500 calories (these are just made up numbers). You then figured that in order to start losing weight, you'd need to eat 3000 calories per day (500 below maintenance). Since then, you've consistently lost weight and are currently down to 185lbs. But... your weight loss has stopped. It's been 3 weeks and you haven't lost even half a pound.

What this means is that your calorie maintenance level, which was 3500 calories when you were 200lbs, has changed now that you're at 185lbs. Your maintenance level has become lower. It is now 3000 calories. So, what do you do? Simple, reduce your calorie intake by an additional 250 calories. In this example, you'd start eating 2750 calories per day for now on. (3000 - 250 = 2750) OR, you could continue to eat the same number of calories (3000 in this example) per day, but just burn off the 250 calories through exercise.

Keep in mind though that this may not even happen to you. If it doesn't, cool. If it does, just make the simple 250 calorie adjustment (through diet and/or workout) to make sure you continue to lose weight.

I would recommend giving it 2-4 weeks of seeing no weight loss whatsoever before you make this adjustment just to be sure that you are indeed no longer losing weight. Sometimes your diet could have been off a little that week, or maybe you missed a workout or two. Something like this could make it appear as though you are no longer losing when in fact you just weren't as consistent as you should have been.

One of the keys to successful weight loss is accurately tracking your progress. While weighing yourself every week is one of the best ways to do so, there are 3 other ways.

One way is to have your body fat percentage tested on a somewhat regular basis. Some gyms do this, and some doctors, nutritionists, and personal trainers can do this for you as well. You can also buy body fat calipers and perform the test on yourself. A scale can only tell you if you are gaining or losing weight. Your body fat percentage can tell you if that weight is fat, muscle or water.

A second way to track your progress is with a tape measure. Measure your waist, arms, legs, chest, neck and really wherever else you want.

A third way is with pictures. Thanks to digital cameras, this is quick and easy. Since you see yourself many times every single day, it's a little harder for you to notice any changes. But, with pictures, you can literally look back and compare and see every bit of progress you've made.

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