HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT?

First of all, there are a lot of terms that we need to know in order to understand the principles better and to adapt each principle to suit our individual body needs. Bear in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to weight loss since every one of us is unique. Also, the method that worked for you initially may not work all the way due to the dynamic nature of the interaction between our body and the loss of weight. Therefore, in order for you to achieve the ultimate results you desire, do take some time to click on the respective terms that will link you to the detailed explanations for your deeper understanding.

Weight Loss Principles:

To begin, keep the title of this blog in mind, Your Lifestyle Your weight, as the key to weight-loss, is really about changing your lifestyle.

1. INPUT less than OUTPUT

In order to lose weight, we have to ensure that we don't eat more than we need! Sounds quite obvious right? You may, most of the time, think that you did not eat a lot, but in actual fact, you have always been consuming more than you need for the day, thus resulting in the increase in weight. Do calculate how much calories you need and see for yourself how much extra you have been eating in a day!

2. EAT LOW FAT AND LOW CARBOHYDRATE FOOD

We all know that there are food that are more sinful than some others, but what are these kind of food? To keep it simple for your identification purposes, anything that’s sweet, is sinful, so are fat-laden stuff. But bear in mind that we can’t avoid them altogether since they are important to our daily functions like thinking and keeping warm. To give a comparison, between a Kickapo and Aloe Vera drink with pulp, Kickapo has 166kcal of calories whereas Aloe Vera drink with pulp has only 104kcal. Without referring to the nutrition facts label, the way to tell which one has less calories will be to decide which is sweeter. Of course, this test won’t work for those that uses artificial sweetener, but otherwise, it'll work alright :).

3. INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM

Metabolism is the the rate in which your body converts food into energy, for storage or for usage. Naturally, the faster your body converts food into energy, the lesser there is to be converted into stored fats! The detailed methods are written in another post. To summarise, the methods are tone up muscles, increase the number ofmitochondria, sleep more, eat less but more often, eat right, eat fish, allow your body’s natural cooling and heating system to work, and lastly, do interval training.

Other FUN methods:

Slimming down really doesn’t have to bring you agony, all you need is to know some tricks to achieving that figure you've always dreamt of.

1. Drink lots of water before going into that food court – so that you won’t feel like you want to eat everything in the stalls!

2. Eat fruits before meals – this is the latest research that, by eating fruits before meals, you actually prepare your stomach for the food that’s coming in, thus better absorbing the minerals. Also, the fiber and carbohydrate makes you fuller faster thus preventing you from eating too much.

3. Always say “less” – when ordering, make it a point to say “less rice”, “less gravy”, “less oil”, or even better, say “no oil”!

Remember, slimming down is not rocket-science and it doesn’t have to bring you “pain”, enjoy the process of making yourself nimble and fit again. Cheers!

"Lose to Win" on Channel 5

Finally!! A variety show that spreads all the physiologically and nutritionally correct messages about weight loss! Kudos to Mediacorp and Health Promotion Board!! (can’t help but wonder what took them so long to realise that TV shows are the best channel to spread messages…)

Anyway, the show is called “Lose to Win”, on Channel 5, every Wednesday, 9pm, premiered on 21 October 2009. They feature a group of overweight participants who signed themselves up to this 12 weeks program to compete to be the “biggest” loser. Much like the US reality show “The Biggest Loser”.

Throughout the show, individual participants were interviewed and methods to keep slim were shared here and there by experts like dietician, fitness instructors, and nutritionist.

If video above doesn't work, you can check out the video from the original site at HPB:

Here are some messages they’ve mentioned:

1. The basic principle of weight loss is to exhaust more energy than consumption through food. The message was taught to the participants by making them participate in routine exercises and learn the right ways to eat in order for deficit of calories to occur.
2. Eating late at night is the same as eating at any other time of the day. It’s not the timing of consumption that makes us fat, but the type of food that we eat. As a matter of fact, should we have the habit of eating dinner early and sleeping late, the period of foodless time is longer than between our lunch and breakfast, which could potentially lead to starvation response (a lowered metabolism). What’s worse is to skip breakfast!! ‘Cause that will only make our body increase the possibility of conserving the next meal.
3. Fast food is more fattening than normal outside food due to the high calories content, which is caused by the high processing and deep fried nature of some fast food.

Do tune in to the show! It’s definitely more worthy of your time than some commercialized slimming show that gives you iffy information (which could potentially kill you…).

Toning Muscles But NOT Building Bulk

One of the most common question, or rather, trouble, amongst ladies with regards to exercising is the worry of building bulky muscles instead of slimming down. Well, to start with, it's really not easy to build bulk. If it's that easy, there wouldn't be guys out there buying supplements and visiting the gym every other day and working on those heavy metals... The simple principle to prevent your muscles from bulking, is that you shouldn't be using too much strength when carrying those weights or doing any exercising, 'cause as soon as that happens, you are most likely causing microscopic tear to your muscle fibers which will then heal itself to gain in size and mass as a natural response to ensure you can lift that amount the next time you do it again!

Of course, such advise is not detailed enough. The scientific advise will then be, in terms of frequency and intensity, to use only about 70% of your available strength, to perform 8 to 15 reps, 3 times a day.

70% of your available strength:

If you are working out in the gym, find out your maximal strength by challenging yourself to lift at least once or twice of the heaviest weight you can handle. (Tips: Don't start small, if not, muscle fatigue will most likely result in a lighter maximal than your true ability.) For eg. your maximal manageable weight is 10kg on a bicep curl machine, 70% of 10kg will mean you should only be using 7kg at the bicep curl machine each time you are at it.

Take note that your maximal weight changes as you gain strength with your muscle, you can readjust your maximal but do not add to the point that you start aching, if not, bulk will be built.

8 to 15 reps:

Take note that this is dependant on individual. If you are already feeling the strain after 8 reps, please do not continue. But if you only feel fatigue after 15, then carry on till 15. This discrepancy could be due to the errors that could have occured when you were measuring your maximal weight. The rule of the thumb is, do not cause damage to your muscle fibers. (Tips: It's not easy to tell how many reps could result in muscle fiber tear, so do some trial and error, the pain due to the tear usually comes in a day later or so.)

3 times a day:

It's not exactly practical to need to exercise 3 times a day, don't we have to work?? A shortcut to this will be to do all 3 times in a single gym session, intervening aerobic exercises (like running, rowing and cycling) in between sets to ensure circulation of oxygenated blood to all parts of the muscle to aid recovery for the next set. Again, rule of the thumb is, not to damage the muscle fiber.

The muscles that are toned will in turn burn more calories throughout the day to maintain themselves. Also, keep in mind that, your weight might not decrease but stay constant due to the fact that muscles are heavier than fats. So while the exercising helped to lose fats and the muscles help to prevent storage of calories, your muscles' mass will offset the decrease in weight from the fats. But it will also mean that you feel healthier and fitter!

Happy experimenting!