I have a lot of weight to lose (170 pounds) I do not want to resort to surgery or pills because I do not agree with them. Has anyone lost weight the good old fashoined way of diet and exercise? and if so what worked best for you? And before i get bashed for the surgery comment let me state my case. i do not agree with these procedures or pills because they are quick fixes. they do not set you up for the rest of your life. bad habits are what got us where we are and that is what we have to change. I think it is a sign of how our society has gone down the drain when people cannot be responsible for their own choices and act accordingly. I want to make a change and take resposibility for my poor choices over the years and change so that I will be healthier. So, share your opinions and experiences. thank you!

Although everybody is different, I start my Soldiers out on something like this:
First, go to a doctor and be sure that your weight problem isn't medical related, such as a thyroid. If it isn't what you need to do is eat a balanced breakfast everyday. This stimulated the metabolism early in the morning and gets your body working early. I am a master fitness trainer in the military and all of my guys who are overweight use this technique first. After about 30 days for sure, but maybe even within a week or so, the pounds start to come off. You should't have to watch your food intake too much. If you use splenda or any other artificial sweetener, you should stop that too.
If all else fails, determine your caloric intake for the day. Do this by taking a number between 12 and 16: 12 being inactive and 16 being active. Be honest with yourself and give yourself a number and multiply it by your weight. That should be what you are taking in per day.
Example: I am really active, and do an hour of work out a day, so i give myself the number 15. I am 165 lbs, so my caloric intake per day is: 15x165=2475. So, to lose weight, I have to eat under 2475 calories per day. You still have to eat, and you shouldn't try to cut down on intake too much at a time. Cut off about 300 calories to begin with and slowly cut it more. This is the old fashion way of doing it, but I would use it as a last resort.
The average healthy persons diet consists of 60-75% carbohydrates, 15-25% protein, and 5-15% fat. If you track your diet, it should be in this ballpark.

If you diet like that, and do at least an hour of exercise per day, you should start to trim off the pounds in no time at all.

I completely understand your predicament as I am in a similar situation. In my experience of yo-you dieting I have found that Weight Watchers and daily exercise has worked best. I did the Atkins thing and lost weight fast but gained back the weight and then some. I think WW is a great choice because it helps you break bad habits and create new healthy ones. It is also a common sense approach to losing weight...ie, make better food choices and your body will respond accordingly.
If you don't have a WW meeting near you I have found the website http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx to have a plethora of resources to aid you in your new lifestyle.
Hope this helps and good luck!

It can be hard to lose a lot of weight, but not impossible. i respect your decision for trying it the hard way, and you are right in the idea that a quick fix is only temporary if you dont make a mental change.
People need to understand that diet is not a temporary thing, its a lifetime decision. You will have to live like this the rest of your life if you plan to stay healthy, not just a 30 day jenny craig plan if you know what I mean, which it sounds like you do )
The biggest weght problem in terms of food is fast food. There really arent any fast food restaurants that are healthy. Even their "healthy menu" is worse than the version you could make for yourself at home.
Avoid any unnecessary calories - chips, candy, cookies, sodas.
A few good drinks that are lower in calories that I use are tea's and gatorade (when you get tired of drinking water). Even juice's can be pretty high in sugars, so id ont even bother with them. (unless you make your own, than you're good to go).
Oils are ok, but in moderation.
Avoid fried foods. Also, Ive found that a lot of fried foods can taste just as good baked in the oven, without the use of oils, so you can try that as well.
Smaller portions are important too. I started using smaller plates so that i wouldnt be tempted to fill the larger ones. At first I was still hungry when I finished, but I gave it about 10 minutes and felt fine afterwards.
Try drinking a glass of water before and after (and during if you like!) eating, to fill you stomach more, and eat a lot of fiber. Fiber takes longer to digest, and will keep you full longer.
If you are largely overweight, dont push too hard on the exercise routines. Take a few walks or some light aerobics until you start to get closer to your desired weight, and then try upping your exercise plan as you get better.

There is no site specific way of losing fat... the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn't true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.
The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.
Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs... almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.
For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.
Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet... that isn't overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.
There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat... abdominal muscles will form in the position that you exercise them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.
If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.
Hope this is helpful to someone.
Aloha

I lost 30 pounds (and still losing) the old fashion way. I eat between 1200-1500 calories a day. A mix of veggies, fruit, two serving of dairy, two servings of carbs and protien. I write down what I eat so I know how many calories I consume in a day. For exercise I walk on a treadmill for 30 min five days a week. It's not a quick fix but it works if you keep up with it. If you can find someone to exercise with you it's a big help and will keep you on track. Good luck!

My ideas? Try to do 200 minutes of cardio a week. Remember fat does not turn into muscle, so you need to lose your fat while putting on muscle. Work hard, but don't over 60 minutes at a time. Do planks and other abs exercises on alternate days.
On training days, do 5-10 minutes of cardio to warm up, then do your weight training. Do 30 to 60 minutes more of cardio, then go home.
The best time to eat is just after your workout within an hour when your metabolism is raging. For your muscles, incorporate some isolated soy protein or whey protein. Whey is more potent but the soy tastes better!
Don't look at your scale as the be all and end all, but get a measuring tape to check your progress, and that will show more tangible results.
Read magazines like Shape, Womens Fitness, Fitness, etc to get tips and to stay motivated.
Good luck and stick at it. This plan has lost me 20 lbs in 12 weeks so far, just go for it!

I actually have heard a lot of good things about the Medifast program. I have a question on here now to see if anyone has tried it and their results. Check out the website. The success stories alone are almost enough to make me want to try. Also they have a sample package for $25 just in case you don't like the taste. I think it's about $140 biweekly. Not bad at all compared to Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. Good luck!

keep your mouth closed.

To lose weight, a person has to reduce the calorie intake by some amount by modifying their diet. A diet without sufficient nutrients will only increase the appetite of the person trying to lose weight. Since most people combine a diet with an exercise plan, additional nutrients are required for the growth of muscles required to increase the metabolic rate required for long term weight loss. More information available at http://tinyurl.com/jax5h

I suggest the newly developed all-natural Cinch weight management plan. On most diets, you lose muscle as well as fat. When you lose muscle, you lose some of your body's ability to burn fat, and your metabolism drops.
The doctors, nutritionists, and scientists at this company drew upon years of sports and nutrition science to create an easier and healthier plan. In a recent preliminary clinical trial, the scientists tested a proprietary formula enhanced with the amino acid leucine. People in the program lost fat, weight, and inches while retaining 100% of their lean muscle.
Keep muscle you have - Burn fat you don't need - Lose inches you don't want.
Hope this is useful and for the website or questions, feel free to contact me.

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