Weight Loss

So, you want to lose weight.

Welcome to C-C, my friends, and let us instill upon you the guaranteed to work C-C Diet. No pills, no fad diets, no bull. Only real hard science.

This post is not meant to be the end-all be-all of how-to guides. There are alot of topics I skip over or touch briefly, that you should feel free to investigate yourself. I just want to equip you with the knowledge you need to make good decisions and lose weight properly.

Table Of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 0: Are you really overweight?

Chapter 1: The Mighty Calorie (Introduction to the Calorie)

Chapter 2: Nutrition In A Nutshell (Introduction to Nutrition)
     Section 2.1: Carbs Are Cool (Carbohydrates)
     Section 2.1.1: Functional Fiber (Dietary Fiber)
     Section 2.2: Powerful Proteins (Protein)
     Section 2.3: Fabulous Fats (Fat)
     Section 2.3.1: Confusing Cholesterol (Cholesterol and it's connections with Fats)
     Section 2.4: Water You Talking About? (Water)
     Section 2.5: So, How Much Should I Be Eating Then? (Percentages of Carbs, Protein and Fats)

Chapter 3: Movin' Right Along - Exercise and Weight Loss (Benefits of Physical Activity)
     Section 3.1: Sweatin' Off The Pounds - Aerobic Exercise
     Section 3.2: Flexibility Training (Flexibility)
     Section 3.3: Govehnoh Ahnold Sent Me... To PUMP YOU UP! (Weight Lifting)

Chapter 4: Putting It All Together - The Road To Fat Loss
     Section 4.1: Deficit Spending (Figuring out your Caloric Deficit)
     Section 4.2: Your Metabolism And You: A Love Story (Metabolism)
     Section 4.3: Apples vs. Pears: I think you're all a little fruity (Body Shapes)
     Section 4.4: Putting It All Together

Chapter 5: Last Pieces of Advice
      Section 5.1: Getting Over Overeating (Emotional Eating)
      Section 5.2: Be Your Own Doctor - Get Some Patience (Patience With Yourself)
      Section 5.3: Going For The Goal (Setting Goals and Rewards)

Chapter 6: Living With Your Lifestyle Change
     Section 6.1: A Man, A Plan, A Recipe Book, and a Pair of New Shoes! (Planning Out Your Lifestyle Change)
     Section 6.2: Eat To Live - How To Begin To Eat Healthy (Putting Nutrition Into Your Daily Routine)
     Section 6.3: I Think I Can, I Think I Can, I Think I Can (Adding Exercise Into Your Daily Routine)

Chapter 7: HELP ME!!! Common Problems Associated With Dieting
     Section 7.1: Me Vs. The Man In The Mirror (Self-Image)
     Section 7.2: Gimme Gimme Gimme Some Food After Midnight (Binging)
     Section 7.3: Killer Cravings (Cravings)
     Section 7.4: The Perils of Plateaus (Plateaus)
     Section 7.5: Eating Out (Dun Dun Dun) (Eating At Restaurants)
     Section 7.6: Crash And Burn - Why Repetition is NOT always Good (Burning Out)
     Section 7.7: Real Life Strikes Again! (Breaks And Vacations)

Chapter 8: Useful Links

Supplement 1: Stages of Dieting

Introduction: Why the other diets just don't work
So many of us have tried them all: Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, none of them work. Some of them help you learn how to get the weight off, but the moment you stop, BANG!, you're back up again. Well, that sucks, doesn't it?
That's because the diet industry, all of it is, is designed to make sure that you, the average overweight American, don't succeed. After all, if you finally lose the weight and keep it off, than suddenly you don't need to keep buying their stuff. And they're out alot of money.

Here on C-C, though, we can teach you, from experience, how to lose weight, how to keep it off and we don't even charge!

Section 5.3: Going for the Goal
The point of this post was to give you a general feel for how to lose weight in a healthy manner, but also to give you the information you need to improve your health. For many people, it seems that weight loss is the end all and be all, and that's not a healthy way to think.

I do not intend to discuss eating disorders, except to say that many eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia occurs when the need to be thin and "beautiful" goes too far, to the point where one needs to be thin, at the cost of one's health.

If you aim, instead, to be healthier and fitter, than your aims are somewhat, but not entierly different than if your aim is to lose weight. Aiming for better health means learning not just how to eat the number of calories they can eat a day, but learning to eat healthy well-balanced meals full of whole good-for you foods. Aiming for better health means becoming physically fit so that, as you get older, you can enjoy the benefits of health such as lower risk of many cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, and numerous cancers. Being healthy means that you recognize what a healthy weight for you is and, thus, when to stop and start maintaining.

It is the strong suggestion of this post, as well as the suggestion of many of the personalities on this board that you aim for better health. To break that up into small, meaningful and manageable steps, we suggest a goal and reward system. Just as your parents did for you, when you were younger, if you do what they asked of you, you got some small reward, whether it was a gift from the grab-bag or a trip to the zoo, this sort of positive reinforcement (Do something good, get a reward) works and works well, and it can work for you too.

Some example of goals that you should consider include: Losing 10/20/25/30/50 pounds, getting down another dress or pant size, being able to jog your first mile, being able to bike your first five miles, entering and running your first 5K race, eating healthy enough to earn a Grade of A in the food logs, eating close to the FDA suggestions for a week, and the like. These are mangeable goals that you, and anyone else, can reach. Remember, the difference between you and other people isn't that your capable of doing these things, but that you can and will do some of these.

Now as far as rewards go, it is our strong suggestion that you give yourself non-edible rewards. I've seen rewards that range from CDs and Videos, new gadgets, Tattoos, trips to the massage parlor, trips to the spa, new clothing. and my personal favorite, breast enhancement surgery! In the end, you should reward yourself with something meaningful and enjoyable to you. And enjoy every moment of it. Once you've reached your goal, whatever that goal is, you SHOULD be proud.

If you haven't done so already, I suggest you sit down with a piece of paper and write up some reasonable goals, and some rewards to attach to them. And remember, you can do this!

Chapter 6: Living with your lifestyle change

So, I've now talked to you about what a calorie is, and how to make sure you're getting the right amount of calories from good, healthy foods. I've touched upon diet, exercise and health! I've walked you through some of the ins and outs of metabolism and offered some last advice.

Let's talk the nitty gritty about how to make this all work for you, in a manageable way!

Section 6.1: A Man, A Plan, A Recipe Book and a pair of new shoes!
You want to lose weight. Where do you start? How do you do it?

You need... a plan.

The first thing you need to do is to make a list of what habits you need to change to be healthy. Perhaps you aren't very active right now, and should be. Perhaps you don't eat as well as you can. Perhaps you should tone your muscles.

Whatever it is, write it down. Than, once you've written it all down, rank it by it's importance... what's the most important thing you should be doing right now to improve your health and lower your fat percentage? Once you've determined what's most important to you, create a reasonable list of goals to meet: Perhaps making sure to walk for 15 minutes a day, or to start cooking home-cooked meals or to lower the amount of fat you eat per day.

Remember, it's very easy to get caught up trying to fix all of your faults at once. That sort of effort will drive you crazy and probably leave you sitting down, somewhere, wondering why you're trying to do it all for anyways? It will take a long time to make new, healthy habits, but you can start right now, if you work towards reasonable, manageable goals!

Section 6.2: Eat to Live - How to begin to eat healthy
No matter where you start from, there's always room for improvement. Most Americans eat far too much protein and far too much fat, don't get many micronutrients through their food, and underestimate exactly how much food they eat.

Your first set of weapons in your battle towards eating for health is a good kitchen scale, and a good set of measuring cups and spoons. The next weapon you'll need is a good calorie counter, such as this site.

What you'll want to do is begin to understand exactly how much food you eat per day. Log in everything you eat, from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep. Every piece of fruit, every topping on your burger, everything. Make sure you get close to exact amounts... actually measure out 1 tbsp of salad dressing and put it on your salad. Make sure to read the nutritional labels on everything you eat, as it will give you an idea of exactly how good it is, compared to the other food you eat.

Count your calories for a few days to a week, making sure to get an average of how many calories you tend to eat during the week, and how many you eat during the weekend. Remember, most of us tend to eat differently on weekends than weekdays.

I strongly suggest you do a daily and weekly analysis, through this site, on your food intake as well, to get an idea not just how many calories you eat, but also what sort of percentage of each macronutrients you take in. This may not seem important at first, as you struggle, perhaps, to eat a reasonable amount of calories, but it will become more important with time.

Planning food can become a useful tactic towards making sure you eat well. Planning out about a week's worth of meals, all at once, can assure that you're getting a wide variety of different foods, as suggested by the FDA, but also assures that you aren't eating the same salad over and over and over and over again, which can lead to burnout.

Once you've got your numbers, you've got a starting place. Chances are, you're eating more than you realize, and certain foods you love are perhaps not the healthiest choices for you. The next thing to begin to work on is portion control. Most Americans eat more than one reasonable portion of food. Especially when you go out. Restaurants tend to offer you a huge amount of food, and it's up to you, the consumer, to make sure you eat the right amount of food.

A good rule of thumb, to begin with, is to eat slowly, instead of devouring your food and keep listening to your body to see if it signals it's full. When you're full, stop eating. Period.

I strongly suggest that you consider beginning to cook your own food. Home cooking gives you total control over the food you eat. Many boxed foods contain hidden fats and salts. And while salt may not directly interfere with your ability to lose fat, ingesting large amounts of salt does lead to water retention, which does lead to seeing a higher weight on your scale.

You will probably want to continue logging your calories as you go. Your caloric needs change, as you lose weight, and as you become more in control of your food, you should work toward making sure you consume the right percentages of food, making sure you get about 50% of your calories from carbhodrytates, 25% of your calories from protein and 25% of your calories from fat, preferably unsaturated fats.

With time, I would like to suggest that you move towards eating more whole foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, lean cuts of meat, whole grains and skim or part-skim milk and milk products, as these foods offer great nutritional "Bang" for relatively low calorie "buck".

The important thing to remember, and the entire summary of this subject is: Make sure you log in everything, especially as you just start. Logging in your food keeps you honest and helps you understand what your personal problem areas are.

Section 6.3: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can - Becoming more Active
I can not stress enough the benefits of fitness. People who are fit are sick less, suffer from less middle-age illnesses and just live a higher quality of life than people who are not fit. They're capable of doing what they want with their bodies when they want to, whether that's playing in the company softball league, keeping up with their kids or *cough* marital activities. :D

The important thing about becoming more active, especially when you've been barely active at all, is to start slow and be patient. It does take time to build up your endurance and strength, but it will happen, with time.

Pick an activity that interests you, something that will keep you interested and that you'd enjoy, and just do it, but slowly. If you feel comfortable doing that, kick it up a notch, but only a notch.

With time, you can find yourself running a 5K race or being a triathlete, and you will feel sooo goood doing that!

Remember, as you become more active, that aerobic exercise, flexibility training and strength training are all important and have their place in creating a healthy, fit you who can be comfortable in your own body. Do not neglect any of them.

Chapter 7: HELP ME!!! Common Problems Associated with Dieting
Dieting is no walk in the park. Nobody ever said dieting is easy, because it's not, period. Below I list some of the numerous issues that come with dieting, and some words of wisdom on how to weather them out.

Section 7.1 - Me vs. The Man in the Mirror - Self-Image
The #1 Biggest problem with dieters, as a whole, is a bad self-image. For many dieters, who have been overweight their entire lives, they believe the world sees them as gargoyles, ugly and terrible.

In the end, no one can make you feel better about yourself but you, but you should know one thing: You are not alone. There are hundreds of people, on this site alone, who have dealt with and are dealing with what you are dealing with. Sometimes, the most important thing you need, to start yourself off, is support. It's knowing that someone out there really cares for you.

Make sure to set yourself up a support system. Talk to friends, family members, people who you know love you and want to see you succeed, and tell them what your plans are, that you're looking for someone who cares and wants you to succeed, and kick you in the tush to keep you going. Here on calorie-count, we have a marvelous online support system where hundreds of people, just like you, who have struggled or are struggling with the same issues you are. These people are great and I hope you get to know every one of them, but having someone in real life is even better.

At this stage, I should discuss UNsupportive people. There are a number of people who, purposely or no, act unsupportive to you. Hubbies who bring you chocolate, family members who make cruel comments, or utter strangers you meet.  It's important to remember that many people react to weight loss out of jealousy and insecurity and their own feelings that they should be doing what you're doing. Some people you may be able to talk things out with, and find peace. Some people you'll need to learn to actively ignore, and not let them get in between your health and you. Always remember, this IS the right thing for you to be doing. Health is always a good goal.

Section 7.2 - Gimme Gimme Gimme Some Food After Midnight - Binges
Everything's doing spiffy. Come home from work, look in the fridge and before you know it you "Wake up" and realize you've just consumed the entire head of lettuce, half a head of cabbage, the milk and are currently chewing on the cardboard milk container. And you realize "OMG, I just binged!! What do I do?!?"

The first thing you do, when you realize you've binge, is relax a little, and try to absolve yourself of the guilt you probably feel assocaited with "blowing your diet". As I said, above, you need to be patient with yourself and realize that it takes time to change old habits.

When you've relaxed, think back a little, how did you feel? Was this a bad response to a particular emotion? Perhaps you've had a really bad day and desperately needed something sweet to "make it better"? Again, sometimes just being aware of your issues can help you figure out how to self-correct.

Also, what have you eaten during the day? Have you been sure to eat a reasonable amount of calories (at least 1200 if you're a gal, 1500 if you're a guy), and tried to make certain to eat about 25% of your calories from protein and 25% of your calories from fat? If not, the binge may have been your body desperately trying to make sure you get the nutrition and calories you need. Make sure to change your diet to make sure you're getting enough of the right nutrition.

If neither of those two issues really fits, or you simply can't get control of your binges, you may have Binge Eating Disorder. United2gether, one of our members, put together alot of information on binge eating disorder in this post. Please see your doctor immediately to get help.

It's important to remember, one way or the other, that if you did binge the night before, not to attempt to compensate by eating less today. What you did yesterday is over. Book closed. Just do your best today, and make sure to eat a reasonable number of calories.

Section 7.3: Killer Cravings
So you've had a great week, eaten the right number of calories, and just feel all-around good, when you go shopping and see your favorite chocolate. At first, you're like "That looks good." Go home and you think "Gee, I'd like chocolate." and before you know it, the chocolate monster has taken control of your body going "NEED CHOCOLATE! MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE!"

You have a craving.

Our first suggestion is try to ignore it. Many cravings only last about 10 minutes. Drink some water, read a book, go for a walk, do something else. Try to get your mind off the craving. If it's still there after a reasonable time and you can't make it go away, give in to it, a little bit. If you desperately need a piece of chocolate. Have a small piece (such as a hershey kiss and a fun-size candy bar). If you gotta have a burger, go ahead and have a burger, and work that in to your daily meal plan.

It's better to give in to your craving, a little, than to eat everything else in the hopes it will go away.

Section 7.4: The Perils of Plateaus
Every once in a while, you just stop losing weight. Try as you might, a week passes by, maybe two, but the needles on your scale is simply stuck. You're on a plateau.
Being on a plateau is like, pulling your car off the road, on your way down the mountain, and stopping to take a look. Please look back at the peak, to see how far you've come in your journey. Take a breather, sit and enjoy, and recognize that you will get started back on your journey down the mountain, with time.

It's important to note that, often, while you may not be losing weight, you may still be losing inches. If your overall goal is better health and better looks, that's still a good thing. Overall inches may help you squeeze into the next dress size!

Plateaus seem to happen when your body has finally gotten used to the new regime. It moves to compensate for the lower calorie intake by slowing down a notch, and reducing your fat loss.  Experience from numerous people suggests that the best to break a plateau is to do something different.. up your calories a couple hundred, or add some more exercise to your regime. Something different that forces your body to react differently. One tried and true method is to alternative your calorie intake.. going up a little for a day or two, and then going back to where you were.

Section 7.5: Eating Out (Dun Dun Dun)
Eating Out seems to be one of those things that tends to send dieters into a spin. You can control what you eat at home, by reading nutritional information, planning out meals, making sure you eat healthy, but eating out! Oh no!

A mere 40 or 50 years ago, people went out occasionally, as a social occasion, to celebrate important events or just to spend quality time with good people. This is before the Frantic Nineties and the New Millenium when no one had time to make their own dinners. Eating out, socially, is a lost art. One that it's high time to reclaim.

The important thing about going out is Planning. See if you can nutritional information for the restaurant you're interested in and find out what the best dish for you to eat is, and then plan around eating there. If you're going to go to Ruby Tuesday's to spend good times with friends, see if the websits has nutritional info and plan, plan, plan. Barring that, remember to eat more good, healthy foods and stay away from cream sauces, butter and the like.

Eating out can be and should be a pleasurable experience, for everyone, though it is my suggestion that you, working on living healthier lives, don't eat out TOO often, just as an occasional thing.

Section 7.6: Crash and Burn - Why Repetition is NOT always good good
For many of us, it's a fact of human nature that we get bored. Without putting it overdelicately, for many people you can only do a salad so many ways before you can't even CONSIDER having salad again. This is the main fallacy of a number of fad diets like the Cabbage Soup Diet. While Salad and Cabbage Soup can both be healthy, low-calorie and delicious, people need variety.

From experience, you should be looking to change things around every 10 to 15 weeks. Make sure to incorporate different exercises, different intensities, different challenges, any sort of variety that can make exercising fun and challenging again.

The same is true for food. Do not be afraid, as time progresses, to buy new healthy cookbooks. While I'm sure there are lots of great recipes in that first healthy cookbook you tried, trying out a new recipe can make food fun and exciting again.

When you find that what you're doing is tedious, that you just don't see the point to continuing, sit down, plan out a way to switch things up, and do so.

Section 7.7: Real Life Strikes Again - Breaks and Vacations
Realistically, we all find ourselves in situations where we end up not fully capable of eating as well as we feel we should. Whether it's because we're visiting friends, on a long trip, or going on vacation, we don't have the capabilities, and maybe feel a little weird, trying to do what we do in the safety of our own home.

In situations like these, you've gotta plan as best as you can, hold onto your seat, and just do your best. It is possible you'll fail to eat very well. It is possible you'll sort of even out over time. One way or another, don't sweat it too much. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

It is very important to remember that a day off, a week off, will not entierly destroy your diet, so long as you're willing to hop back on the wagon as quickly as you can.

Chapter 8: Useful Links

(To be added to later)

http://www.calorie-count.com
http://www.mypyramid.gov
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

well done, hk. thanks for the time you put into such an informative, and easily accessible post!

Fantastic information Hk and in a wonderfully easy to read format.  Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Thank you, all. :) I just wanted to make all this information accessable and understandable :) Please feel free to correct me if I made any factual mistakes, though I've checked most of this. :)

Good stuff - thanks so much HK =)

Everyone tag this one!

BRILLIANT!  I'm tagging it and printing it out to have on hand for anyone who seriously wants to know how to lose weight and eat healthy.  Everything we try to tell people in one source...congratulations, HK, this is quite an accomplishment.

Thanks, everyone! :)

This is so great! Definitely something to tag and bump up every day!

HK!  I just realized that you never have to actually answer a question again!  Just copy and paste:  "I've posted a lot of really great information here [link].  All hail me."

Hooray!!!