Thread: how to lose 100lbs

You claim it's the only way you've ever been able to lose weight. What else have you tried? And were these attempts backed by sensible approaches?

Most people who have a lot of weight to lose lose sight of the big picture. They adopt a very short-term perception, poor expectations, and a binary thought process where they view everything as either/or.

Those goes entirely against how things should be. And because of this, they typically hop on and off the wagon never really gaining any forward momentum/traction.

I'm a fitness professional and have worked with multiple "hyper-obese" individuals who were 500+ lbs.

What I typically have them do is maintain a food record for 7 days to get an idea of what exactly is being eaten. Among a few other core tenets, energy (or calorie) control is the root of the solution. If more calories are being consumed than expended, weight management simply isn't going to happen regardless of what you do.

There are websites that allow you to freely track your food intake or you can simply do the old fashioned approach and put pen to paper. Either way, you need to start by figuring out where you're starting point is.

I'll gladly offer any advice or answer any questions you might have.

This is a long process that involves many, small steps. It's important to focus on the small victories rather than the war at hand.

Best to you.

krista, thank you for your advice, i have tons of questions and thoughts. first off, i know i take in more calories a day then i should. thing is im a very picky eater, i dont eat any seafood of any sort, mainly pasta and bread, which i know is horrible. on the bright side, i dont drink soda, tea, milk, or consume alcohol on a regular basis, i strictly stick to water, and occasionally juice or a lemonade. i get zero exercise ever. i eat my emotions. i would like to learn how to be satisfied instead of STUFFED at the end of each meal, smaller portions and less calorie intake is my goal. more exercise of course too. i do have an elliptical, any ideas on what i can do to help? ps. where online can i keep track of my calorie intake daily, and how do i know where i should be?

First, you seem to have this impression that certain foods are evil and others are great.

This is not the case. In very general terms, the more processed a food is... or the more removed it is from it's natural state... the less healthy it is. The steps of processing these foods robs them of their nutritional quality or density.

Sure, there's an obesity crisis on our hands in this country... but in my opinion there's also a health crisis. Of course some of it comes hand in hand... obesity is accompanied by declining health. But I've seen time and time again where people of average weight are also suffering the same ailments many of my obese clients suffer.

More often than not this state of health is prompted by poor nutrition (and lack of exercise).

But here's the point... processed or unhealthy food will not automatically make you fat. You could eat nothing but highly processed foods yet still control calories and thus your weight. It's just that there's a huge difference between controlled weight and health.

What makes matters worse is the processed foods are typically the best tasting and thus the most addictive and the easiest to over-consume.

I bring this up to highlight the fact that it's important to avoid rigidity. You don't want to set a mile-long list of rules that must be adhered to. As long as there's some balance in your approach, you'll lose and control your weight and improve your health. The more rules you set up for yourself though, the greater the chances of caving down the road and having short-lived results.

If I had to throw out a list of foundational rules, it'd look something like:

1. Get a handle on how many calories you're consuming. If you'd like, you can tell me your stats (age, height, weight) and I'll give you an estimate of how many calories you need to consume in order to maintain your current weight. From there, it's a matter of eating slightly (20-35%) less than this maintenance to trigger a calorie/energy deficit.

You asked what sites to use to track calories. This community doesn't allow linking to outside sites for obvious reasons (uncontrolled spam/competition) so I can't provide you with a direct link. That said, I can tell you to go to google and type in "calorie tracking website". The first result will be the site I recommend using.

2. Simply plugging in foods and amounts you *think* you're consuming is quite a bit different than plugging in the foods and amounts you're actually consuming. Without fail, humans are horrendous at tracking portion sizes and energy intake accurately. Empirically this has held true in my own experience with a variety of clients and research backs up this notion.

The best way to improve accuracy would be to purchase a digital food scale. You can pick one up at Walmart or Target for under $40.

3. Prepare foods in advance. A lot of people skip this step and because of it, they lack control with their intake. I suggest having two days per week where you prepare foods in bulk. For instance, I will cook my meats in bulk on Sunday and Wednesday. Once they cool, I'll weigh them out and package them in zip lock baggies. From there, it's as simple as grabbing-n-going with no hassle.

I'll also pre-cook rice and pasta in bulk and package them in serving sizes too.

Nuts, fresh veggies and fruits, etc... pretty much anything can be sorted, sized out for proper servings, and baggied. This makes like much more simple and helps control nutrition like you wouldn't believe.

4. Stick with whole, natural foods the best you can and focus on balance. Each meal should contain some protein, carbs, and fats.

Healthy sources of protein include chicken or turkey breast, pork tenderloin, fish (which I know you don't like), lean ground beef, top round steak, eggs, low fat or fat free dairy (milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese), protein powder, etc.

Healthy sources of fats include fish oil pills (I suggest pretty much everyone take these), avocados, nuts, natural peanut butter, olive oil, flax, etc.

Good sources of carbs include fruits and vegetables. You should load up on these (especially fibrous veggies) as best you can. They nutritionally-dense and calorically-sparse. In other words, they're healthy and don't provide such a large caloric punch. Other good sources of carbs include whole wheat breads and pastas, brown rice, oats, yams, etc.

Of course you can stray from these lists as they're not inclusive. There are other healthy options for each category. And also, going back to avoiding excessive rigidity... feel free to work in what most consider "unhealthy treats" just as long as you account for them in your calories and control the intake.

5. Controlling hunger is a very unique thing for folks. Some people do better with approaches that leave others ravishingly hungry. A short list of tricks I like to give my clients includes:

a) Decipher between true physiological hunger and non-physiological hunger. Physiological hunger is that which is triggered by the body - hormonal fluctuations, empty stomach, etc. Non-physiological hunger is that which is triggered by your environment - boredom, triggers (commercials, company, etc), food availability, etc. If it's the former, we should be focusing more on meal frequency, dietary composition, calories, etc. If it's the latter, we should be focusing more on tweaking our environments. Typically it's a combination that's skewed to one side or the other.

b) Adequate protein consumption makes a world of difference. It's the most satiating nutrient we have at our disposal. If you're truly eating roughly 1 gram per pound of lean body mass... especially if this is coming from whole foods... it becomes increasingly hard to BE hungry.

c) Volume of food matters. Our bodies acclimate to food volume. By this, I mean if we're used to eating food in the amount of the size of our fist every 3 hours and we cut that volume in half, our bodies are going to let us know by way of sending hunger signals (primarily via stomach size). So it is evident that not only is caloric control important... so is volume control and that's where energy density comes into play. Paying particular attention to foods that provides the biggest bang for your buck in terms of volume without a huge caloric punch makes a difference. No, veggies aren't the be all end all fix. But they fit this category of foods nicely and they're just one piece of the puzzle.

d) Fruit is a bit more energy dense than veggies but it's typically less energy dense than the foods seen in the American diet. In addition to providing volume without a terribly high caloric "punch," it also does some nifty things in terms of liver glycogen, which, in its own right is a method of squashing some of the hunger signaling.

e) Eating adequate fiber also plays a role via slowing down digestion thus leaving you fuller longer. Plus, high fiber foods tend to be low on the energy-density scale so it's a double whammy.

These lean more towards physiological hunger. Non-physiological hunger is too individual and complex to discuss in one post like this. But hopefully some of these points make a difference for you.

I could ramble on and on and I'm sure I over-did it already. You're probably experiencing information overload, which is not my intent. So feel free to ask questions until you feel you have a grasp of the big picture.