This next little piece of gold is key to your success as a weight loss champion. But first a little background. Many of us have started this journey more than once in our lifetime. See if this describes you at all. You get sickened with your reflection in the mirror and/or you get a rush of motivation and you start this life anew...again. You swear off everything that tastes good and vow to exercise 'til it hurts. Day one you eat an apple and a fat free yogurt for breakfast. A slimfast for lunch, salad and grilled salmon with lemon for dinner and a scoop of frozen fat free Cool whip dipped in sugar free chocolate syrup (the recipe that started this can do "lifestyle change" in the first place). You also take a couple of laps around the local track and when you go to bed at night you are starving but soooo proud of yourself. You denied yourself.
Fast forward one week and you are finishing off that ice cream you bought to reward yourself for the 2 pound loss (all water weight might I add) and you go to bed tired and disgusted with yourself or wondering why you just can't accept your body and move on. Sound Familiar?
Several things are going on in this scenario that are creating this cycle.
Our incredible wonderful bodies are designed to keep us going in a steady pattern. When you get a cut your body quickly tries to get you back to normal as fast as possible. Same with an illness - your body want's it's normal. Fat is stored when your body can not use all the energy it is given. It is efficiently organizing that fat/energy in your favorite places..not.. for later use. This process takes time. Normal is being effected a small degree at a time and new normals are created. Then a punch of motivation strikes and whoa-who your body is in full panic mode. Instead of the frog cooking on a steady low, you have just cranked the heat to full blast. In a desperate effort to keep things as-is, your body starts to store all energy coming in - a useful tool for our ancestors who relied on mother nature to provide their nutrition. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate so the body stored all the energy brought in during famine time to prolong the "normal" as long as possible.
When our diet drops suddenly or too much, our body will not let go of stored energy let alone anything coming in. We must never cut our calories below 1200 a day. That includes calories we burn off during exercise. If you eat 1200 calories and burn 600, you are still risking the body's panic mode. You need to work with your body to achieve results. And, the best part is, it makes the "life style" change easier as well. Faster is never better when it comes to weight loss. Track your food and make sure you are eating enough....yes I said it. You have to eat to lose..... just waiting for the applause to stop............. I say start out slow on the exercise as well. Work your exercising up and your food consuming down slowly and you will look and feel like a million bucks!
Here is what I did.
I found out my BMR (basil metabolic rate) then added calories for my activity level. (all easy on MYFITNESSPAL.COM) When I exercised, I added those calories back into my diet. (again easy, MFP). Everyday activities that are part of your routine are not exercise. They are accounted for under your activity level. I ate smaller meals more often in the beginning to keep me at a satisfied place. I found when I got to a certain hungry point I would eat anything and everything - not good.
I also got on the elliptical machine and went 20 minutes and got off. I was beat. Little by little I got to where I would say to myself "I think I can maybe kick it up a notch". So, I would increase the tension a level. I still just do the same 20 minutes just with harder effort. This has worked for me. I lift weights 4 days a week and although cut arms take a little longer to see they are worth the effort and muscle works with you to burn fat.
Rules for losing
1. eat - food is not evil!
2. don't overdo the exercise
3. Drink water - get over it and learn to love it.
4. Log log log
You can do this!!
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