[Fatmajeneby]

I truly need to lose weigth,I startd to gain when I had my two daugthers.. so which is the best way to lose weigh:)

[Eileen G]

Eat smaller portions and eat better quality food. Try to base your diet on fresh whole foods like eggs, fish, meat, lots and lots of green vegetables, some fruit, some nuts, some wholegrains.

Try to avoid sugar, white flour and processed foods. Replace white carbs (pasta, bread, rice, potatoes) with lean protein and green vegetables.

Aim to eat at least five portions a day of GREEN vegetables. They'll fill you up without adding calories, and improve your health.

Avoid all the low fat diet food out there. They make it low fat by adding sugar and sweeteners instead. They often have as many calories as the full fat version, taste rotten and tend to keep your insulin levels too high.

[kp2171]

your body stores fat in response to your food intake and your metabolic needs...

so the most efficient way to attack this is to attack both areas.

many people think addressing food means starving ones self... and that's the worst thing you can do. Severe food restriction is not sustainable, especially emotionally, and your body adjusts to starvation by shutting down your metabolism.

so... it isn't about a restrictive diet, its about a healthy diet.

and that doesn't mean nuts and twigs for dinner.

spreading your food out over time is good. Smaller lunches and dinners... in between have a small snack in the late am and afternoon. A few bites of lean meat and cheese for ex, in the am and maybe some healthy nuts (oven roasted, low salt macademias, almonds, sunflower seeds) in the afternoon. The idea is to not dump excess calories into your body all at once. To gradually fuel your body throughout the day, but not too much at once.

dinner is often a terrible mistake. We jam lots and lots of calories in at the worst time of day, when your body is getting ready to shut down, when your metabolism is slowing.

its fine to think about healthier ways to cook... bake instead of fry, for ex. But I think small changes are the best at first.

for ex... instead of a big dinner plate, use a smaller plate. Use 1/4 of it for protein, 1/4 for carbs, and the rest for veggies and fruit. You don't need to jam all of this on the same plate (some are icked out by food touching other food)... just keep that idea in mind.

I've always been fairly active, and mostly fit. Sometimes great, sometimes needing to lose a little. The last time we (wife and I) needed to lose a little was after our son had been born. He was probably 2 years old and wed both put on a little weight.

we were shocked at how much we were eating. Found that we could cut our portions by 1/3 and still leave the table not hungry.

add into that our deliberate attempt to make sure fruit and veggies were present in every meal... within two weeks we both started craving the fruits and veggies that we just seemed to not be able to get into the meals before. Likewise, it took no time at all to cut the portions down.

now... we hardly ever order a full meal when out at dinner and eat it all. We usually split it, or we plan on taking 1/2 or 1/3 home.

we still eat carbs, and sometimes that means processed wheat... but we try to do more whole grains...

I understand the argument about highly processed grains... I also think sometimes its better to give yourself a small amount of what you crave than to deny yourself completely.

if my partner is craving pasta, fine. She's italian, after all... we will just plan on less pasta, more lean mean included (like chicken added to a smaller amount of alfredo pasta, preferably whole grain) and we will amp up veggies and fruits.

if she's craving a treat its much, MUCH better to have one killer champagne truffle than to try to "eat around" her craving... shell likely eat more calories and still not be satiated.

also, give yourself a "diet break" from time to time. Not only does this ease your mental pressure, but it also confuses your body. If all you do is restrict, your body will learn to adjust to this.

and the other side of this is addressing your metabolism. This means moving your body, exercising.

calorie restriction alone can result in weight loss, but its nothing compared to the power of increasing your metabolism at the same time.

think about two people who desperately want to see each other, separated by many miles. One person can come to the other, but it takes more time and effort.

if both move toward each other, it happens faster, with less effort on both sides.

it is the same with exercise and diet.

when you move your body, you increase your metabolism, which will burn more calories.

so... you need to find ways to work your body, to amp up your metabolism. Its often best to try to find ways to do this earlier in the day, since an increased metabolism early in the day will burn more of the food you are likely to consume throughout the day...

there are lots of ways to do this. Walks, climbing stairs, at home dvds, etc.

people who try to make dramatic changes quickly often don't succeed. You can make some small changes in a short time, and then gradually make more changes.

it often takes 6-8 weeks for a new "thing" to becomce a habit... something you crave, even.

for ex... when I reduced food portions, it took less than 2 weeks for me to feel like it was a natural adjustment.

while I've almost always been active, when I start any new exercise, it takes me longer, often a couple of months, for it to be "imprinted"... for me to not have to think about it, for it to be natural, and even for me to desire that work.

likewise, if you haven't been exercising, I think it takes easily 2-4 weeks to "break your body in"... and then another month or two before you really start feeling strong and seeing results.

so...

lots to think about.. but starting today, even in small steps, will start you down that path. Many times people write in here wanting to lose x amount of weight in x amount of time... and often I think... well, maybe you can't get there that fast, but what if you could get halfway there? You'd be in a better place and primed to lose the rest.

also, research has shown that those who keep journals that document exercise and food and/or have workout partners lose and keep off twice the weight.