dieting for a beginner

"sycochkn" wrote:
"em" wrote:
wrote:

I have never really dieted before, if anyone could help an ignorant
guy, with a bit of a belly like me, I would appreciate it.

First advice - Read the book first, then follow the directions. It
almost doesn't matter which popular diet book you get. Have
a plan to read a few alternative diet types while you're following
the directions of your first choice. Stick to it at least 6 months.
If you do not lose well or if you are having a hard time, switch to
a different plan type and follow the directions from that book.

KCAL- this mean kilo calories, right?

Correct. The numbers on food labels are kcal.

How much is good for you?

Human metabolism can range very widely from under 1000
cal in starvation to 4000+ cal in intense athletic competition.
Find a book that discussed the topic and follow its advice.

Gaining and losing weight works like this:

Calories, or KCals are a measurement of the energy in food. The food you
eat goes into your body and is turned into energy. If you eat more
calories worth of food then your body uses as energy, you store energy as
fat. If you eat less Calories of food then your body uses, you lose
weight. To lose one pound of weight, you need to eat 3500 calories less
then your body uses.

Most people shoot for a deficit of 3500 to 7000 Calories per week, which
is a loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.

There's a reason a deficit of 500 cal is a good idea - Larger changes
tend to change metabolism more. You don't want to go from 2000
to 100 cal and end up moving your body's metabolism from 1900 to
1300 and end up losing slowly and being hungry. If you're currently
eating 2000 try 1500. It's less likely to cause your metabolism to
reduce, and you can always taper down to 1400 in a couple of months
and so on.

You need to educate yourself a bit. Search for the following online using
Yahoo, Google or whatever:

BMI Calculator
Diet Calculator
Height Weight Chart

These aren't the end-all of determining your ultimate weight or your
current level of health, but its a good way to start figuring out what
kind of shape you're in and where you want to go. These tools should give
you a pretty good idea of where you are now and where you want to go. Once
you use these tools and gather some information, post that information
back to this group for better advice.

What is a recommended, diet?

I like the Atkins diet, very little sugar or carbohydrates. The important
thing is to find something that works for you, that you can stick with for
the rest of your life. That's right -- the rest of your life. If you go on
a "diet" and lose weight, and then start to eat the way you do now, you
will gain that weight back.

Here a sampling of several body fat calculation methods. The BMI is useless
using methods based on the BMI I have come up with values from minus 12
percent to plus 24 percent body fat.

BMI is an okay starting point for well over half of the population.
That's plenty good enough for most beginners.

Most height weight charts seem to be OK.

Not insurance weight charts used in the US. Those are consistently
10 pounds too low. They were based on questionaires. The men
listed their height higher than reality. The women listed their
weight
lower than reality. So when the mortality data was gathered the
best height/weight combinations for longevity are 10 pounds heavier
than the ones listed in the charts.

Try to use those charts and the last 10 pounds will take far more
hunger to lose and constant hunger to maintain.

For doing food calcualations the information on the food package is
probably adequate for most applications.

Yes. Labels can be wrong but they work fine as a starting point.

" wrote:

Are carbs before 9pm fine?

That depends on what type of plan you select. Read the book,
follow the directions.

Carbs in the evening often make people more hungry at night
or in the morning, so they tend to erode portion control.

What is wrong with sugar, exactly?

Causes diabetes when eaten in excess for decades. Is refined
to elinimate all other nutrition. Is the worst carb for increasing
hunger.

What is a recommended, diet?

Every person has a favorite plan. They all work fine for some
people, so look for folks who support their own plans and avoid
folks who bash other plans. Try one type and see how it works.

My bias - I do best on low carb. Atkins.

"em" wrote in message ...

"sycochkn" wrote


Here a sampling of several body fat calculation methods. The BMI is
useless using methods based on the BMI I have come up with values from
minus 12 percent to plus 24 percent body fat.

There are a lot of legit arguments against BMI. I think of BMI, weight,
body
fat % measurements, height weight charts, waist measurements, clothing
sizes,
etc. as tools to use for tracking and understanding progress towards a
goal.
My "real goals" are to look good and feel healthy.

I have a lot of fat to lose. The two tools I use most are watching what I
eat (counting carbs and making good choices for foods), and weighing
myself
every day to make sure I'm on-track. (Day-to-day weight is meaningless;
charting your weight over a long period of times means a lot.)

Most height weight charts seem to be OK.

I've been looking at these charts and am starting to realize that I am in
big-time denial about what my goal weight should be. The charts say that I
should weigh in between 180 and 190 pounds, and I've been thinking I can
get
away with anywhere from 210 to 220. I am at 245 right now and have been
thinking I was within 25 pounds or so of my goal. Even though I am having
trouble accepting it, the fact is I need to lose more like 60 pounds. That
is disconcerting, to say the least.

I was looking at my fat-ass stomach in the mirror today. No way am I a
person with "just 25 pounds to lose".

For doing food calcualations the information on the food package is
probably adequate for most applications.

That and the USDA database. Between the database and the food labels, you
have all the information you need, be that Calories, fat, kinds of fat,
cholesterol, sodium, carbs, etc.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/


You can also download the database and access software to your own computer.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=4451

Bob

Go to www.ejayproducts.com and order Fat Loss 4 Idiots!!! It's extremely
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wrote:
I have never really dieted before, if anyone could help an ignorant
guy, with a bit of a belly like me, I would appreciate it.

KCAL- this mean kilo calories, right? How much is good for you?

Is this connected to fat, saturated, unsaturated, carbohydrates? How
do you read each on a package, in Japanese and English and what puts
fat onto your body?

Are carbs before 9pm fine?

What is wrong with sugar, exactly?

What is a recommended, diet?