A Guide To Losing Weight!

[Goku]

[NOTE: THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN WRITTEN FROM MY OWN KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE. SOME INFORMATION MIGHT BE INACCURATE. USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK. AND ALWAYS CONSULT A DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING ANY EXERCISE OR DIET ROUTINE.]

Sallam Alykum,

I have been obese for most of my life but in the past few months I have changed my habits and have lost over 20 pounds with weight shedding off weekly. I have found a way of losing weight though it is no secret, no pills, no magic formula, or anything like that. It is the only way of losing weight besides surgery and requires dedication and time. It could either take you weeks, months, or years to lose the weight depending on many factors including age, body type, activity level etc. But once you get started, trust me you don;t want to stop.

Also please be kind in replying to this thread lol. This is my first article on weight loss. It might not be as organized or detailed as I hope but should be sufficient for general understating of weight loss. I will update this thread with more information Inshallah.

Now there are two main principles to losing weight the first and most important is the food and nutrients consumption; the second is exercise.

Food and Nutrient Consumption

One of the most important nutrient your body needs during weight loss is protein. Protein serves many functions one being the repair of muscle tissue. Now you might ask, why is protein important if I want to lose weight? Well the answer is protein will help build muscle mass (which is a good thing) and also retain the muscle you already have. You wouldn't want to go on a diet and lose muscle mass instead of fat mass. Muscle is very good for weight loss because the more muscle you carry the more calories you body burns throughout the day. Best food choices for protein would be chicken, fish, eggs, and if you must protein powder.

Now when dieting, it doesn't really matter how much carbs, fat, sodium, etc you eat. All you need to worry about is calories. Weight loss is simply calories in vs. calories out. I am sure you have heard this before but I will briefly explain it.

Calories in vs. calories out means that the calories you consume through eating and drinking verse the calories you burn through your daily activities and exercise. This alone will determine weight loss. If you consume too many calories but do not burn enough, you will gain or simply stay the same weight. If you burn enough calories then you will lose weight gradually. Your body burns a specific amount of calories daily according to it's Base Metabolic Rate (BMR). The BMR is determined by age, gender, height, and current weight.

For example, a 20 year old female weighing at 200 pounds and a height of 5'8 has a BMR of 1750 calories. This means that the body needs exactly 1750 calories to function normally for whatever reason including immune system, movements, muscle contractions, etc. If the female eats 1750 calories she will retain here weight if no exercise is involved. If a female eats lets say 2000 calories a day she has an excess of 250 calories. 3500 calories equals a pound. So if the female keeps having an excess of 250 calories, once they add up to 3500 calories she will gain a pound.

To lose weight, let's say she exercises and burns 500 calories a day. This means that 2000 calories eaten - 1750 calories for BMR = 250 calories - 500 calories burned will equal the final calorie count of -250 calories. This is 250 calories she has burned, not gained. At this rate, it would take the female 14 days to lose one pound. Because 3500 calories divided by 250 is 14. To lose more weight, she would need to eat a bit less or exercise more or for better results, a combination of both.

Here is one website out of many to determine BMR: http://www.bmi-calcu...bmr-calculator/

Now this doesn't mean you should go on a diet which only allows you 500 calories or 1000 calories, this is dangerous and the diet will fail most likely. Eat a healthy amount of calories determined by your age, height, gender, weight, etc. I personally use measuring cups and a food scale to better determine the calories of my food. Always read the labels too. At the end of the day, you shouldn't have a feeling of starvation or hunger. You should feel satisfied with the amount you have eaten. If you do feel very hungry by the end of the day it means you did not eat enough food and should up the calories a bit.

You could even eat junk food all day and still lose weight as long as it fits well within the calories in vs. calories out. Though healthier foods do tend to offer more nutrients, more filling, and contain less calories.

Exercise

Exercise is either the most enjoyable or most despised part of this whole thing. But one thing is for sure, it plays a major role in weight loss right after food and calorie intake. Exercise allows you to burn off calories and also improves your strengths and cardiovascular activities (?).

One mistake many people make when attempting to lose weight is only doing cardio. While cardio is good at burning calories and all, you should really be lifting weights. Lifting weights (whether for a guy or a girl) will build muscle mass and also burn calories. Actually most people with knowledge on weight loss skip cardio altogether and just do weight lifting and have successful results. I personally believe that a combination of both aerobics and weight lifting would be the best option. Cardio has many great options including walking, jogging, swimming, hiking, or even going to the gym and using the treadmill, elliptical, stair climber, rowing machine, biking, etc. Lifting has even more options whether it is benching, squats, free weights, resistance machines, or the dozens upon dozens of lifting machines designed to hit target areas of the body.

Using both cardio and lifting is the best option. This will burn calories, allow you to gain muscle mass and strength, and improve cardiovascular health such as jogging for longer periods of time. For cardio, you should aim for about 45 minutes to an hour a day about 4-5 times a week. Weight lifting should be broken down into a program of certain body parts on certain days but you should lift only 3-4 times a week allowing the body to rest in between lifting days.

Myths: Diet Pills, Sauna/Steam Room

One thing you should always avoid are these diet pills! They do not work at all, and even if they did they produce insignificant results. All they do is give you diarrhea (seriously). They cost as much as a gym membership for one month. If anything, they are dangerous. I have personally tried diet pills for a month and saw no results at all in weight loss, the only result I saw is having $40 less in my wallet lol.

Another misconception is that saunas and steam rooms will burn fat. This is completely wrong. What these two do will burn water weight. Sure you will weigh less but within a few days the water weight will return. Though they are relaxing and nothing wrong with using them at the end of a long workout.

Edited February 29, 2012 by Goku

[ImamAliLover]

(bismillah)

(salam)

Brother this is an excellent post and i don't have any real critiscms of it other than saying that it does helps to look at your carbs. i have seen a few people who have tried the Adkin's diet with a lot of success, including my own brother, who has been over 300 pounds for years now and has shed weight like crazy, even sometimes losing 4 pounds a day, just by eating eggs, butter, hamburgers, etc all day lol

The only thing is, by no means is Adkin's a permanent soultion. It is only a temp. soultion, and it has various stages. Also you will have a rough period for the first few days as you get used to no carbs.

As for my opinion, i agree with just about everything you wrote. A good diet is one that you can live with for the rest of your life. Not fast fads or doing crazy dangerous stuff. And a good diet involves portion control and excersize.

[Mushkil Kusha]

(bismillah)

(salam)

Not a bad article at all, I would just like to suggest one thing tho. When focusing on losing weight, you might want to try High Intensity Interval Cardio for 15-20 mins instead of doing regular cardio for an hour. It's very effective! What it does is that in increases your metabolism so your burning calories through out the day even when your sleeping. I have been working out for quite some time now and was able to cut my body fat percentage from 30 something percent to 15%. In regards to diet, make sure diet is high in protein as goku says and also low in carbs. Just google HIIT and learn how it is done. It works like a charm, trust me.

[Goku]

(bismillah)

(salam)

Not a bad article at all, I would just like to suggest one thing tho. When focusing on losing weight, you might want to try High Intensity Interval Cardio for 15-20 mins instead of doing regular cardio for an hour. It's very effective! What it does is that in increases your metabolism so your burning calories through out the day even when your sleeping. I have been working out for quite some time now and was able to cut my body fat percentage from 30 something percent to 15%. In regards to diet, make sure diet is high in protein as goku says and also low in carbs. Just google HIIT and learn how it is done. It works like a charm, trust me.

Yes brother I have heard about HIIT but haven't yet used it. is it 15-20 min per machine or workout or is that the total workout time?

Edited March 2, 2012 by Goku

[Mushkil Kusha]

Try it out, its very effective. Aim for 15-20 mins on just one machine, it will be enough. Elliptical,Treadmill,Stairmaster, whatever you prefer.

[Goku]

Try it out, its very effective. Aim for 15-20 mins on just one machine, it will be enough. Elliptical,Treadmill,Stairmaster, whatever you prefer.

Sounds like a plan. Inshallah I will test it out tonight!

[Playing-with-fire]

Kudos to you on your high protein diet,you should try to completely cut out or severely limit your carb intake. I know some people may not agree with the whole 'Atkins' approach or whatever but it works wonders!!

[Goku]

Kudos to you on your high protein diet,you should try to completely cut out or severely limit your carb intake. I know some people may not agree with the whole 'Atkins' approach or whatever but it works wonders!!

It's not realistic. You want a diet that will be a life-style. I don't know about you but I can't go on a diet for the rest of my life with no carbs. And trust me I've had weeks I've lost over 5 pounds withing counting carbs at all.

[Mushkil Kusha]

Kudos to you on your high protein diet,you should try to completely cut out or severely limit your carb intake. I know some people may not agree with the whole 'Atkins' approach or whatever but it works wonders!!

you cant completely cut out carbs. Carbs are essential as they provide energy to your body. You should have a low carb diet but not completely cut it from your system.

LOLL at GOKU's signature!!

[Playing-with-fire]

^ Sorry shoulda been more specific, by 'carbs' I was referring to food high in carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta and rice ect. They're the type of carbs you should try to avoid. Just by cutting out 'bad' carbs and increasing your protein intake you will lose weight steadily and keep it off in the long run.

[gogiison2]

WA wr wb,

A sauna is good for sweating out toxins. There are some issues I have about your calorie intake view. I would worry more so about the quality of food rather than the quantity. I am not saying you can eat as much as you want. The chemically-laced cheaper foods will make you gain weight fast. I don't recommend being more than 66% full at any given time.

I used to weigh 230 and the lowest I have been, lately, is at around 140. Right now I am at around 150. I gained ten pounds, and went up to 160, when I went on vacation for ten days, and now back to 150 in about 3 weeks upon returning home. Haha. In all, I can help you guys lose/gain weight pretty darn fast. My main focus nowadays is only overall health and wellness rather than muscle, fat, and weight.

[Replicant]

Excellent post Goku. I'm in the exact same position as you, I've been tubby most of my life but changed my habits since around January.

I do 20-30 minutes high-intensity cardio a day (with some strength work in between). I've heard that it's better to do this (short and intense), rather than a moderate level for 1-hour.

It saves time too as doing exercise for an hour can make you get bored.

I've also reduced carbs drastically. If you eat carbs, the body will burn the carbs.

If you don't eat carbs, then the body will burn the fat instead.

In all, I can help you guys lose/gain weight pretty darn fast. My main focus nowadays is only overall health and wellness rather than muscle, fat, and weight.

Share your wisdom sir!

[gogiison2]

Share your wisdom sir!

Tell me what your goals are in terms of health.

[Replicant]

Tell me what your goals are in terms of health.

I have been chubby just about all of my life. Since January, I've started to eat healthy and really cut down on carbs (once a week max I will eat some carbs, like a sandwich or pastry). I've also started doing 20-30mins cardio exercise a day, 6 days a week at least.

I also walk 1 mile, 3 times a week for when I go to university.

I don't want to be muscular like a body-builder, I just want to slim down. I'm not bothered about 'losing weight' in terms of the amount I weigh, I'm more concerned about the way I physically look.

Since I've started this lifestyle, I have slimmed down a bit for sure (I can't tell, but my parents who see me every few weeks tell me I have), but I was wondering if there's anymore I can do, or whether I should just continue what I'm doing.

Once I reach my aim, then I will focus on 'overall health' like you mentioned in your last post.

[gogiison2]

I have been chubby just about all of my life. Since January, I've started to eat healthy and really cut down on carbs (once a week max I will eat some carbs, like a sandwich or pastry). I've also started doing 20-30mins cardio exercise a day, 6 days a week at least.

I also walk 1 mile, 3 times a week for when I go to university.

I don't want to be muscular like a body-builder, I just want to slim down. I'm not bothered about 'losing weight' in terms of the amount I weigh, I'm more concerned about the way I physically look.

Since I've started this lifestyle, I have slimmed down a bit for sure (I can't tell, but my parents who see me every few weeks tell me I have), but I was wondering if there's anymore I can do, or whether I should just continue what I'm doing.

Once I reach my aim, then I will focus on 'overall health' like you mentioned in your last post.

Okay, which beverages do you drink?

[Replicant]

Okay, which beverages do you drink?

Mainly water and fruit juice. Milk too. The odd Pepsi now and then.

[gogiison2]

Mainly water and fruit juice. Milk too. The odd Pepsi now and then.

I cut out fruit juice and lost 5 lbs. in the same month. I used to aim for 8 ounces each of apple and orange juices, but I stopped it after reading about the fructose levels. When we eat the fruit whole, the fiber sort of acts as a time-releasing agent for the sugar. If you really need to have your fix of juice, try blending the juice with other fiber rich foods. As for Pepsi, I would limit it and shortly afterwards wean off of it totally because of the chemicals added to it may mess with your physiology. I wouldn't be surprised if it promoted weight gain.

Right now, I only drink raw milk and reverse osmosis filtered water. Sometimes I'll make a milkshake, but I figure that can be considered as milk; anyhow, I think you know what I meant.

------

For shedding the weight at the gym, I'd do an hour on the elliptical machine, followed by 1000 jumpropes. After that, with whatever little energy I had left, I'd try to lift some weights. At that time my shirt would be soaked. This is important. Work till your soak your shirt, otherwise you probably aren't working out hard enough.

Haha...if you have to, choose a heavyset friend and work out with them daily. They will keep you company on the elliptical, because it sure can get boring if you do it for an hour.

Edited March 14, 2012 by gogiison2

[Replicant]

^Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

[md. ammar ali]

eat less (avoid fats take more veggies)

walk and exercise more

[Miladiator]

First of all congratulations on losing 20 pounds. And it's a great post you've made but if I had to share my opinion I would say:

1) The point you've made on calorie consumption is spot on. Consuming 500-1000 calories is a terrible idea as it'll shoot down your metabolism and as soon as you go off your diet that fat will come back in no time. Nevertheless you should definitely stay away from snacking. I'm not suggesting you do snack but supposing you do, snacking really creeps up not only the calories your consuming but also the your fat intake, without the food actually filling you up. So always try to keep yourself distracted. I found going out and playing PS3 helped but do whatever you need to do. And if it fails then eat some fruit and nuts instead.

2)If your working out then I don't think you NEED to do HIT as your already burning calories whilst you sleep as a result of your increasing body mass. Obviously it's always a good idea to do as much exercise as possible (as long as you don't burn more than 600-900 calories a day, which I've heard to be the healthy limit) but if you are choosing one or the other I'd say you should stick to an hour long cardio routine alongside your body building.

By the way this post isn't just directed at Goku. Replicant should also read through this, and also what Goku has said. But the most important thing is motivation. Remember, it can take no more than 1 minute to consume 300 odd calories (a chocolate bar) but it can take up to half an hour of tough cardio to burn that off so keep focused, stay away from snacking and you'll get there :D

Good Luck!

[SaharSayyida]

Great thread, and lots of helpful information. I was wondering though, if anyone could provide some insight on protein powder?

My wellness coach at bootcamp is a big believer, but I have some concerns regarding the body's dependability on its consumption. Instead, I try to make room for plant-based protein from items on this list.

JazakAllah in advance.

[pyaro]

Great thread, and lots of helpful information. I was wondering though, if anyone could provide some insight on protein powder?

My wellness coach at bootcamp is a big believer, but I have some concerns regarding the body's dependability on its consumption. Instead, I try to make room for plant-based protein from items on this list.

JazakAllah in advance.

(salam)

If you mean protein shakes then I would not really advise a girl to take them as those are taken to build muscles as opposed to gain aerobic fitness/fat control.

[Rational Thinking]

(salam)

If you mean protein shakes then I would not really advise a girl to take them as those are taken to build muscles as opposed to gain aerobic fitness/fat control.

You build muscle by lifting weights to almost-faliure.

Protein shakes are simply convenient ways to take in protein. Woman usually eat meat regularly and gain that protein anyway=p

[mkazmi]

Excellent advice brother, Cross fit, and yoga are two other good type of workouts. there good old fashioned sweat till you drop type of workouts. i think the rule of thumb is everything in moderation cannot hurt you (except for things that are bad like smoking etc..) just be conscious of what your eating, dont eat after 8pm, dont eat a ton of carbs, and dont burn out on every workout, or else you will stop working out lol.

[King]

Nice thread.

[Tears in Prostration]

(salam)

I have recently discovered this video, made by a certified health nutritionist on eating healthy and losing weight.

It's very long, but if you have the time and patience for it, it can be a great help and of benefit inshaAllah :rolleyes:

[Israahadi]

What you need to loose weight, is confidence - trust yourself!

[greenisabelle]

Thanks for the article, it will helps others that needs to lose weight like me. I love losing weight naturally because it is better than drinking slimming products. I drink at least 10 glasses of water every day and watch my diet. I use to eat healthy foods now and have a healthy lifestyle.

[AhlulBayt_313]

Limit your carbohydrates, and incorporate moderate exercise daily.

[Abd az Zahra]

Great post OP.

 

Energy balance will be the major determining factor when it comes to losing weight. Every diet works in helping you lose weight. Most diets fail because they do not result in long term change. It is just as much a psychological issue as it is a physiological one. After dieting, our bodies and minds are really good at getting you back to your previous weight, or even above it.

 

Eating more protein helps because it results in feeling more full. It also takes more energy (burns more calories) to digest protein. A smart strategy would be to change your eating habits to incorporate more foods that would increase satiety (feeling of fullness), and these are correlated with  protein, fiber, and water content.

 

These are worth checking out.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7498104

[Haji 2003]

My personal insight ...

On 2/29/2012 at 11:39 AM, Goku said:

Now when dieting, it doesn't really matter how much carbs, fat, sodium, etc you eat. All you need to worry about is calories. Weight loss is simply calories in vs. calories out. I am sure you have heard this before but I will briefly explain it.

Cutting out carbs like breads, pastas, rice and so on is difficult.

There are substitutes e.g. salads ... but the big difference is that (for me, at least) carbs make meat (or whatever else you ate with the carbs) more delicious.

Cut out the carbs and the desire to eat larger quantities of food generally also goes down.

And that leads to overall reductions in calories consumed.

[Kev]

I have a pretty extensive background in researching diets and exercise. What worked best for me was something called intermittent fasting. Basically how it works is that you consume all your food within a certain timeframe. There are many different variations but I found the 16/8 protocol to be the best. I would eat all my food in an 8 hour period and fast for the other 16 hours. So for me I would start eating at 11 am and stop at 7 pm. What this does is it gives your body time to properly digest all the food that you ate and then switch into fat burning / detox mode during the 16 hours. Our bodies were never meant to eat constantly and this is why many people are gaining so much weight (people snack on food throughout the day). Also if you really want to give yourself a boost in weight loss, cut out all unnecessary sugars until you reach your desired weight. Once you hit your target weight you can add some of the sugary food back. Just don't go overboard with it. I personally ate 2 meals. My first meal was just a simple moderate sized meal. The second meal was my larger meal. How did it work for me? I went from 240 lbs down to 180 lbs in less then a year. No counting calories and no under eating. I was still able to eat things that I enjoyed yet get lean. I also had blood work done during my physical and everything from my blood sugar and cholesterol was improved. Granted I was never in a bad range with those but it was getting close to moving from normal to high before I started intermittent fasting. Now they are in an optimal range.

If you want to know more about the science of why this works look up Dr. Jason Fung. He has a Youtube channel and is the author of several books. He has some nice videos that go over the basics. For exercising there are many different styles that work but I found that having a shorter more intense workout is better. For me personally I found that anything over an hour was counterproductive. I tried to keep my weight training sessions to under 45 minutes. For cardio HIIT is great. Also make sure to give your body time to rest and recover. Otherwise not only will your progress slow but you run the risk of burnout and injury.

[Haji 2003]

Wonder Food

This is reasonably inexpensive the bag below is £1.99, equivalent to US$2.47. About 50g can replace any snacking you'd otherwise have done in a day or substitute most of your lunch. It is really filling! And the nutritional value is pretty good. 

 

[Diaz]

35 minutes ago, Haji 2003 said:

Wonder Food

This is reasonably inexpensive the bag below is £1.99, equivalent to US$2.47. About 50g can replace any snacking you'd otherwise have done in a day or substitute most of your lunch. It is really filling! And the nutritional value is pretty good. 

 

W eat a lot of these here in Middle East, some women can’t gossip if there is no nuts and tea lol