Fast and Easy Weight Loss - What's the Strategy?
Alright people, I've got a starting place and an end for my fast and easy weight loss quest. But how do I achieve the goal?
After doing even 5 minutes of reading on the internet you come to realize that there is more than one way to skin the fast and easy weight loss cat. I think most weight loss options can be grouped this way:
- surgery
- supplements
- dieting
- exercise
Surgery
Now the first option - surgery - is out. I'm not so overweight that it would be a choice that makes sense for me. But I know people who've had it - for those who have spent a lifetime of being significantly overweight, you might want to visit a doctor and find out what your options are. However, even Wayne Knight - the recurring character "Newman" on Seinfeld was reaching a point of morbid obesity when he chose to opt for a diet and exercise program that allowed him to lose 117 pounds. For most people, I think imminent death rates pretty high on the motivational scale.
Supplements
There are many different types - some to speed up your metabolism, some to block your body's tendency to turn carbs into fat, some to suppress appetite, etc. etc. ad nauseum. There's a whole rainbow of supplement flavors out there to consider when trying to achieve your fast and easy weight loss goals.
When I was in college I was very much into weight lifting and for several years supplemented my workouts with the then in vogue cafeine, aspirin and ephedrine (now illegal) coctails that were floating around. Combining that with creatine got me some great results very quickly when I was working out several times a week consistently. Of course, in those days I was very conscious of what I was eating and I had specific goals in mind and while I did want to lose weight I was going for adding significant muscle mass too.
All in all, I had a pretty good experience with supplementation and did not experience any negative physical reactions.
Dieting
It seems like most of America is dieting these days. It's funny though how we all seem to be gaining more weight. As usual we have a couple of things to consider - dieting can consist of a simple change in eating habits. For example, all those years ago when I was working out consistently I needed more calories throughout the day to sustain my routine. I was eating for or five small meals throughout the day. This had a great benefit - it kept my metabolism up as my body was constantly burning calories to process the food I was taking in.
Then of course, you've got everybody's favorite math. Calorie math. How many calories you take in versus how many calories you burn throughout the day. If you've got the will power and the mind of an accountant, this may certainly an option. Without exception if you are burning more calories than you take in, your body will shed the weight.
Exercise
Despite what my friends may think, the biggest obstacle to my lack of exercise is actually time and I think most people can probably relate. I'm very busy throughout the day and typically work 60 or 70 hours a week. For others though the biggest obstacle is will power. My best recommendation as someone who has done the whole exercise bit in the past is to find something you actually like to do. You don't need to do a treadmill if you like to play tennis. Just go play - and I don't mean video game tennis.
You can also slip in simple choices throughout the day that will help you to gradually become more active - take the stairs instead of the elevator, during your lunch break and once or twice throughout your workday get up and walk around your office or outside, etc.
What?!?!
That's right people. You'll want to do some weight training to build muscle mass so that when you are at rest, your body is burning more calories to maintain that mass. I can already hear the smart asses in the background - well why doesn't that work with fat?
It's simple. When your body has used the 5 to 10 grams of glucose (read that as sugar) floating around in your blood at anyone time, something interesting starts to happen. Your body goes into ketosis. Ke-what? Your body's first choice of fuel is the fuel that is already in your blood - glucose. If that is not available because it was already use up (during aerobic activity for example) well then your body moves on to the next fuel source - fat.
But this is the cool part - with more muscle mass to maintain (think of them as constantly running engines that always require fuel) your body goes into ketosis more easily. You start living off of the fat in your body and those fat cells (that can increase to 1000 times their normal size) start to shrink. Once you are an adult you cannot naturally lose fat cells which makes it very difficult to lose weight if you were overweight as a child...more fat cells to contend with. Unfortunately, as an adult your fat cells can still divide and multiply which make maintaining a healthy weight all the more important.
Conclusion
All these "fast" and "easy" weight loss methods out there are more or less about the same thing, including bariatric surgery. Think about it - they are reducing the size of your stomach so that you east less. You take in less and less calories per day, basically forcing your body into ketosis more and more frequently and you are kept alive literally by your own fat because you are not physically able to consume the calories that your body needs to burn in order to maintain it's own mass. Bassically, your body starts feeding on itself...eeewwww...
Weight loss supplements across to board look to do the same thing in different ways. Carb blockers block excess glucose in your blood from become more fat. Metabolism boosters try to increase those times in which your body is in ketosis. Reducing the amount of food you eat or changing the types of food to reduce both calories and consumption of carbs (especially refined carbohydrates like candy) will have the same effect.
So now that I've blabbed on and on about what's out there - what am I going to do?
Well the plan is a combination of aerobic exercise a few times a week for approximately 20 minutes. If I can squeeze it in, I plan on taking another 45 minutes a couple times a week for weight training. I will also supplement my moderate diet and exercise program with some combination of supplements. In addition to increasing my body's energy expenditure with activity and (possibly) metabolic boosters, I am also going to go on a calorie restricted diet.
My fast and easy weight loss goal is to lose 45 lbs over the course of the next 30 days - sound impossible? Maybe...maybe not. I guess you'll have to read and find out!
Not too hard for a busy guy to work into his schedule...hopefully. I'll certainly keept everybody posted!
After doing even 5 minutes of reading on the internet you come to realize that there is more than one way to skin the fast and easy weight loss cat. I think most weight loss options can be grouped this way:
- surgery
- supplements
- dieting
- exercise
Surgery
Now the first option - surgery - is out. I'm not so overweight that it would be a choice that makes sense for me. But I know people who've had it - for those who have spent a lifetime of being significantly overweight, you might want to visit a doctor and find out what your options are. However, even Wayne Knight - the recurring character "Newman" on Seinfeld was reaching a point of morbid obesity when he chose to opt for a diet and exercise program that allowed him to lose 117 pounds. For most people, I think imminent death rates pretty high on the motivational scale.
Supplements
There are many different types - some to speed up your metabolism, some to block your body's tendency to turn carbs into fat, some to suppress appetite, etc. etc. ad nauseum. There's a whole rainbow of supplement flavors out there to consider when trying to achieve your fast and easy weight loss goals.
When I was in college I was very much into weight lifting and for several years supplemented my workouts with the then in vogue cafeine, aspirin and ephedrine (now illegal) coctails that were floating around. Combining that with creatine got me some great results very quickly when I was working out several times a week consistently. Of course, in those days I was very conscious of what I was eating and I had specific goals in mind and while I did want to lose weight I was going for adding significant muscle mass too.
All in all, I had a pretty good experience with supplementation and did not experience any negative physical reactions.
Dieting
It seems like most of America is dieting these days. It's funny though how we all seem to be gaining more weight. As usual we have a couple of things to consider - dieting can consist of a simple change in eating habits. For example, all those years ago when I was working out consistently I needed more calories throughout the day to sustain my routine. I was eating for or five small meals throughout the day. This had a great benefit - it kept my metabolism up as my body was constantly burning calories to process the food I was taking in.
Then of course, you've got everybody's favorite math. Calorie math. How many calories you take in versus how many calories you burn throughout the day. If you've got the will power and the mind of an accountant, this may certainly an option. Without exception if you are burning more calories than you take in, your body will shed the weight.
Exercise
Despite what my friends may think, the biggest obstacle to my lack of exercise is actually time and I think most people can probably relate. I'm very busy throughout the day and typically work 60 or 70 hours a week. For others though the biggest obstacle is will power. My best recommendation as someone who has done the whole exercise bit in the past is to find something you actually like to do. You don't need to do a treadmill if you like to play tennis. Just go play - and I don't mean video game tennis.
You can also slip in simple choices throughout the day that will help you to gradually become more active - take the stairs instead of the elevator, during your lunch break and once or twice throughout your workday get up and walk around your office or outside, etc.
What?!?!
That's right people. You'll want to do some weight training to build muscle mass so that when you are at rest, your body is burning more calories to maintain that mass. I can already hear the smart asses in the background - well why doesn't that work with fat?
It's simple. When your body has used the 5 to 10 grams of glucose (read that as sugar) floating around in your blood at anyone time, something interesting starts to happen. Your body goes into ketosis. Ke-what? Your body's first choice of fuel is the fuel that is already in your blood - glucose. If that is not available because it was already use up (during aerobic activity for example) well then your body moves on to the next fuel source - fat.
But this is the cool part - with more muscle mass to maintain (think of them as constantly running engines that always require fuel) your body goes into ketosis more easily. You start living off of the fat in your body and those fat cells (that can increase to 1000 times their normal size) start to shrink. Once you are an adult you cannot naturally lose fat cells which makes it very difficult to lose weight if you were overweight as a child...more fat cells to contend with. Unfortunately, as an adult your fat cells can still divide and multiply which make maintaining a healthy weight all the more important.
Conclusion
All these "fast" and "easy" weight loss methods out there are more or less about the same thing, including bariatric surgery. Think about it - they are reducing the size of your stomach so that you east less. You take in less and less calories per day, basically forcing your body into ketosis more and more frequently and you are kept alive literally by your own fat because you are not physically able to consume the calories that your body needs to burn in order to maintain it's own mass. Bassically, your body starts feeding on itself...eeewwww...
Weight loss supplements across to board look to do the same thing in different ways. Carb blockers block excess glucose in your blood from become more fat. Metabolism boosters try to increase those times in which your body is in ketosis. Reducing the amount of food you eat or changing the types of food to reduce both calories and consumption of carbs (especially refined carbohydrates like candy) will have the same effect.
So now that I've blabbed on and on about what's out there - what am I going to do?
Well the plan is a combination of aerobic exercise a few times a week for approximately 20 minutes. If I can squeeze it in, I plan on taking another 45 minutes a couple times a week for weight training. I will also supplement my moderate diet and exercise program with some combination of supplements. In addition to increasing my body's energy expenditure with activity and (possibly) metabolic boosters, I am also going to go on a calorie restricted diet.
My fast and easy weight loss goal is to lose 45 lbs over the course of the next 30 days - sound impossible? Maybe...maybe not. I guess you'll have to read and find out!
Not too hard for a busy guy to work into his schedule...hopefully. I'll certainly keept everybody posted!
posted by num12345 at 6:15 PM
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