5 Musts to Losing Weight

What is Fat & Obesity?

Obesity is the fastest growing health problem in America.  In fact, obesity has tripled since 1975.  At present, 72% of adults older than 20 years are either overweight or obese, with 40% being obese.

To determine if you are a healthy weight, overweight or obese, you can figure this by measuring your body mass index or BMI which is based on your height.  To determine BMI take the number 703 x your weight divided by height in inches squared.   If you have a BMI under 18.5 you are underweight, 18.6-24.9 you are at a healthy weight, 25-29.9 you are considered overweight and over 30 obese.

For obesity, you should start out to expend 200-300 calories per exercise session with a minimum weekly goal of 1200 calories of energy expenditure…..with a progression to eventually 500 calories of energy expenditure per day, through a combination of reducing the calories you eat and increasing the calories you burn through exercising, which is one pound per week.  This adds up to 3500 calories per week, the number of calories in about one pound of fat. 

Nutrition, Water & Sleep

The first point to lose weight, is you first have to focus on proper nutrition.  You can’t lose weight unless you do.  I have seen people lose weight with zero exercise by changing what and how they eat.  I’ve also seen people in the gym that are overweight that have been working out for years.  You have to limit the portions, cut out sugar, saturated fats and junk food.  Choose good proteins such as chicken, fish, turkey and occasional beef.  You should consume 1 – 1.2g of protein per pound of bodyweight.  You also need a good mix of starchy carbs such as potatoes and rice, and fibrous carbs such as beans, peas, avocado and broccoli. And some fruit as well.

The second point is, you probably didn’t know that water consumption is an important factor in losing weight.  Water can increase your metabolism by 30%, which means your body burns more calories.  Drinking a lot of water is not fun, but if you are serious about losing weight you need to consume .5 - .75 ounces of water per pound of body weight.  The next factor is sleep.  You should get adequate sleep of 7-8 hours a night.  Adequate sleep is important in regulating hunger and satiety hormones, and chronic sleep deprivation is detrimental for weight management.

Mindset

Third, you have to have the right mindset.  You have to be committed to losing weight and eating properly.  Diets don’t help long term with weight loss, because eventually you go off the diet.  You need to restructure your life and how you go about eating and living for your own health and longevity.

Intensity and Duration.

The fourth point is understanding intensity and duration as it relates to exercise.  Any form of exercise is good, but if you want to lose significant weight you need to understand these two factors.  Low intensity exercises burn more fat but less calories, while moderate to high intensity exercises burn more carbs and calories.  If low intensity is your choice, you need longer duration, such as a long hike.  I recommend implementing workout routines that utilize both intensity and duration.  But, you can’t do both at the same time.  If you are using moderate to high intensity exercises you can’t sustain that for long periods, and by using low intensity such as hiking, you can go for a longer duration.

Exercise

Which brings me to the 5th point - exercising.  You can’t just do cardio.  You need to get in the gym and begin a resistance training program.  Strength training helps you lose weight and keep it off by building muscle tissue. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be. More muscle also helps your body burn more fat than muscle, which is important if you want to lose weight and keep your strength.

The first focus for weight lifting is to perform compound movements.  A compound exercise uses several muscle groups collaboratively to perform a movement, such as a squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press and barbell row.  Within these type of exercises you would progress and start to use supersets, drop sets and incorporate balance and plyometric exercises. 

I would not focus on core or abs at this point.  You will not lose weight doing so.  I would find a cardio exercise you like and simultaneously perform cardio the same week or within the weightlifting routine.  I would look at hiking, jogging on an incline treadmill or seated rower.  The seated rower is better than an indoor bike.  The seated rower burns 25% more calories than a bike and you also work your upper body.   

Start out slowly and work your way up.  I wouldn’t expect you to be as mobile or as strong in the first couple of weeks as you will be in the coming months.  So start out with learning the movement and performing 1 or 2 sets, with 8-12 reps.  After a few weeks, you would increase the sets to 4 and/or mix in some supersets and drop sets.  By the second month, I would look to incorporate some balance and plyometric exercises as well.  I would lift weights and perform each exercise 2-3 times a week, and mix in cardio on the other days or through a combination of reducing the calories you eat and increasing the calories you burn through physical activity to burn 500 calories per day.  By late in the second month or beginning in month 3, you can start to incorporate exercises for the smaller muscle groups such as biceps and triceps.