This. So much this. If I work out (which admittedly I rarely do) I prefer to do this stuff over lifting free wights (or machines for that matter).

A thousand times this. I've almost entirely abandoned soft drinks and replaced them with water, and I've been slowly losing weight even though my eating habits still svck. Those drinks are one of the biggest problems. I'd bet if I finally started eating better in combination with quitting soda, I'd lose my beer belly within a year at most.

Plenty of reliable information on the internet, you just need to find it. But, if he wants advice from a professional (which will cost money), he should get it from a nutritionist (preferably one who is up to date with what is happening in the scientific world), not a doctor (assuming you meant a general practitioner).

Just run around a only cut back on some of the junk food - not it all since you need the energy they provide.

[Stuffs another Dairy Milk in his mouth]

That won't do you any good. You need to eat the foods with health fats, calories, and carbs. Otherwise you'll gain the bad kind of weight. Cutting sodas and sweets helps a lot.

Others spoke towards the physical aspects of working out. Another point is that doing stupid things purposfully, repreatedly, to an ending positive effect, is that it can also build discipline and self-esteem by proving to yourself that you CAN do something even though you may not want to. This has pay-offs later in life

Also, one vegetarian meal a day? No wonder you're losing weight quickly - that seems like caloric starviation. But you body will compensate by adjusting its matabolism and...eating itself.

Working out is the best thing you can do, specifically running and other cardio. Muscle building like weight lifting won't help so much in that regard. In-fact if you start weight lifting hoping to lose weight you may get disappointed when you find out you've gained weight in the form of muscle.

It's cardiovascular exercise like running and swimming that's going to burn calories and lose fat weight. Those are also the things that demand the most calories and nutrients to keep up, so I wouldn't recommend eating nothing but protein shakes and granola bars. The point is to eat better, not necessarily less. Less junk food, more things like vegetables and brown rice.

So I say continue eating a normal diet, but try to eat better foods, and start a running program. One thing at a time, exercise being the first. Once you get used to running after a few weeks, you'll know how much food you need to eat and can make better decisions about what sort of diet changes you want to make. The healthy sort of "lose weight" diet is something like 200-300 less calories a day than you normally take in, which should lead to like 0.5-1.0lbs lost per week. Anything more is going to be unhealthy.

No! It's my Irn-Bru! My precious...

Which was the good fats again saturated or non-saturated. IIRC saturated is bad because it clogs up your system since it can't bond (being fully saturated and all)

You don't HAVE to cut sweets, but if you can limit yourself to the near minimum it'll help.

Non-saturated. Good fats are the ones you'd find in nature, IE in the muscles of the meat you eat, the plants, fruits, et cetera.

Saturated fats are bad. Monounsaturated fats are good. Transfats are REALLY bad. Also avoid hydrogenated oils like margarine and cholesterol rich foods like red meat.


Considering the primary source of calories for the average American is soda (it used to be white bread, not anymore though), I'd say cutting that out of the diet can make a HUGE difference on its own.

On the subject of soda, stay away from movie theaters. Those large popcorn bags have like 2000 calories all by themselves, and you don't even realize you're eating too much because your mind is focused on the movie instead of the food.

non-saturated is good. omega 3 etc. the difference netween saturated and non-saturated is that saturated fat has hydrogen in it, right?

All fats have have hydrogen on them, but unsaturated fats have a double covalent bond in certain places that "kinks" the molecule into a shape that doesn't pack itself as dense. The double covalent bond also prevents some hydrogen atoms from binding to the molecule, so it is "unsaturated" because it has less hydrogen than would otherwise be possible. That's why lots of unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, and saturated fats (that do not have the double covalent bond and are more rod-shaped) are solids at room temperature. Saturated fats are "saturated" because they have the maximum number of hydrogen atoms they can hold.

Transfats have the double covalent bond too, but they have been artificially combined with extra hydrogen to make them more solid and do not retain the bent shape of the unsaturated fats (margarine is a good example). The process of hydrogenation adds hydrogen atoms to the fat molecules, and creates transfats, which is why it's best to avoid hydrogenated oils.

Cholesterol is actually a steroid found in the membranes of animal cells. It gives the plasma membrane of the cells an "oily" consistency. As with most things, like fat, cholesterol is a natural component in the body and needed for certain functions. The problem arises when you have too much cholesterol or fat.

There's plenty of reliable information on the internet but it's surrounded by plenty of information that's incorrect too.

Even well meaning people can give you horribly wrong advice.

Your GP is the best starting point for advice on dieting. They may even refer you to a nutritionist if that's required.

Az

Avoid "nutritionists" though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRqB5-egs1s&t=3m57s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibRi4CdsmE8

That's fine I got my fat types correct, go 3yr old Higher Chemistry knowledge

I've always been meaning to cut back on my butter, and have done quite well, not to the point were I don't use it at all though.
Red meat I don't think I'll cut out, I rarely have any and when I do its my favourite dinner and since it's the food being eaten since the dawn of time I doubt the fears of cancer related illness are real unless its the chemicals used on the animals and even that doesn't faze me. Plus I've seen it's links to obesity (though I'm not aiming to be obese) it sounds like a good bet I'd want more of that.

Luckily I hate popcorn, the smell the taste to look and texture all reek of "stay the hell away we don't taste nice" I've noticed myself upping the amount of juice I take into the cinema now, it used to be a normal 330ml can, then it was a pint sized can now it's a full 1l bottle of Irn-Bru (though I don't finish it during the movie) and I always take the same sweets with me - Harrybo Fizzy Cola Bottles.

I think the problem is I'm actually not eating enough to allow myself to gain weight since the amount of walking/running I do kinda cancels it all out, and what I eat isn't a primary source of fat. Daily diet; Toast w/ butter and strawbeery jame/lemoncurd, 1 banana, 1 apple, 2 chocolate bars, 1 packets of crisps (2 if I don't have an apple) and then a hot roll containing usually cheese, chicken and bacon. That's to last me from 6AM to 6PM and I'd say it's definetly not enough for someone in their late teens

This reminded me of a girl on another forum who was posting about trying to gain weight, and she simply decided to eat a lot. About a year later she was back trying to lose weight.


Moral of the story: be careful.

The only safe weight to gain is muscle mass. You'll need to work out in a way that stresses the muscles and eat more calories than you burn, but eat things that feed the muscles- lean meats, fish, poultry, legumes, fruits, and veggies. Avoid fats and sugars.

People trying to gain "good" weight need to be even more careful of their diet and exercise than those trying to lose weight.

I prefer weight training. You'll gain a TON of weight at first, but don't get discouraged! Those muscles eat away at fat while you sleep or watch TV. After you build a nice layer of strength, work on cardio. Don't forget to hydrate! Remember, coffee is NOT hydration. Drink water or sports drinks.

Another huge thing to remember - Work out each section of your body equally. Having a big chest, shoulders and arms is all fine and dandy but if you do all that and have chicken legs and a beer belly, you're just gonna look like a doofus.

I had to gain weight a few years back for a job. Apparently 137lbs was underweight or something.

Anyways I ate two servings of regular oatmeal every morning for breakfast, with raisins and brown sugar added of course, and started running. At first I didn't have the raw appetite to eat all that food in the morning, but after a few weeks of running more and more my metabolism kicked in and I was hungry enough to eat the extra food I needed. I figure that's a good start, and they say oatmeal in general is good for cardiovascular health (heart attacks run in my family).

Hm. I really ought to start that again...

Edit: Also crisps are terrible for you. Make a sandwich or something, but don't just eat crisps and a chocolate bar and call it a day.

A lot of sleep
Breakfeast
And A LOT of water should be the way to go......oh and exercise of course.

Most sports drinks have a ridiculously high caloric count due to being filled with sugar. You might as well 'hydrate' on soda, not the best idea if losing weight is your goal.

My understanding and personal opinion is, if it is the case that you are overweight because of your diet or physical behaviour, and so not some medical condition, then eating meal replacements and such instead of meals is a bad idea

You are better off eating full meals that are reasonable. That is:

• Try to eat vegetables when you are hungry
  
• Try to do vegetables over fruits, but still eat fruits
  
• Don't include bread in many meals
  
• Eating meat should not be common

If you still notice that you are not losing weight, try eating smaller meals. Some people don't need as much sustenance as others, and so these people might gain weight when eating meals that might be normal for other people

That would totally kill your body - that's why it says in bold lettering on the side of the shakes that they are only intended to replace 1-2 meals per day.

It's simple maths: 3500 kcal = 1lb weight. You need to reduce your total weekly calorie intake by 500kcal per day to lose 1lb per week, and you can keep that up indefinitely (well, until you reach that goal). Be aware that undereating (e.g. a woman having fewer than 1200kcal per day, more like 1800 for a man) will cause your body to go into starvation mode, whereby it conserves all the energy it can and will just make you sick rather than skinny. A woman can healthily stick to 1500 kcal per day for months on end; a man can eat 2000 and be fine and still lose weight.

All (mainstream) diets are equally effective because they all involve putting less food into your mouth. If you have a plate of chicken and rice, and just eat the rice or just eat the chicken or have both but only eat half then you'll still be ingesting the same number of calories. Again, though, you can easily make yourself sick so having-both-but-having-half is your best option. As for shakes and meal replacement bars, try using them for one month (replacing breakfast and lunch) to get used to consuming less, and then reintroduce regular foods in smaller portions (swapping foods for their low-fat equivalents where applicable) - you're looking at approx 250 kcal per meal, which is one shake, or two slices of buttered toast with Marmite, or a big bowl of cereal with milk. In all cases, have a regular balanced evening meal of around 700 kcal and have a couple of 100-calorie snacks throughout the day - obviously fruit and veg are ideal, but a chocolate-topped cereal bar can be good to satisfy that junk food craving.


Crisps are unfairly maligned - they are, after all, just cooked potatoes. The important thing is to consider type and portion size. A big bag of McCoys has something like 250 kcal and a bucketload of fat and salt, whereas a small packet of Walkers regular has more like 120 kcal and only about 7g fat - comparable to the "diet" snacks you can buy in Boots. If you are a regular crisp-eater, stick to multipacks - each packet size is much smaller, nearer 25g where the shop-bought ones can be up to 50g, and that's where you get unhealthy. Better get, go for the baked-not-fried varieties and look out for low-sodium flavours.

Lol...sports drinks. Avoid them. That is all.