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Where to start losing weight: developing an action plan

Why is it almost a feat to lose tens of kilograms? People who have lost significant weight and changed beyond recognition become heroes of television shows and social networks. This is because, according to statistics, 85% of the female population and 55% of the male population have set such a goal at least once in their lives, but 25% and 10%, respectively, reach the final stage. Fighting the natural urge to eat is a real challenge. The outcome of the battle largely depends on what was used as a starting point.

In order to get to the bottom of it, you need to know where to start losing weight and how to make a plan correctly - not only nutrition and training, but also changes in your usual lifestyle. To make such a decision, you need to be aware of the complexity of your approach to weight loss. From now on, every step should bring you closer to the goal, and they should be carefully thought out at the beginning.

The simplest and most correct solution

If you want to lose weight, you need to restrict your diet

If you want to start losing weight correctly, achieve the desired result and not harm your health, you need:

  1. Save about $200.
  2. Find a nutritionist in your city and make an appointment.
  3. Go to a meeting.
  4. Follow all your recommendations.
  5. Visit regularly to modify the plan you originally created.
  6. Find a professional fitness trainer who specializes in weight loss and schedule an appointment.
  7. Consult him, order an individual training plan, taking into account the recommendations of the nutritionist.
  8. Follow all your recommendations.

You'll need money to pay for personalized nutrition plans and workouts. The amount is approximate and may vary by city and professional. On average, each such upgrade costs about $100. Only a nutritionist and trainer will help you start losing weight correctly and guide you until you achieve the desired result.

Appointment with a nutritionist

First, you will receive a detailed survey, the purpose of which is to collect anamnesis. Be prepared to answer many questions:

  • are there chronic diseases;
  • what he eats, how many times a day (in the smallest details, down to seeds and a bottle of mineral water);
  • how quickly you gained weight;
  • what illnesses did you suffer from in the last 2 years;
  • Do you have bad habits;
  • what is the nature of your work (sitting or having to move constantly - on foot or by car);
  • what kind of life do you live after work?
  • Your parents have a problem with excess weight, etc.

After collecting the data, tests and instrumental examinations are prescribed:

  • general blood and urine tests;
  • blood sugar test;
  • blood chemistry;
  • blood test for thyroid hormones;
  • tomography;
  • Abdominal ultrasound;
  • gastroscopy / other endoscopic examination of the gastrointestinal tract.

Based on all the collected data, an individual nutrition plan is prepared, which you must strictly follow. In addition, you must follow all the advice of the nutritionist in this regard (walk in the evening, go to the upper floors without an elevator, do exercises, etc. ).

Coach consultation

After the nutritionist with all his recommendations and nutrition plan, he goes to the trainer. You need to tailor a weight loss program at the gym to suit them. Here it is important to grasp the following: as soon as the instructor starts criticizing the activities of the nutritionist, turn around, leave and find another specialist. Doctors are well trained and know what they are advising, but there are too many amateurs in the fitness industry who can ruin everything.

If you need to lose a lot of weight (more than 100 kg), the plan can last from six months to 2 years. If you need to lose 10-20 kg, 6 months is usually enough.

This makes it extremely easy to start losing weight properly. This method is good because you don't have to calculate BMI, daily calorie intake, BJU ratios, etc. on your own. Errors are excluded here, health risks are minimal, and the end result is guaranteed. Disadvantages include the high cost of developing individual nutrition and training plans, as well as the duration of the course - from 3 months to 2 years.

Independent weight loss

If you plan to organize the process of losing weight yourself at home, you need to spend a lot of time on preparation. Regardless of gender, age and weight, it is recommended to start with the following steps.

General considerations

The first is motivation: define your goal clearly and define why you need to lose weight. You can choose photos of when you were thin and how you are now. You can hang your favorite clothes in a prominent place that you need to "fit in". Read relevant literature, watch movies. There are many ways to motivate yourself and these should work during the months you are working on your body.

The second is a medical examination. You can't go anywhere without it. What it will give you:

  • some diseases cause excess weight, and you cannot get rid of the latter without treating the former;
  • every diet and certain types of exercise have contraindications - based on the test data, you can be sure that this or that nutritional system or exercise will not harm your health.

Keep a diet diary: record all your mistakes and results, changes in weight and volume.

Find like-minded people: join groups on social networks where people share their successes, give advice and support each other. Contact them with any problem.

Prepare your family to lose weight. Ask them for help. Sometimes, if you don't have the courage not to eat before bed, let your husband distract you from this temptation and prevent a relapse. It is effective, but you have to think about it at the very beginning of the trip.

Mandatory purchases:

  • Libra;
  • kitchen scale;
  • dumbbells.

Think about what caused the excess weight: improper diet, overeating, sedentary lifestyle, age or some disease. Understand: you cannot lose weight without eliminating the provoking factor.

Nutrition

Immediately prepare for the fact that the first steps towards weight loss can take up to 1 month. Of course, the preparation phase can be shortened to 3-5 days, but in 90% of cases such a start leads to inevitable failure. So be prepared to spend time on this.

Preparing to lose weight involves weighing and reducing your daily calories.

Start by calculating your BMI. Determine how many extra pounds you have. Write down three numbers: your ideal weight (the ultimate goal of losing weight) - your current weight - the number of kg you want to lose. Then proceed according to the following plan.

First week

  1. Write down what you eat during the day and in what quantity.
  2. Count the number of calories consumed in the evening.
  3. On Sunday, determine the average daily calorie content of your diet.
  4. Use a special formula to calculate how many calories are needed for effective weight loss. Usually 1500-2000 kcal for men, 1200-1500 kcal for women.
  5. Calculate the difference between what you consume now and what you get according to the formula.
  6. Think about which foods or foods you can use to reduce your daily calorie intake (food calorie charts will help with this).

Second week

This preparatory stage is already the beginning of weight loss, because with proper nutrition you can lose 1-2 kg. You should give up junk food, fried food, alcoholic and carbonated drinks, and limit the consumption of sweet and salty foods.

Third week

  1. Start with a fasting day.
  2. Study complex and simple carbohydrates. Leave only the first ones in the diet.
  3. Prepare a menu for the week, reduce your daily calorie intake by 100 kcal. Stick to it.
  4. Drink at least 1 liter of water a day.

Fourth week

  1. Start with a day of fasting.
  2. Remove another 100 kcal from your diet.
  3. Increase the amount of water consumed per day to 1. 5 liters.
  4. Avoid fatty foods: meat, fish, milk (more than 2%).

Remember - this is not the weight loss itself, although you will probably already lose a few kilograms, but only the preparation. It minimizes the stress your body will experience in the coming weeks or months.

In the last, fourth week of preparation, start choosing your diet. We immediately reject the express options for 3 days and one week, which promise to lose 1 kg in 1 day. First of all, it is harmful to health. Second, the weight returns with interest after the hunger strike ends.

If you want to lose weight correctly, choose long-term nutrition systems for weight loss, designed for 1-3 months. These are mostly author's developments: Montignac, Atkins, Dukan, Liepaja. Carefully study everything related to them, prepare a menu for the first week, find recipes for food and calculate the calorie content.

That's it: you're nutritionally ready to lose weight.

Sports

If you want weight loss to be really effective, meal planning will not be enough. The calories you eat must also be spent. To do this, you need to increase physical activity and physical activity. But if you start working out for several hours in the gym tomorrow, your body will rebel out of habit: you won't be able to get up the next day because of muscle pain. And all because this also requires preparation. Fortunately, there are things to do during the 4 weeks you're conjuring up a new diet.

Thanks to sports, you can lose extra pounds and have a slim body

The workout program recommended below is called "From Nothing. " It's designed for people who have never worked out but understand that they need to in order to lose weight.

First week

  1. Avoid the elevator: you have to walk 5-6 floors a day.
  2. When sitting, get up for 5 minutes every hour and warm up: walk, stretch.
  3. Walk for at least half an hour in the evening.

Second week

  1. Find a simple set of 10-minute morning exercises that will invigorate and lift your mood, not drain you. Do it daily.
  2. Learn several breathing exercises (qigong, bodyflex, oxysize), try to master one.
  3. Increase the time of your evening walk to 40 minutes.

Third week

  1. Include 2-3 new, more complex exercises in the morning exercises.
  2. Continue to improve proper breathing.
  3. Walk for 50 minutes in the evening.

Fourth week

  1. Morning exercises should take 15 minutes.
  2. Then walking (Finnish, sports) for half an hour at a fast pace.
  3. Evening walks are extended by one hour.
  4. Create a training plan.

Once you start losing weight by following such a plan, your body will be thoroughly prepared for new physical activities. The correction of the figure will take place much more intensively and with minimal loss. Of course, the muscles will hurt at first, but not that much.

When creating a training plan, remember that the benefits of intervals are much greater. And don't exhaust yourself every day: muscle fibers need time to recover, so every other day is the most comfortable schedule.

Consider the question of where the classes will be. A gym membership is a financial hit, but it's worth it. Professional simulators are at your disposal, and you can ask the trainer for advice at any time. Or group fitness classes - it's engaging and won't let you break down.

Buy nice sports clothes - this is also a kind of motivation. And when buying, think about changing it to something 1-2 sizes smaller after 2-3 months.

Recommendations for special cases

Getting off to the right start is 50% of the success of your plan. However, the above plans must be modified taking into account the individual characteristics of each person. Therefore, some tips for special categories of the population will help to organize the entire process more precisely.

Women over 35

At this age, the body gradually ages and adapts to menopause. Metabolism slows down, few people are ready to play sports. Thus, even owners of the slimmest figures begin to blur together. The belly grows, the bottom expands, the volume of the breasts increases and they sag a little.

In addition to the nutrition and exercise programs recommended above, there is also a special step-by-step system for women after 35-40 years who do not want to put up with excess weight.

  1. If you can skip a doctor's visit before the age of 35, it is mandatory at this age before losing weight. Perhaps he will recommend the most suitable weight loss methods for you.
  2. Start taking special vitamins.
  3. A high-protein, low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is not for you. Choose the most balanced nutritional system with a daily intake of at least 1500 kcal.
  4. At this age, strengthening exercises are not necessary, but you cannot completely exclude them from your training plan. When putting it together, focus on cardio exercises, but don't forget the dumbbells either.
  5. Replace morning jogging with sports or Finnish walking.
  6. Of course it's good to dance. But if you plan to lose weight at this age, you should still choose swimming.

And the most important advice for an older woman starting to lose weight: go for a medical examination every 3 months. Any changes that occur in the body during the pre-menopausal period are important.

Men with beer bellies

For a man with a belly to decide to lose weight is a real feat. Dieting is a common thing among women, but they are not yet ready for food restrictions. What kind of evening is it to refuse a can of beer with salted fish, not to sit in the bath with friends on the weekend?

A man with a beer belly can set a goal and lose weight

Nevertheless, the process should be started with:

  1. You don't need to go on a diet - just eliminate alcoholic and carbonated drinks, junk food and snacks from your diet.
  2. The daily calorie intake should be reduced to 2000 kcal. In general, men do not like to sit with these formulas and tables, so it is better to ask for help from your wife, sister or mother.
  3. Give preference to low-fat protein foods.
  4. Be sure to include a morning jog in your workout plan.
  5. Choose abdominal exercises.
  6. Alternate strength and cardio exercises.

For a man who has set a goal to lose weight, the most important thing is to start. They get involved in the process much faster, without allowing themselves any pampering, as women like. Don't postpone your plans. If the four-week preparation outlined above is too long for you, start immediately tomorrow so that you don't drag it out for months, during which your beer belly only grows.

Age after 50 years

For both men and women, losing weight after 50-60 years is the most dangerous and difficult, when the body is worn out and its organs no longer function at full capacity. Age is often the main cause of impaired metabolic processes, which is why extra kilos accumulate.

Here, you should definitely start with a visit to the doctor - it is categorically not recommended to develop independent plans. After all, any restriction on fat or carbohydrate intake can harm your health. An additional 10 minutes of exercise results in shortness of breath and tachycardia. Exercise done incorrectly can cause joint pain or even injury.

So, the decision to lose weight after 50 years must be discussed with specialists, without initiatives or dubious experiments.

How much weight do you need to lose?

If you need to lose 10 kg, it is enough to follow the four-week training program described in detail above. You can lose 3-4 kg per month with it. You don't even need to diet after it's introduced - just follow the nutritional recommendations for week 4 and go for a 40-minute workout every other day. The point is to start right, and then the need for a hunger strike will disappear by itself.

It's a different matter if you initially weigh a lot (more than 100 kg). The preparation phase also plays an important role here. If you start losing weight immediately with minus 10 kg per week, in the end, even if you manage to lose a kilo, it affects your health, and the skin hangs in wrinkles because it doesn't have time to shrink. A smooth, gradual introduction to any diet and slow weight loss (1-2 kg per week) are important to you. But then you save money on plastic surgery.

The beginning of any business is 50% of the successful completion. Losing weight is no exception. If you are tempted to go all the way, don't jump in head first: the dive should be slow and gradual. This is the only way to achieve results.