Weight Watchers

[billable]

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspart...e/calculat.htm

[billable]

One more thing, it takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than it does to maintain a pound of fat. Fit people can eat more than fat people and not gain weight.

[goldfishcracker]

Originally Posted by billable

And it doesn't matter whether you eat 2 times a day or 10 times a day. If you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight.

Yes and no. Yes if you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight. However, while your caloric explaination is true and makes sense, it does not take into consideration metabolism. Which is exactly what causes people to eat like a horse and maintain 130 lbs on a 5'7" frame. Or people to eat like a bird and maintain 180 lbs on a 5'1" frame. The less you eat, the lower your metabolism goes and the harder it is for you to lose weight. Which is why, when you starve yourself for 3 days and then eat normal for 3 days, you will not lose weight.

[billable]

;) To quote you, "yes and no."

If you eat 5 or 6 times a day and cut back to 2, your metabolic rate may change some, but not enough to cause a huge change in your basic metabolic rate. Calories are simply a unit of energy. Energy is consumed by your lungs when you breathe in and out. Your heart, your intestines, etc. burn a certian amount of energy just doing their job in a day's time. You don't, however, want to fast a day or two to "jumpstart" your diet like I have heard some people say.

If you need 2500 calories to maintain your body weight at your current weight and current activities and you cut back to 1800 calories as well as adding an extra 500 calories of activity, you will lose weight. If you want to take these 1800 calories in as 3 600 calorie meals or if you want to take in 6 300 calorie meals, either way, you will be at roughly the same weight this time next year if you stick to it. The metabolic change to your body that you are talking about will be temporary and won't mean much over the long haul.

[billable]

Of course everybody knows that it is illegal for pregnant women to count calories anyway. You are supposed to eat anything you want until after the baby is born.

[lewdyju]

I have tried just about everything to lose my 30 pounds, a trainer at the gym for 7 months, walking, riding my bike daily and I have only lost about 10 pounds. Very dicouraging, let me tell you. I finally stopped with the trainer because now I have developed nice muscle tone but did not lose the fat, so I feel firmer but my arms look bigger. He had me pumping way too much iron and not enough cardio. I went back to what I know works on my own and I have lost another 10 pounds. I eat one meal a day, plenty of water, a handful of raw almonds for snacks and went back tothe exercise bands. I am doing better on my own. I know 1 meal is not healthy but it works for me. If I am hungry I drink water, it fills me up and my skin looks great! Points don't work for me, I eat way too much crap with the points. If I want to go out to dinner and have a nice meal, I wait and that is my meal for the day. Now where I have issues for too much calorie intake is when I feel like drinking alcohol, then i feel like snacking on salty stuff and it is usually late at night. This is the one thing I am truly trying to avoid, so no going out clubbing these days. Because then we go out to eat when the club closes, this is not that often because we have children and babysitters are far and few between but with the holidays is was more often than not. So, back to my routine to finsih losing weight.
Billable, I will try your technique for my caloric intake.

[billable]

Good luck Judy. 10 pounds is going to be approximately 35000 calories. Something else to consider that I think Christine will agree with is, when you go all day without eating and eat one meal, you are so hungry that you tend to overeat. Eat at least 2 sensible meals, preferably 3.

Exercise makes me hungry.

[goldfishcracker]

Originally Posted by billable

Of course everybody knows that it is illegal for pregnant women to count calories anyway. You are supposed to eat anything you want until after the baby is born.

This is true

[mikeytan]

PC, congrats on taking control of your health. I used to instruct weight watchers and it is a great program. However, if you are looking for long term health goals then I would recommend Curves. Even though their corporate office is anti tanning. :) They offer you not only the cardio but the strength training you need in 30 minutes. The other great thing is they have a nutrition program that helps to rebuild your metabolism after years of abusing it. It is a 6 week program and you could very well accomplish your goals with it. The program is 3 phases and you start off at 1200 calories for one week and by the end you can go up to 2000-2500 calories. I have heard a lot of Docs recommend this to patients. You might even be able to trade tanning for Curves. I believe I saw advertised 6 weeks of nutirition classes and exercise for $99.

[newdawn]

Weight Watchers is the best plan by far. You can eat anything you want but you must use portion control to stay within your point range. Whenever I start to put on the pounds I revert back to my WW Books and do the plan myself. I started the plan again last week and I weighed myself this morning and I lost 3lbs in 8 days. Dawn