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Where to start losing weight: developing an action plan

Why is losing a few dozen pounds considered almost a feat? People who have achieved significant weight loss and changed beyond recognition become heroes of TV shows and social networks. This happens 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 food instinct inherent in nature itself is a real challenge. The outcome of the battle largely depends on what served as a starting point.

To bring the matter to the end, you need to know where to start losing weight and how to make a plan correctly - not only nutrition and training, but also make adjustments to your usual lifestyle. Making such a decision must come with the realization of the complexity of the approach to weight loss. From here on, every step should bring you closer to your goal, and they should be carefully thought out at the beginning.

The simplest and correct solution

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

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

  1. Save about $200.
  2. Find a nutritionist in your city and make an appointment with him.
  3. Go on a date.
  4. Follow all his recommendations.
  5. Visit him regularly to adjust the plan he originally laid out.
  6. Find a professional fitness trainer who specializes in weight loss and make an appointment with them.
  7. Consult him, order an individual training plan, taking into account the recommendations given by a nutritionist.
  8. Follow all his recommendations.

You'll need money to pay for personalized meal plans and workouts. The amount is approximate and may vary in different cities and with different specialists. On average, each such development costs about 100 dollars. Only a nutritionist and trainer will help you start losing weight properly and guide you until you achieve the desired result.

Meeting with a nutritionist

You will first receive a detailed examination aimed at taking a history. Get ready to answer a lot of questions:

  • whether there are chronic diseases;
  • what you eat, how many times a day (in the smallest details, down to seeds and a bottle of mineral water);
  • how quickly you gained weight;
  • what diseases you have suffered in the last 2 years;
  • Do you have bad habits;
  • what is the nature of your work (sedentary or you have to constantly move - on foot or by car);
  • what kind of life do you lead after work?
  • Do your parents have a problem with being overweight, etc.

After data collection, tests and instrumental studies are prescribed:

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

Based on all the collected data, an individual nutritional plan will be drawn up, which you must strictly follow. You should also follow any related advice your nutritionist gives you (walk in the evening, go to upper floors without elevators, do exercises, etc. ).

Coach consultation

After the nutritionist with all his recommendations and food plan, you go to the trainer. He should adapt a weight loss program in the gym according to them. Here it is important to understand the following: as soon as the instructor begins to criticize the nutritionist's actions, turn around, leave and look for another specialist. Doctors are properly educated and know what they are advising, but there are too many amateurs in the fitness industry who can spoil 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, usually 6 months is enough.

So it is extremely easy to start losing weight properly. This method is good because you do not need to independently calculate BMI, daily calorie intake, BJU ratios, etc. Here, errors are excluded, health risks are minimal, and the final result is guaranteed. The disadvantages are 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 weight loss process yourself at home, you will have to spend a lot of time preparing. Regardless of gender, age and weight, it is recommended to start with the following steps.

General points

The first is motivation: clearly formulate your goal and determine why you need to lose weight. You can make a selection of photos of when you were thin and how you are now. You can hang your favorite dress in a prominent place where you need to "fit in". Read relevant literature, watch movies. There are a huge number of ways to motivate yourself and they should work during the months you will be 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;
  • all diets and certain types of exercise have contraindications - with the data of the review, you will be sure that this or that food system or exercise will not harm your health.

Keep a weight loss diary: you will record all your mistakes and achievements, 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. Please contact them with any issues.

Prepare your family for the fact that you will lose weight. Ask them for help. Sometimes, if you don't have the courage not to eat before bed, let your husband take you away from this temptation and prevent you from relapse. Effective, but should be considered at the very beginning of the journey.

Required Purchases:

  • scales;
  • kitchen scales;
  • dumbbells.

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

Eating

Immediately prepare for the fact that the first steps towards weight loss may take up to 1 month. Of course, the preparatory stage 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 it.

Preparation for weight loss includes weighing yourself and reducing daily calories.

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

First week

  1. Write down everything you eat during the day and in what amounts.
  2. In the evening, count the number of calories you consume.
  3. On Sunday, determine the average daily caloric content of your diet.
  4. Using a special formula, calculate how many calories are needed for effective weight loss. Usually for men it ranges from 1500-2000 kcal, for women - 1200-1500 kcal.
  5. Calculate the difference between what you consume now and what you get according to the formula.
  6. Consider which foods or meals to reduce your daily calorie intake (calorie food 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 fast food, fried foods, alcoholic and carbonated drinks and limit the consumption of sweet and salty foods.

Third week

  1. Start it with a hungry day.
  2. Explore the issue of complex and simple carbohydrates. Leave only the first in the diet.
  3. Create a menu for the week, reducing the daily calorie intake by 100 kcal. Hold on.
  4. Drink at least 1 liter of water a day.

Fourth week

  1. Start with a fasting day.
  2. Remove another 100 kcal from your diet.
  3. Increase the amount of water you drink 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 for it. It minimizes the stress your body will experience in the coming weeks or months.

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

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

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

sport

If you want your weight loss to be truly effective, just organizing your meals won't be enough. The calories you consume must also be expended. To do this, you will need to increase physical activity and physical activity. But if tomorrow you start working out for a few hours in the gym, your body will rebel out of habit: the next day you won't be able to get up because of muscle pain. And all because this also requires preparation. Fortunately, there is plenty to do during those 4 weeks while you figure out your new diet.

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

The training program recommended below is called "From scratch". It is intended for those who have never played sports, but understand that they will have to do it in order to lose weight.

First week

  1. Avoid the elevator: 5-6 floors must be walked per day.
  2. If you have a sedentary job, 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 an easy set of 10-minute morning exercises that should invigorate and improve your mood, not exhaust you. Do it daily.
  2. Learn several breathing exercises (qigong, bodyflex, oxysize), try to master one of them.
  3. Increase the time of your evening walk to 40 minutes.

Third week

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

Fourth week

  1. Morning exercises should take 15 minutes.
  2. After that, a walk (Finnish, sports) for half an hour at a fast pace.
  3. Evening walks are extended by an hour.
  4. Make a study plan.

If you start losing weight with the implementation of such a plan, your body will be fully prepared for new physical activity. The correction of the figure will happen much more intensively and with minimal losses. 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 to be given time to recover, so every other day is the most convenient schedule.

Consider where the classes will be held. A gym membership is a financial hit, but it's worth it. Professional simulators will be at your disposal and you can always ask the coach for advice. Or group fitness classes - it's engaging and keeps you from crashing.

Buy nice sportswear - this is also a kind of motivation. And when you buy it, think that after 2-3 months you will replace it with things 1-2 sizes smaller.

Recommendations for special cases

Getting off to the right start is 50% of the success of your plan. However, the above plans must be adjusted, taking into account the individual characteristics of each person. That is why a few tips for special categories of the population will help to organize the whole process more correctly.

Women over 35 years old

At this age, the body gradually begins to age and adjust to menopause. Metabolism slows down, few people are ready to do sports. So even the owners of the thinnest figures begin to blur. The belly grows, the bottom expands, the breasts increase in volume and sag slightly.

In addition to the nutrition and training programs proposed above, there is 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, then at this age it is mandatory before losing weight. Perhaps he will suggest the most suitable weight loss methods for you.
  2. Start taking special vitamins.
  3. High protein, low fat, low carb diets are not for you. Choose the most balanced food system with a daily intake of at least 1500 kcal.
  4. There is no need for strength training at this age, but you cannot completely exclude it from your training plan. When making it up, focus on cardio exercises, but don't forget about dumbbells.
  5. Replace morning jogging with sports or Finnish walking.
  6. The dancing, of course, is good. But when you plan to lose weight at this age, choose swimming anyway.

And the most important advice to the elderly woman who is starting to lose weight: to see a doctor every 3 months. All changes in the body during the premenopausal period are important.

Men with beer bellies

Deciding to lose weight for a man with a belly is a real feat. Diets are a common thing for women, but they are not ready for dietary restrictions. What is it like to refuse a can of beer in the evening with salted fish, not to sit in the bathroom with friends on the weekend?

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

However, the process will need to start with this:

  1. No need to look for a diet - just eliminate alcoholic and carbonated drinks, fast food and snacks from your diet.
  2. Daily calorie intake should be reduced to 2000 kcal. Usually men do not like to sit with these formulas and tables, so it is better to ask your wife, sister or mother for help.
  3. Give preference to protein foods with low fat content.
  4. Be sure to include morning jogging in your training plan.
  5. Choose abdominal exercises.
  6. Alternate strength and cardio exercises.

For a man who has set a goal to lose weight, the main thing is to start. They are much more quickly involved in the process itself, without allowing themselves any pampering, as women like to do. Don't postpone your plans. If the four-week preparation described above is too long a journey for you, start tomorrow so you don't drag it out for months, during which your beer belly will only get bigger.

Age after 50

The most dangerous and difficult thing for both men and women is losing weight after 50-60 years, when the body is exhausted and its organs no longer work at full strength. It is age that often becomes the main cause of impaired metabolism, which is why extra pounds accumulate.

Here you should definitely start with a visit to the doctor - it is strongly not recommended to develop plans yourself. After all, any restriction in fat or carbohydrate intake can worsen your health. An additional 10 minutes of sport leads to shortness of breath and tachycardia. Improperly performed exercise can lead to joint pain or even injury.

So making a decision to lose weight after 50 must necessarily be agreed with specialists, without initiatives or questionable experiments.

How much weight do you need to lose?

If you need to lose 10 kg, it is enough to stick to the four-week training program that was described in detail above. With it, you can lose weight by 3-4 kg per month. Once you apply it, you don't even need to go on a diet - just continue to follow the 4th week nutrition recommendations and do 40-minute workouts every other day. The main thing is to start correctly, and then the need for hunger strikes will disappear by itself.

It is another matter if you initially have a very high weight (more than 100 kg). Here the stage of preparation also plays an important role. If you immediately start with an express weight loss minus 10 kg per week, in the end, even if you manage to lose weight, it will affect your health and the skin will hang in folds because it does not have time to shrink. It is important for you to smoothly, gradually introduce any diet and lose weight slowly (1-2 kg per week). But then you will save on plastic surgery.

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