Diet and Exercise routine that can be easily maintained!

[Guest Anira]

Good Morning to all my brothers and sisters here,

Before I go any further let me say this. As a medical staff member I strongly urge you to discuss this or ANY dietary plan with your care provider before starting, stopping, or modifying any diet and exercise routine. There is a lot that can go wrong with ANY diet, especially when other medications or supplements are involved. Talking with your provider about the plan will allow them to determine if the specific plan will be damaging or beneficial to your health, or if they feel there should be any changes to the plan to accommodate any medications or medical issues you may have. If after starting a diet, be it this one or ANY other, you start seeing or feeling a change in your health that is not a POSSITIVE change talk to your provider as soon as possible to discuss possible side effects or interactions you MAY be experiencing. Negative changes from ANY dietary/activity change can include, but are not limited to loss of energy, complications with existing medical conditions (i.e. Diabetes), fatigue, changes in blood pressure, and anxiety.

Now then... with the medical disclamer out of the way onto the main part of this topic. The plan itself. *giggles a bit* and no I do not think any of what I said above is NOT important. I was being extremely honest about all of it. It's just that's likely NOT the reason you chose to look at this thread. *nods * you chose to look here because you wanted information. I have been on this plan for a little over 4 months now and have currently lost 25 pounds. going from 196 to 171 (as of today) it is not a hard routine to follow and actually allows you to not go crazy worrying about if a friend invites you to Applebee’s or you have a little McDonalds every now and then. So let's get started shall we?

Ok first. *takes a deep breath* the diet part... I know most people hear the word diet and they think completely cutting out everything that's "not healthy" and grumble and groan. But though some sacrifices in that department (i.e. cutting back on sodas if you drink them religiously) will have to be made you don't have to completely stop eating the things you enjoy. It’s more about avoiding unhealthy AMOUNTS of food consumption. The diet includes a dietary supplement and the only one I am going to speak on as it is the only one I have tried. YOUR PROVIDER can tell you if the supplement is recommended or if they have something else they would recommend. The supplement I use is the Hydroxycut: Pro Clinical weight loss supplement and is taken 30 minutes before each meal. Again I cannot say that this is the only one out there or anything like that. I am sure there are others out there but which one would be best for your particular situation is for you and your Care provider to discuss.

The diet itself consists of the following:

Morning: 1-2 tablets of the supplement (depending on what your provider and the supplement instruction says)

Two Hard Boiled eggs, a banana (or fruit of your choice), wheat toast (or crackers depending on your likings) and either a bit of cheese or milk (soy can be used instead if you are lactose intolerant like myself)

It is best to avoid snacking between meals if possible

Lunch: one dose of the supplement

I usually go to subway for regular lunch and dinners as I can get one 5 dollar foot long and have it cover the two meals, and they have a lot of variety when it comes to sandwiches and . Your meals may vary but I recommend keeping the calories between 5-700 so that you do not drop below minimum sustainable calorie levels and cause your body to go into starvation mode. Starvation mode is a natural body response to a lack of food/nutrient that causes your metabolism to slow down drastically to let you survive longer. Starvation mode is something we want to AVOID so eat sensible. Don't think you can eat a 920 calorie BIG MAC MEAL EVERY day and be very successful with this or any diet.

Dinner is usually the same rules as lunch except that you want to have a lower calorie count at dinner than you did for lunch. The reason being that, during the day you are more active and naturally burn more calories. In the evening hours most people slow down their activity level and thus lower the amount of calories they burn. So you don't need nearly as much. Think small. Salads, healthy sandwiches, ECT are the best choices for your DAILY dinners. And I stress the part daily dinners because here is the part that makes this diet so easy to maintain.

ONE DAY PER WEEK you are allowed to "spoil yourself" so that means if you want to go out to Applebee’s on a Saturday or Sunday for a "night out" you need to make sure you eat healthy the rest of the week. There are a few reasons behind this. First off that one day a week is your “reward day” for having successfully completed another week of the routine. It’s your “I did GOOD this week, now to enjoy myself” time. The second is cravings!! I have seen and been subject to many diet/exercise routines failing because of cravings. Because if you don’t handle them they will get worse and you will fall off the wagon. We get cravings for usually one of two reasons. The first being that we are soooo used to having the particular item that our body is like “hey what the heck?!?! Where is “insert favorite food”? I want “insert favorite food” “. The other reason is because our body may be saying that we are running low on some nutrient or another. I.e. if you are craving something salty, your body may be low on sodium OR low on water so it’s trying to use the salt to retain as much water as it can. Both of those examples can be dangerous as your body needs to maintain a certain level of key nutrients to stay healthy and functioning properly. The last reason for the “spoil yourself” day is because it can help you get through the next week of the routine. If you spoil yourself and eat ‘unhealthily’ you are more likely to say “darn it!! Now I gotta work off all that steak (or whatever you spoiled yourself with that week), and that will drive you to stick to the plan to see results.

OK now onto the exercising. The exercises I will discuss are merely the ones I do and what I have found works for me without aggravating any existing conditions (I have bad knees so there are many exercises I am advised to avoid) your exercises may vary depending on your own health conditions. Again this is something to discuss with your primary care provider. A second thing to note is that your exercise sessions will show the most results when done first thing in the morning after waking up. This is because when we sleep our bodies go into a recovery and repair state, where it uses calories and nutrients to repair any ‘damage’ that you may have sustained throughout the day. An example is the muscle rebuilding that occurs that gives body builders their increase in size. When we first wake up our bodies are at their “maximum calorie burning potential” Or MCBP and we are able to maximize on the calorie burn of any exercise. For example if a work out says that it can burn around 300-375 calories in an hour, then during our “MCBP” phase we are more likely to be burning 350-385 as the previous numbers were the average range of calories burned and the ones I just gave are then upper end average for the exercise. Likewise if we try to do the same exercise when our bodies are worn down from stressors or other factors we are more likely to be burning between 285-325 calories since our bodies aren’t able to put full effort and potential into it.

Now then, let’s move on to the actual exercises. Let’s start by doing some simple stretches. These can vary based on the exercises you are doing. But generally arm stretches and leg stretches are safe bets when it comes to most exercises. 3 times a day you want to do a set 20 pushups at a pace that feels comfortable to you. Remember the longer you stay in the actual rest position the more energy you use up trying to keep yourself up. So if you can push them out quicker but properly your results will be better. Next we do a set of 20 4-Count full ab crunches. If you do not know what these are exactly, don’t worry I’ll explain. In a 4-count full ab crunch there are 4 steps. Each step is a count. Every fourth count is 1 full ‘crunch’ or SET. Verbally it sounds like “one, two, three, one; one, two, three, two; one, two, three, three…” etc. On up to 20. Next we’ll go over how to actually DO a 4-count full ab crunch. Start by lying on your back, placing your hands behind your head and having your knees bent, and feet on the ground like you were going to do a sit-up. This is called the neutral position then you use your ab muscles to lift your legs and shoulders, turning as you go so that your right elbow touch your left knee when you come up. That is the first count. The second count is returning to the neutral position. The third count is once again doing the crunch but this time turning so that your LEFT elbow touches your RIGHT knee. And the final count is returning to the neutral position. This will complete one set.

Next comes the fun part. Three times a week you’re going to go for a walk. That’s right a walk. Sound too easy? Here’s the catch! You are going to walk for an hour and a half without stopping for a break. Now don’t get discouraged it’s not as hard as it sounds. Walk around you neighborhood, town, whatever you have nearby that you can ‘explore’ as I put it. For me my course consists of walking down to the beach, walking along the beach for a little while, then walking up and eventually back around to my house. Now you might be asking “where is the calorie burn in that? I walk all day.” Here’s the thing though. Throughout the day we may walk short distances, but we generally sit for long periods of time in between those brief session. And because of this we don’t really push our bodies or burn up any energy or calories because there is not enough energy being used between the rest phases. If you couple this with the fact we don’t really walk very fast you can see why it doesn’t use up the energy we need to. When you walk for an hour and a half straight, you expend the necessary energy to produce a noticeable calorie burn. If you go at a nice easy pace of 13-14 minutes per mile you should be able to travel approximately 6.5 miles. This equates to 650 calories, because you burn approximately 100 calories per mile at that pace. Personally I didn’t realize the pace I was going or how far I had gone until I got back to my apartment. I was too busy listening to my music and looking at the scenery around where I walked, to notice. When I got home I looked at the time and the android app MyTracks by Google as I had the bright idea to track how far I was actually going and have a map incase I got turned around. (Yeah I can get turned around in my own neighborhood. Especially when you don’t walk around it all that often. Things look different from a car…) the point is give it a shot you might surprise yourself at just HOW far you can get in that hour and a half.

The biggest thing to remember about this or ANY exercise routine is to not give up. There may be times where you don’t see results, especially in the beginning, but I promise you, they are there. Now just HOW much you lose and how fast you lose it will vary depending on MANY different factors. Such as your commitment, the exercises involved, and your overall physical shape condition. But with all things it takes time and dedication to see strong lasting results.

[Carolyn Marie]

Thank you very much for this thorough and well done post. You put a lot of thought into it and its appreciated. I'm certain that many will benefit from this information.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Robin Robin]

Anira,

This was an amazing article that i will have to try and follow. Right now i weigh 195 and my goal is to be at 170 before i start my HRT. After that i want to get down to between 150 and 155. I have bad knees and shoulders, but i don't think the exercises will hurt them. You can look at my Gallery if you want to see if you think i have a chance.

Love, Robin

[Guest Anira]

Anira,

This was an amazing article that i will have to try and follow. Right now i weigh 195 and my goal is to be at 170 before i start my HRT. After that i want to get down to between 150 and 155. I have bad knees and shoulders, but i don't think the exercises will hurt them. You can look at my Gallery if you want to see if you think i have a chance.

Love, Robin

Robin,

I can not say for certain that this exercize routine or ANY exercize routine will work for one person or another. There are just too many factors that can effect the outcome/results. do i think you have a good chance at reaching your goals? Of course!! everyone has a chance to reach their goals if they put their minds to it. it also comes down to will power. do YOU want to lose that weight and are you WILLING to stick to the plan be it this one or any other to get the results you desire? I will admit it is hard to stick to a plan. there were a few times where i've struggled with the willpower part and ate a bit more than i had intended to.. but when i next stepped on the scale and saw that i had gained back a decent portion of what i had worked so hard to lose. i redoubled my resolve and am happy to say that i lost said weight and am back on track to my goal. so do i think you can reach your goals too? yes.

[Guest LizMarie]

Walking and occasional jogging are the core of my personal exercise regimen. I do other calisthenics such as pushups and crunches (core crunches, side crunches) and leg lifts too. The key is to do them often. It doesn't have to be every day but more often is better. My goal is 3 exercise sessions during the work week and at least 1 session on the weekend. If I get 2 weekend sessions it's great. I've dropped 3 inches from the waistline without trying so far (about 11 months) and aim to drop 4 more down to a 29 waist if I can manage it.