Beginners Guide to Losing Weight...

[Phil Parkinson]

I have found that quite often when people decide they want to tone up their bodies, they can be swamped with extremely technical information concerning diet and exercise - this can put people off and also makes sticking to an exercise program much harder.

I wrote this article with a friend of mine in the hope that it might help a few more people to take up exercise... it doesn't have to be as tough as sometimes it is made out to be.

OK… So you are looking to lose some weight - perhaps this will help.

Most exercise programs are highly detailed and involve a great deal of dedication and will power to implement and stick to. As a result, most people are put off or if they do start a program, very few follow it through. The purpose of this document is to give you a plain and simple guide to losing weight. It is designed for any person who wants to tone up; anyone can follow this program.

The principles of losing weight for any body are the same
a. Exercise: Get your heart rate up for a reasonable period of time
b. Food – ensure you have a calorie deficit (you burn more than you eat)
c. Food – control sugar levels in your body

These are the 3 main principles for ANYONE.

To lose the weight, you need to take control of two areas:

1) Food
2) Exercise

1) Food

The food you eat is more than 50% of the battle. If you are slogging your guts out on the roads / treadmills / exercise bikes and you are dining out at McDonalds 3 times a week, you are making things much much harder for yourself.

First thing you need to do is fix your diet. You can fine tune a diet own to the tiniest detail, but this is hard to implement and you will be less likely to follow it. The idea of this is to give you a simple diet to follow in the hope that this will be much easier to stick to.

The Diet:

Breakfast – Oats and semi-skimmed milk (use yogurt as sugar) OR wholemeal toast.

Morning Snack – Fruit or nuts or yogurt.

Lunch – Sensible sandwich (meat and salad is good) – avoid common fatty fillings such as cheese, bacon, mayonnaise etc.

Afternoon Snack - Fruit or nuts or yogurt.

Evening meal – Meat or Fish and plenty of salad OR vegetables (avoid simple carbs like white rice, bread, pasta or potatoes).

• Some Dietary Principles
• Try to eat 5-6 times a day as this will help keep your metabolism fast throughout the day.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables (surround yourself with as much fruit as you can)
• Avoid the temptation to eat late at night… have your last meal no later than 3 hours before you go to bed). If you get hungry in the evenings before bed, drink a protein shake. Have some discipline!!!
• Once a week, have a blow-out where you eat what you want – this is important to keep you on track for the rest of the week.
• Get disciplined with your food. Do you want to lose weight or not? Every time you cheat on your diet, you are making it harder for yourself to get into shape.


2) Exercise

The treadmill is the best way to burn calories of all of the cardio machines

If you are a beginner do this 20 minute workout:

• 5 minutes at 4 km/h at a 3% gradient / incline (warm up)
• 15 minutes slow jog at 9 km/h at 0% gradient
• 5 minute cool down at 4km/h at a 2% gradient

Intermediate:

• 5 minutes at 4.5 km/h at a 3% gradient / incline (warm up)
• 15 minutes jog at 10.5 km/h at 0% gradient
• 5 minute cool down at 4.5 km/h at a 2% gradient

Advanced:

• 5 minutes at 5km/h at a gradient of 3% (warm up)
• 10 minutes at 11.5 km/h at a 0% gradient
• 5 minutes at 12.5 km/h at a 0% gradient
• 5 minute cool down at 5km/h at 2% gradient

These are rough guides and you can tweak these up or down.

You should be pretty tired by the end of each workout, and as you do more of this you should be able to increase the pace at which you move as you get fitter.

Good luck with your journey.

Phil

[Holistic Star]

Phil,

Exercise,
If you are targeting your advice at beginners then you are going to have to find out more about what beginners can do. The advice to run a slow jog of 9km an hour just about finished me off when I started running a few years ago.

The most I could do was 60 seconds at 7km an hour. Someone laughed at me and told me to run at 9km an hour and I tried it for all of 30 seconds and thought I was going to die!

It took joining a running club, being told it was ok to start running slower than most people walk and doing walk / run sessions until I could gradually up the number of seconds I was running vs walking and increasing the length of sessions from 15 minutes upwards.

And yes I did end up running a half marathon (not very fast at 11 minute miles but I ran all the way). If I'd have listened the the advice I'd had at the start to run at 9km an hour I never would have got there.

Food
You also need to address the emotional aspects of overeating. I spend a lot of time with people who know that they don't need that bar of chocolate / crisps / chips but they have physical and emotional addictions to the stuff. If it was just as simple as cutting down they would have done it by now!
I address the whole person, the emotional attachement to food, who they will be once they have lost weight, the social aspects of dieting, resistance from friends and family, fears around being hungry, being deprived, all the emotions that bubble up to the surface once they stop comfort eating. The emotions that come up are a huge part of why people relapse as they need squash all those painful feelings down and food is the only way they know how.

You need to include these things, because otherwise your advice will only be able to be followed by those that have no food issues (and I think they are a small group of people!)

Hope that helps

[NotesMaeve]

Agreed on the physical/emotional addiction to food aspect. That's so important. A year ago I could not have imagined eating the way I do now. (I am looking forward to my whole wheat sub with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, peppers, pickles, and cucumber with extra vinegar. )

It begins with small changes. A year ago I would have thought cutting out fish and cheese would be radical. The hardest thing is not getting stuck in a rut. I made the transition from fried Cheetos to baked Cheetos. Got used to that and wasn't where I wanted to be. Started eating baked chips and salsa. Wasn't where I wanted to be. Replaced that with fruits and veggies. It's impossible to go from eating crap to eating a super healthy diet. You just have to keep working at it, and sometimes you'll find what you get to replace the unhealthy item doesn't always work. Replacing my Ben & Jerry's with Rice Cream? Did not work. Tasted horrible. Replacing it with good quality hot chocolate? Much better. Instead of a 270 calorie serving, I get a 140 calorie serving.

Oh, and anyone who tells me to "have some discipline" in person is getting smacked. If I want a cheesecake brownie, I'll be damned if anyone shames me for it. Part of a healthy lifestyle is the option to occasionally indulge.

[Rose of Cairo]

Phil, I find it very nice you did this to help. But have you ever been overweight yourself? From what you write, I would say, no.

Are you kidding?! When someone is really overweight, jog 15 minutes is a torture. And such a food programm would most likely lead to an eating attack. I don't want to offend you, but saying "get disciplined with your food" to an overweight person is the most naive thing I have ever heard.

I agree with Holistic Star, you have to address a lot of emotional issues about all this. Just saying "exercise like this and eat that" doesn't work at all. What you say are the basics everyone knows. If it was that easy, nobody would be overweight...

Edit: to me it seems that your program is for people who are already quite fit, have no food issues and at most 5kg to lose

[Angela]

Most people know what to do to lose weight. Eat less and move more. So how helpful is that? Not very. Except to the publishers of diet and exercise books! What would be helpful? To know what's stopping you from doing those things, and to be inspired to take and maintain action. Have you ever seen an article that provides those things?

Ordering someone to "have some discipline!" All you need is willpower!! -- is likely going to be heard as "you worthless piece of crap -- get yourself together!" and if you say that to a woman with PMS you're likely to get smacked, as NotesMaeve has warned. Or she'll slink off to do some private scarfing, to try to swallow her shame.

Beginner's advice? I think the first thing to do when a person wants to tone up or lose weight is to realize that she is absolutely perfect and gorgeous and miraculous, exactly as she is, right now. F*** shame! You're glorious!

[Angela]

Phil, I am sorry to unleash my rancor about the weight loss industry on you. I know you mean to help people and have only the best intentions and don't want to interfere with that. I am just fed up (so to speak) with the incessant messages and pressure from the media and the weight loss industry, both of whom profit mightily from shaming and blaming, and I may be oversensitive to helpfully meant positive suggestions such as your article.

I'm extremely fit and slender and it bugs the bujeeezus out of me; I can only imagine the pain the evil empire is causing for women who would like to be healthier and more fit.

I cancelled my workout and had some chocolate cake and I feel much better.

[AddictiveX]

Thanks for all of your posts guys/girls - I am on a weight loss mission (started very recently) and all of these kinds of posts are of benefit to me, getting views in from all angles and persuassions.

[Phil Parkinson]

Originally Posted by Holistic Star

Phil,

Exercise,
If you are targeting your advice at beginners then you are going to have to find out more about what beginners can do. The advice to run a slow jog of 9km an hour just about finished me off when I started running a few years ago.

The most I could do was 60 seconds at 7km an hour. Someone laughed at me and told me to run at 9km an hour and I tried it for all of 30 seconds and thought I was going to die!

It took joining a running club, being told it was ok to start running slower than most people walk and doing walk / run sessions until I could gradually up the number of seconds I was running vs walking and increasing the length of sessions from 15 minutes upwards.

And yes I did end up running a half marathon (not very fast at 11 minute miles but I ran all the way). If I'd have listened the the advice I'd had at the start to run at 9km an hour I never would have got there.

This is a fair point… the numbers below were supposed to be a starting point for someone… upon reflection everyone is going to be at a different level of fitness – one person can’t do 15 mins… another can do 30. So those figures should have come with a solid caveat to explain that they could be scaled up and down… the reason why I put some solid figures on there was to give someone taking up exercise a starting point… those figures can obviously be scaled up or down… I should have made the point that they were just a suggested starting point.

Originally Posted by Holistic Star

Food
You also need to address the emotional aspects of overeating. I spend a lot of time with people who know that they don't need that bar of chocolate / crisps / chips but they have physical and emotional addictions to the stuff. If it was just as simple as cutting down they would have done it by now!
I address the whole person, the emotional attachement to food, who they will be once they have lost weight, the social aspects of dieting, resistance from friends and family, fears around being hungry, being deprived, all the emotions that bubble up to the surface once they stop comfort eating. The emotions that come up are a huge part of why people relapse as they need squash all those painful feelings down and food is the only way they know how.

You need to include these things, because otherwise your advice will only be able to be followed by those that have no food issues (and I think they are a small group of people!)

Some people eat because they have emotional attachment to food. Other people eat because they are just plain greedy and lack the basic discipline needed to stay away from food. I used to be out of shape not because I had an emotional attachment to the food, but because I was slack – because I was just greedy.

I fell into the latter category. If I was to read an article about weight loss that probed into the inner workings of my mind and how food made me feel, then I would have dismissed it as garbage as it was not relevant to me.

If someone who is emotionally attached to overeating was to read my article, then they would do the same…

But then again… who cares???

This article was not presented as the exhaustive guide to weight loss… It’s just black and white facts about losing weight. If it helps half a dozen people, then it’s a success.

If I read an article about overcoming social phobia and it helps me, then great…. If exactly the same article does not help me, then that doesn’t mean it’s no good… it just means it’s not relevant to me… my mind does relate to the knowledge being transferred.

Phil x

[Phil Parkinson]

Originally Posted by NotesMaeve

Agreed on the physical/emotional addiction to food aspect. That's so important. A year ago I could not have imagined eating the way I do now. (I am looking forward to my whole wheat sub with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, peppers, pickles, and cucumber with extra vinegar. )

It begins with small changes. A year ago I would have thought cutting out fish and cheese would be radical. The hardest thing is not getting stuck in a rut. I made the transition from fried Cheetos to baked Cheetos. Got used to that and wasn't where I wanted to be. Started eating baked chips and salsa. Wasn't where I wanted to be. Replaced that with fruits and veggies. It's impossible to go from eating crap to eating a super healthy diet. You just have to keep working at it, and sometimes you'll find what you get to replace the unhealthy item doesn't always work. Replacing my Ben & Jerry's with Rice Cream? Did not work. Tasted horrible. Replacing it with good quality hot chocolate? Much better. Instead of a 270 calorie serving, I get a 140 calorie serving.

Oh, and anyone who tells me to "have some discipline" in person is getting smacked. If I want a cheesecake brownie, I'll be damned if anyone shames me for it. Part of a healthy lifestyle is the option to occasionally indulge.

You are looking at this from a single perspective.... Your own.

How important is the emotional / physical addiction to food to someone who does not have that addiction... how about a person who is overweight because they:

1) are greedy and lazy
2) don't know where to begin in getting their bodies back in shape.

I would wager it's not very important at all... because it's not relevant to them.

HOWEVER... If you have an emotional and physical addiction to food, then my article is not useful to you... BUT... that does not make it useless... The information contained within is still factually sound... It is just not relevant to you... So you just discard it. It may not help you, but the next person who reads it may take something out of it and that is the point.

Originally Posted by NotesMaeve

It's impossible to go from eating crap to eating a super healthy diet.

I wonder how empowering this mindset is...

Look at the computer you are typing on... man made every single working part of that device... quite extraordinary really... We have put people on the moon and run a mile in under 4 minutes and you think it is impossible to just stop eating poorly and start eating healthily??

It is absolutely possible to go from eating badly to eating a healthy diet. It all comes down to the message you put to yourself.

Phil xxx

[Phil Parkinson]

Originally Posted by Angela

Most people know what to do to lose weight. Eat less and move more. So how helpful is that? Not very. Except to the publishers of diet and exercise books! What would be helpful? To know what's stopping you from doing those things, and to be inspired to take and maintain action. Have you ever seen an article that provides those things?

I think that a lot of people don’t know where to begin when losing weight…

One of the most popular searches on Google every year is “How do I lose weight?” (just think of how many millions of searches are on google).

I think a lot of people are flooded with information and would benefit from a common sense black and white guide to weight loss.

Yes, some people do know what to do, but others do not. I have been into exercise for about 5 years… But… until very recently, I didn’t know the principle behind weight loss (I.e. burn more calories than you eat)… I also didn’t realize that to lose weight, you needed to eat 5-6 times a day… this to me was counter-intuitive.

PLEASE NOTE… My article does not apply to those people who are emotionally attached / addicted to food.

Originally Posted by Angela

Ordering someone to "have some discipline!" All you need is willpower!! -- is likely going to be heard as "you worthless piece of crap -- get yourself together!" and if you say that to a woman with PMS you're likely to get smacked, as NotesMaeve has warned. Or she'll slink off to do some private scarfing, to try to swallow her shame.

But again, it depends on the person you are talking to… I am working with a guy at the moment who does not have food issues… he just lacks discipline… I used to be like him… In that instance, telling him to “have some discipline” is absolutely the right thing to tell him – because that is what he needs to have.

Phil x

[Old Soul]

excellent advice!! I've been working a program of changing diet and implementing exercise into my life for 1 year.....

I run, 4 times a week ( consistancy is the key),
I have cut out 70 percent of the cookies and sugar

Dropped down from a size 12/14 clothing to an 8/10 and actually like shopping now for clothes, because i find clothes to fit nice!!

I feel* sooo healthy compared to a year ago,,,,,, all I can say is that for me the fitness part is not as hard as the changing of my diet..... all my family still want to eat pizza's and fat which would be ok if they only wanted it once in a while but unfortunetly they have no want to change their diets

so I make a choice of cooking my salmon when they eat the fat stuff if I have had my limit

it is all about dedication and choices for somethings.. no choices for others
it is hard work ,it is a life style change that has to be done each day .. so dont think any differently or you will be right back to where you were prior to the health changes... it does get easier.... now when i have fat food, i pay attention to how I feel , after eating it, and I don't like the way I feel,... tired and heavy and sluggish........so that is a motivator in and of itself

good luck to all of you ........... lets all go running!! take the mp3 and enjoy the moments

[NotesMaeve]

^ Question @ OS:

Would they be willing to meet you halfway? Slamhot is not willing to go veggie, but he'll do things like eat a whole grain crust and get my half of the pizza with no cheese and lots of veggies. Are they open to trying new things to eat, or is the LoA 100% and I am a flexible weirdo who attracted a flexible weirdo?

[Catlover]

I think your article would be great if you focused it on people who want or need the "kick in the seat of the pants" type of motivation for weight loss. I think there could be a market for that approach.

As has been commented already, it is not for those who respond better to taking smaller steps and making smaller modifications. I am the opposite. If it's not a big step that I think can result in big results, I can lose motivation pretty quickly. I had to get rid of my life coach for the very reason that all of her suggestions, including those for weight loss, involved taking small steps and that did not suit me at all.

I also agree that it does not address emotional eating. If one eats as a way of dealing with emotions, a "disciplined" approach is not likely to work until another way of dealing with the emotions is learned.

You should probably target those who lack discipline and want an outside party to impose a strict plan for them (and possibly monitor it) and one that will have immediate results.

P.S. I recently learned what is meant by "salad" on a sandwich when I was in Ireland. In the U.S., a "salad" as related to a sandwich is a type of filling like tuna or egg salad (tuna or egg mayonnaise in Europe). You can imagine the look on my face when I was asked what 3 kinds of salad I wanted on my egg mayonnaise (or what I call egg salad) sandwich. I then learned that I could choose lettuce, tomato and onion for my 3 "salads."

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Catlover

I also agree that it does not address emotional eating. If one eats as a way of dealing with emotions, a "disciplined" approach is not likely to work until another way of dealing with the emotions is learned.

The emotional issues I talked about were much more than eating to deal with emotions. Of course one can be overweight because they eat to deal with negative emotions. And some are addicted to unhealthy food too.

But for some people there are also many emotional issues that have to be solved first about the fact of being overweight/thin itself. Things like the fear of being thin for example. Issues around the person I am now versus the person I will be when I am thin. Things like "if I am thin, men will look at me in a dirty way" or "will try to abuse me sexually", or like "if I am thin, I will be sexier than my mother, and I mustn't do that, she doesn't want that." or "I am a nice guy now, everybody likes me. If I am more attractive, I'll be concurrence for others, they will not like me anymore." it can even be something like "if I lose weight, I'll have to buy new clothes and I can't afford it" or a defiant "Society all the time tells me to lose weight or I'll be worthless, but I want to be like I am, f*** you all".

Maybe that sounds weird, maybe you can only understand such thoughts if you have been overweight yourself. But these are very serious problems. I guess many people cannot lose weight for such reasons.

[Catlover]

Maybe that sounds weird, maybe you can only understand such thoughts if you have been overweight yourself. But these are very serious problems. I guess many people cannot lose weight for such reasons.

I do understand--been there myself at times, and have always been overweight alas.

[hydra888]

I agree with you Phil! I wanted to add a few.

a. Drink only milk in the morning that way you'll be burning the stored fats in your body, there's no calorie to burn in milk.
b. change your eating habit, you can eat a lot but eat low calorie foods like tomatoes.
c. Drink plenty of water that way your body is cleansed, also to lessen the feeling of getting weak of eating less.

Visit me so i can add more.

[Max452]

I just wanted to say thanks for the starting point..

(i didn't even know that eating 5-6 times a day helped you lose weight?!)

I've recently dropped all the coffee and sodas from my diet and found myself STARVING between meals.. i think i'll adopt your approach and see how i go

i have to say have some indication is good with exercise equipment.. it can really be daunting seeing all those sweaty bodies heaving around the place and not knowing if you should be working as hard as them to be achieving any results at all!

you know i think i managed to run as far as you've mentioned and i was losing sh#t loads of weight.. i actually didn't realise it was the treadmill that was doing it.. i thought it was the spin classes?!

guess i'll get back into it then!

Thanks again Phil!

[maclinda]

Although I start with fairly simple, basic ideas for diet/exercise with my weight loss patients, it's clear that each person is unique. Different issues with food and exercise abilities, different attitudes and outlooks.

Although a fairly radical change is somewhat difficult, without it there's not a gratifying loss that first month (I see patients monthly).

The concept of small changes is easier, but there's little consistent fat loss that way and people get discouraged and tend to give it up. Also, if you don't make larger changes, any indiscretions will then cause a weight gain, and people find that very discouraging.

[NotesMaeve]

Originally Posted by Phil Parkinson

You are looking at this from a single perspective.... Your own.

How important is the emotional / physical addiction to food to someone who does not have that addiction... how about a person who is overweight because they:

1) are greedy and lazy
2) don't know where to begin in getting their bodies back in shape.

I am greedy and lazy. And wiry! Frankly, part of my being greedy and lazy keeps me in line about my body. Fat people are marginalized in society. Isn't it just easier to be thin in that sense?

Also, it's pretty easy to be in shape. All I did was set my alarm last night. Then I put on clothes and shoes when it went off. Then I sat on my bike and pedaled. Then I eventually stopped, came back in the house, toasted a whole wheat muffin, warmed up a veggie sausage, cut up some veggies, took my vitamins, and crammed that whole mess down my gullet.

HOWEVER... If you have an emotional and physical addiction to food, then my article is not useful to you... BUT... that does not make it useless... The information contained within is still factually sound... It is just not relevant to you... So you just discard it. It may not help you, but the next person who reads it may take something out of it and that is the point.

It's super common stuff. And that's great, but if I dive in my change jar and walk down to Safeway, I can buy countless magazines saying the same stuff. Just repeating old information isn't useful. Once we know something, we got it.

I wonder how empowering this mindset is...

Empowering enough to maintain an active lifestyle. I exercise several times a week and eat a healthy diet. You should see me naked! I look great.

Look at the computer you are typing on... man made every single working part of that device... quite extraordinary really... We have put people on the moon and run a mile in under 4 minutes and you think it is impossible to just stop eating poorly and start eating healthily??

Hey there, Mr. Bullsh*tter! Let's not put words in my mouth. I've quit eating poorly, but yeah, rarely if ever can it be done overnight. Otherwise, why would anyone ever be fat?