Which is better to lose weight quickly?

[CroMagna]

I would like to lose 20 pounds as soon as possible, like in 2-3 months. I heard that you're actually supposed to go for long walks, but it seems like running would burn more fat.

[viscapes]

Hi CroMagna

You should also consider your diet. I'd suggest eating a minimum of 5 meals per day to keep your metabolism high. Have Oats in the morning which are difficult for your body to breakdown and will give your metabolism a kickstart, and then have at least 4 more sensible, low calorie meals of reasonably small portions.

I lost around 20 pounds in about 10 weeks through sensible eating and a little bit of running.

Cheers
Paul

[Gaz]

The interesting thing about your body is that as you increase your effort level you switch from burning fat to burning carbohydrates. At an effort rating of between 50-70% is supposed to be the optimum area for burning fat, which I guess is what you're trying to do to lose weight.

I don't know what exercise you do, but for me, running at between 6 and a half minutes per km and 7 minutes per km is around to 50-70% effort level. If i'm trying to push I run between 5 and 5:45 minutes a km. Just to give you an idea. you should be able to comfortably carry on a conversation at the correct effort level. (I'm busy training for a marathon in november just to give you an idea of what my fitness level is at)

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if you are relatively fit and run already, then the running will be your best bet, however, if you are going from no exercise, you will probably find that the running is going to be a higher intensity than what you are aiming for.

[aelle]

On top of what Gaz said: depending on how overweight you are, running and other heavy cardio exercise can be bad for you. It can put a lot of strain on your heart, your lungs, your joints and generally be very unpleasant and discouraging. From my experience, I first had to shed 30 pounds through dietary changes to be able to enjoy cardio and maintain an effort long enough for it to be effective.

[Calculusaurus]

All Michael Phelps's aside, I'd wager a guess that for most people, weight loss can come down to 80% diet, 20% exercise. Some will disagree, but that's where I stand based on personal experience and research.

And "chronic cardio" isn't necessarily a good thing, especially if you're overweight.

Watch:

MyFox Los Angeles | Is Working Out the Best Way to Lose Weight?

[bdp]

Kudos if that kind of exercise burns fat for you, but it's never worked for me and my associates. Here are my experiments with fat loss, in order of efficacy:

• My wife and I walked briskly (outside) 60 minutes per day for 30 days straight--with no measurable change in body fat.
  
• For one month I jogged 30 minutes daily at 80% of my max heart rate--with no measurable change in body fat.
  
• For one month my wife and I did intense sprint intervals twice a week (sprint 20 seconds, jog 10 seconds, repeat for 5 minutes). I lost 5 lbs, she lost none.
  
• For one month my wife and I cut our portion sizes in half--we each lost 10 lbs.
  
• We adopted a whole food/mostly vegan diet--in 4 months we lost 40 lbs between us.

[Gaz]

The biggest reason that diet has such a big impact is that most people overestimate what the correct portion size is. Merely by using correct portion control, and not adjusting the type of foods you eat, you should be able to control your weight.

There are two things you need to be aware of. If you are an athlete, and are fit to begin with, you need to be very careful about your diet as dropping weight normally leads to muscle loss, not fat loss, which results in a loss in power/endurance/etc.

If you already have minimal body fat to lose, you might also find that through exercise you don't lose weight as muscle weighs more than fat. This is the position my wife has found herself in. She has been trying to lose about 5lbs, but with a BNMI of 19 it wasn't like she had all that much body fat to lose, and as she has started training seriously for the national Race Walking Championships, she is not losing any weight, what has happened is that she has dropped a clothing size.

So again, a lot comes down to where you are now, to be able to make any form of recomendation.

[Liza Red]

Here is something you need to know.

Ratio:

70% Diet
30% Exercise

So first thing to do is to fix up your diet. Cut out all soft drinks and whatever other fatty foods you eat. If that's difficult then ease it down.

The amount of food you eat a day is important as well. Only have one big meal a day with two lesser meals. No snacking. Drink mostly water.

As well as cardio training, also do strength/weights training as that is just as effective. Mix up your fitness routine. Boxing is a very good choice of cardio/weight loss as well.

Also know that ab work is not very effective in losing fat. All it does is strengthen the ab muscles. Everybody has a six-pack - BUT - there is a large layer of fat covering it and that's why you can't see it!
.

[viscapes]

Originally Posted by Liza Red

The amount of food you eat a day is important as well. Only have one big meal a day with two lesser meals. No snacking.

I disagree. To maximize fat loss we have to maintain a consistently high metabolism which cannot be achieved by eating only three meals per day. By doing this, you may burn fat initially but you'll put it all back on as your metabolic rate drops.

Eat five or six small, low calorie meals per day. If you find that at times you are going hungry then you're doing something wrong. A sensible, balanced diet is a better long term weight solution than starving yourself.

[Jim]

Interval training has been getting a lot of press the past couple of years, and for good reason.

Short bursts of maximum effort have been shown to be equally as effective cardio. Personally, my body responds much better in terms of fat burning to these types of workouts. I do swimming, 20 laps. But I swim each lap as if a shark is chasing me. I am panting after each lap. The whole cardio grind is not the way to go ( Dear Mark: Chronic Cardio | Mark's Daily Apple ). Maximal efforts on short bursts of energy is a great way to keep the body on its toes and not allowing it to adapt.

As for diet, you should take a closer look at removing grains and refined sugars and only consuming high quality protein sources and vegetables.

Some of my personal favorite nutritional blogs :
Mark's Daily Apple
Free the Animal
The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.

[EnduranceNinja]

Running/jogging will burn more calories than walking. But, if you walk longer than 30 minutes you can burn just the same amount of calories as running 30 mins. Really you should find out if you are healthy to run. Jogging can be harsh on the body especailly for first timers. I don't know you fitness background so that is up to you. You can lose weight doing one or the other just with walking you might want to do more compared to running. Maybe do both?

[bdp]

Originally Posted by viscapes

To maximize fat loss we have to maintain a consistently high metabolism which cannot be achieved by eating only three meals per day. By doing this, you may burn fat initially but you'll put it all back on as your metabolic rate drops.

That is debatable.

[tomn8er]

Yeah if you wanna lose weight it's really not rocket science. As many people said, you should be doing some form of cardio, walking would work, but some light jogging for 20-30 min two or three times a week would work better.

When it comes to eating Viscapes is right: the most effective way to stimulate fat loss is by maintaining a high metabolism, which you can do by eating 5 or six smaller meals as opposed to the traditional 3. This is not absolutely necessary - you could definitely still lose weight eating the regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner - but eating more frequently is optimal.

In addition (and I'm not sure that anyone mentioned this which is shameful), you should start doing some weight training and switch to a higher protein diet to build muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn even in a resting state like sitting at a desk or sleeping, which translates to less calories being stored as body fat. You will find that the outer layers of flab seem to harden into muscle (although technically the fat isn't becoming muscle, it is being replaced by muscle). Depending on your age and initial metabolism, you could even get away with not doing any cardio but solely keeping your bodyfat in check through diet and resistance training. Good luck!

[Calculusaurus]

Originally Posted by bdp

That is debatable.

Thanks for the link... it will be nice to have that on file, since the topic comes up so often.

Anyway, if you want to lose weight fast, just don't put your body on an insulin roller coaster.

Start cycle => Eat sugar and high-GI foods
=> blood sugar levels skyrocket
=> lots of insulin secreted by your pancreas so you don't kill yourself
=> "fat storage mode"
=> low blood sugar
=> brain fog and general feeling of crappyness
=> body craves more sugar
=> repeat cycle.

Seriously, just eat foods that our genes were meant to handle. This means no high-GI or high glycemic load (or however you want to measure it) foods.

Fibrous veggies, fruits, nuts, meats, fish, eggs. Couldn't be simpler.

[RichC]

1st of all... Do not think of losing weight as a quick process. To successfully reduce bodyfat you need to change lifestyle for it to be successful in long term. Also don't get hung up on weight. It's fat that most people need to lose. Drop muscle (4x heavier than fat) and your metabilism will slow down permanently.

Eating right is everything IMO. To drop weight quickly yet sensibly first look at your Total daily consumption. Include everyhthing.. including drinks, snacks, spreads, condiments, etc (this is a pain but essential to see where you are at).

Once you know how many calories a day you eat look at where you can "clean" it up with same calories 1st off (unless you are eating WAY too much already).

e.g.
Drop all refined carbs, processed fats & sugar

Cut out drinks & foods with additives (try and keep it natural).

DO NOT CUT OUT FAT. Just ensure you take good fats with omegas especially (flax seed oil is brilliant). You also need some saturated fats for healthy hormone productuion (especially testosterone for men) but try an have these just in natural sources (nuts or meat). Fat is essential for metabolic processes, the problem comes when you have too much of the wrong stuff.

Increase protein levels. Not to ridiculous levels, just try to ensure good protein levels 40% of your diet IMO with each meal. This is even more relevant if you exercise. Make sure you drink plenty of water and your kidneys will be fine regardless of how much protein you eat.

Once your diet is clean you'll probably start to drop bodyfat. If not then drop the calories by no more than 500 total per day each 2 weeks. This is important otherwise you will dramatically slow your base metabolic rate as your body will think it is being starved if you cut calories too quickly. It's improtant to keep off what you lose as well ;-)

Add in regular and frequent exercise for 30 mins 4x a week (whatever gets the heart pumping in the 1st instance whether it be walking, cyling, skiing, swimming, etc it's less important at this stage. The important thing is changing to a more active lifestyle). Once you are more active than before you will burn more excess fat.

If you are looking to then get fitter stronger, etc then I'd suggest looking at HIIT (high Intensity Interval Training).

As for 20Ibs in 3 months... Much depends on current weight, diet, activity, etc.

Hope this helps you.

[TheHulaQueen]

Juice feasting and 30 minute walks every day is working for me... the weight is disappearing and I am feeling better than ever. Funny thing is I'm still getting almost 2000 calories a day... apparently my body like it though!

[Ttrimm]

Go on a weight loss program

[ragtag]

At three points in my life I've lost considerable weight in a short time.

The 1st time I was dead broke, so only bought cheap vegetables and stuff and walked everywhere. This method is not recomended.

The 2nd time I decided to stop eating bread and ready made food. So I did all my own cooking, and mostly shopped my food at Asian supermarkets.

The 3rd time was through interval training. I had been swimming regularly for quite a while, usually around 1.5-3km several times a week, but at an even pace. Then I changed the program around so I would do, 800m then 80sec break, 600m then 60sec break and so on, down to the last 100 or 50m, while increasing the tempo after each break, starting of at a leasurly pace for the 800m (sometimes a 1000m), then faster for 600m and so on, till I was going all out for the last 100m. After that I would generally swim a few laps doing backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly for variety. This actually worked best, as the first two times I only got skinny, but the 3rd I actuallly built up some muscle definition too.

That said, I need to get started training regularly again....now where did I put that choclate bar. :P

[openeyes]

Losing weight quickly actually isn't the best long term idea. Generally by losing much more than a pound or so per week a good bit of the lost mass is apt to be muscle, leading to a lower metabolism and a likelihood of gaining more fat than you had before. Hence yo-yo dieting.

I'd emphasize eating quality food, cutting out junk foods (particularly soft drinks, diet or otherwise), chewing food at least 30 times so you're apt to digest food better and feel full before eating quite as much, building muscle mass via weight lifting, and making exercise an integral part of your lifestyle, such as running errands via foot or bicycle when possible. Rather than getting too concerned about weight, go by the fit of your cloths, get a tape measure for your waist, or calipers to track bodyfat %.

[angies]

Originally Posted by Calculusaurus

Thanks for the link... it will be nice to have that on file, since the topic comes up so often.

Anyway, if you want to lose weight fast, just don't put your body on an insulin roller coaster.

Start cycle => Eat sugar and high-GI foods
=> blood sugar levels skyrocket
=> lots of insulin secreted by your pancreas so you don't kill yourself
=> "fat storage mode"
=> low blood sugar
=> brain fog and general feeling of crappyness
=> body craves more sugar
=> repeat cycle.

Seriously, just eat foods that our genes were meant to handle. This means no high-GI or high glycemic load (or however you want to measure it) foods.

Fibrous veggies, fruits, nuts, meats, fish, eggs. Couldn't be simpler.

How long does it take for the body to regulate blood sugar and insulin? I have been trying to remove sugar and refined carbs from my diet for a while now and I am 1 week into a 30 day challenge to remove completely these from my diet. Along with this I also exercise 4 days a week and eat a healthy low gi diet. My aim is to increase my metabolism and reduce my body fat. How long do you think it will take for the body to start revving up the metabolism?

[freshwala]

you just cant compare walking to running, specially not when its for the same amount of time lol.