To begin...

If you're anything like me, you don't really care about weight loss. Wellll, you'd like to lose a few pounds, ditch those love handles, run that marathon, fit into that dress...but spending money on a program? Driving to the gym? Counting calories all the time? Constantly drooling hopelessly over chocolate...  cake... pizza... pie... where was I... mmmmmm. Especially when, even after all of this, those stubborn five pounds will just pop back on in a few days. Ughh. No thanks. Too much effort for too short of results. Call me, you say, when they find a way to keep those love handles off...permanently.
 

That's what I'm writing about. How to lose those pounds (though admittedly, it will take some effort) and keep them off. Permanently. I'll include a couple of plans to lose weight--that is, fat--at different rates and intensities, but for the most part, I'll present helpful tips and tricks to burn fat, which I am currently using. I’ll also be blogging about my weight loss, a kind of food journal, in the hopes that it’ll give me more determination! xD My ultimate goal is to run a marathon in five months. I’m in shape enough that this is possible, but I still need to lose several pounds and gain much more muscle. 

But before we begin presenting tips and tricks, we need to talk about how weight loss works. ***Note: I am not a health expert. I take no liability over these statements. The following explanation is from what I have read online, on various reputable websites, and what has worked for me. Please do not sue me, I am poor. Thank you.***

Essentially, one pound is equivalent to 3500 calories. Thus, to burn one pound, you've gotta burn 3500 calories. There are two ways to do this: diet and exercise. Dieting limits the amount of calories you take in per day, so if you need 2000 a day, and only eat 1500, you'll burn 500 calories per day, and thus over a week, one pound (3500 calories). Exercise burns calories. Every activity burns calories, from walking to the fridge to lying on the couch. You just burn a lot fewer on the couch...not that you burn very many walking to the fridge.

The way I like to think of it is as a calorie budget. Ever heard of the Twinkie diet? If you have, you'll know that losing weight is all about the calories...not about what you're eating. I'm not recommending you follow the Twinkie diet and eat only Twinkies for months, but I am recommending that you follow a diet that you'll follow. Sure, you want to get really ripped through eating only non-processed, simply cooked meat with plenty of vegetables...but will you actually follow that diet? I've tried to, and I can't yet. All my willpower is already being sapped in order for me to diet and exercise already, so I eat healthy but normal food--I'll eat a pizza once in a while, as long as it takes up at most the amount of calories I have set for that meal.

In order to make your custom weight loss program profitable, it's a good idea to burn a realistic but weighty amount of calories per day. So don't just knock 200 calories off your diet; you'll be dieting for months to drop those eight pounds. Instead, knock 200 calories off, and go for a bike ride that burns 300 calories. This way you'll lose a pound a week and thus get in shape much more quickly!

Now that we've looked at that, let's move onto my tips and tricks. I'll regularly post more as I discover them, and try to give credit if they're from a unique source and not original.

-Brush your teeth, extremely well; you know what I'm talking about, when you scrub for minutes, side to side, up and down, and in those little circles. Then floss afterwards, and do it all often. Not only will you earn better oral health in both the long and short runs, but you will also receive these benefits: The squeaky clean feeling helps some people (like myself) feel not hungry, and actually makes the thought of food a bit...revolting. Also, brushing your teeth extremely thoroughly burns any leftover calories from the toothpaste.

-Blog about your experiences—a type of public food journal. This should keep you involved and accountable—not only to yourself, but to everyone in the world who has access to your blog!

-Drink plenty of water. This is rather common advice, but it's common for a reason. Water keeps you full, and thus prevents hunger pains. Plus, water is necessary to burn calories, and thus fat. Drinking more water (the goal is eight glasses per day) helps you burn fat faster, and helps keep you from failing to achieve your goals.

-If there's a harder way to do something, do it. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Dog needs to go out? Take him around the block instead of just to the yard. Etc., etc. There are plenty of such things you can do throughout the day. Instead of using the remote control for the television, walk over to the DVD player every time you need to change something. Texting someone? Stand up, take a couple of laps around your room. Is your work/school/social place close to your home? Walk there--it'll burn plenty of calories. Every time you take the longer way, you reap more benefits through burning more calories.

-The best diet is the one you'll follow. Sure, it’d be great to diet with only 1000 calories a day, and work off an extra 2500, burning a total of a pound a day so you can get into that dress before the big dance, but…are you really going to only eat 1000 calories a day? Are you really going to expend the vast amount of time and energy required to burn 2500 calories in less than a day? Didn’t think so. Not unless you are extremely determined, and have way too much free time. Pick a 1500 calories diet. This should burn, if you’re lightly active, over a thousand calories per day, which equates to over two pounds per week. Not bad! Or even a 2000 calories diet—that should burn 250 calories, and with enough exercise for another 250, you’ll burn a pound per week. Set what you have the time, energy and willpower for. This tip can’t have enough emphasis placed upon it.

-Eat several small meals throughout the day, as opposed to one large meal. Several benefits: 1. You'll stay more full, instead of being like a boa constrictor--all filled up at once. 2. Your metabolism will move faster as it will have a constant refill of quick calories. Think of yourself as one of Tolkien's hobbits: you'll eat first breakfast, second breakfast, first lunch, etc.

-Use your imagination! This is a kind of corny tip, but when you feel slightly empty from the dieting pangs, imagine yourself doing something. That’s vague. On a more specific note, imagine yourself as a pioneer, or refugee, or—use your dieting and your exercise pain to gain solidarity with humans. Distract yourself. 

-Find your passion. Whether it's running, biking, swimming, dancing--find an exercise you're passionate about, that you love for its own sake. Enjoying a workout helps unbelievably. The same goes for a diet. Maybe you've always wanted to go vegan--save the animals and all that--but just didn't know how to get started--or didn't have willpower to. Well, do it now. Do it to lose weight--then fall in love with it. 

-Use willpower or desire for future events. Imagine yourself in that dress, that swimsuit, that bikini. Imagine yourself looking beautiful at such-and-such event. Imagine yourself finishing that marathon. Imagine yourself in great health. Just imagine—this is one of the most important tips: focus on the end result. Hopefully, you’ll eventually come up with a love for exercise, and maybe even dieting, but until then…imagine.

-Get a food journal. If you don’t want to blog—if it’s too much hassle, you don’t want the world to see your writing skills, or just don’t feel comfortable with it, get a food journal instead. Describe in detail the foods that you eat throughout the day; give the nutrition facts—number of calories, etc.—it’ll help shame you, or, possibly, motivate you.

-Watching television? Get up and move! During commercial breaks, do a few jumping jacks, a couple of pushups--or even dance to that snazzy jingle, la la la, hm hm hm.

-Distract yourself! If you’re exercising, music is a great way to get distracted. Focus on the beat, and you’ll go into a different world. Dieting? Get out and do things away from food! Volunteer! Go to the library! It’s when you’re bored that you snack—trust me, I know!

-Plan out your meals. Since you're here, you're probably similar to myself. And if you're similar to myself, you hate counting calories. For one thing, I always calculate the darn things wrong. Scenario: Cooking frozen french fries. Let's see, one hundred thirty two calories per 2/3 cup, or thirty six fries...I have a bowlful of 'em...AGHH! How the heck does that help me? Even if I was willing to expend the energy and time to do so, how on earth would I measure fries accurately? Plus, what about the ketchup?? Some of it will be sure to stick in the measuring cup, which means I'll be eating fewer than my fair share of calories, which means I'll have been cheated! Hang it all, I'm going to MickeyD's. I'm horrible at math anyway.  
That's a familiar scenario with me, and I've discovered the best way to defeat it is to plan ahead. I know exactly what I'm going to eat tomorrow. On Mondays, I'll have a one hundred calorie salad for first breakfast (yes, hobbits again!), with a glass of water, and I'll eat a one hundred and fifty calorie piece of fruit for second breakfast (with my delicious water of course). Then for lunch, I'll have tuna, chips and a salad, yes, with my water, but I'll split it over the two meals. You should know exactly how many calories you're going to eat per meal, and exactly what you're going to eat per meal. Plan out the week's eating; I usually eat the same meals every week; you could change per week, or eat the same thing every day, or--the important thing is that you know what you're going to eat.

-Treat meals like a treat. It’s a good idea to prepare your own food—to imagine eating the food—to get yourself really hungry. Then, when you eat, eat slowly, without the television, without the radio, without a book. Focus on the food—how much you’re eating—how fast you’re eating.

-Distract yourself. I know, I already posted something under this. Do you tend to eat when you get bored? I do. I've also coupled the thought of food with entertainment, so now whenever I watch a movie or read a book, I instinctively go to the kitchen. If you do the same, you need to learn to control this, stat. Now if I get "hungry" at night when I'm actually bored, I go to bed. If I'm bored, then I don't need to be up, anyway. If I become "hungry" during the day, I try to stop my boredom with work, an interesting book, or better yet, a phone call: you can't chitchat and munch at the same time. These methods really help--throw yourself into an activity to prevent yourself from mindless munching, go talk to your neighbor, call your most well-mannered friend--anything to keep yourself for this "hunger." These tips are just as effective for real hunger, as well.
If you associate entertainment with food, as I most admittedly do, get active.

-Be flexible. If there's a certain day of the week, or a day of the month, on which you know that you're either going to be very sorely tempted to skip diet or exercise (or both), or maybe that you downright know you won't keep up with your program on...skip that day. Just take it off. For instance, when I was in school, there was a certain day of the week that, due to my schedule and some weekly events, was extremely hard to diet and exercise on. I was gone from early in the morning to late at night, with a big load of homework afterwards, making it hard to exercise since I had no extra time and was exhausted anyway. Plus, after working on a tiring morning at school and vigorous practices, when the opportunity for some sweet treats came my way sixth period, when I knew I wouldn't be home and able to eat again for several hours, I couldn't resist. So usually I'd go home and pig out--after all, if I'm breaking the diet on one day, might as well do the whole hog and eat a lot! I'd thought that it was necessary to diet and exercise every day, every week, when in reality, skipping a day is perfectly okay since it all boils down to calories burned and taken in. If there's a day of impossibility or temptation, don't diet or exercise. Be realistic. Just don't pig out either. Summed up, benefits are: You don't break the diet, you don't pig out, and you're less likely to break dieting/exercise on other days since you have a vacation during the week. Phew!

-Avoid calorie dense foods, like cookies. First, it’s a bad idea to eat just Twinkies (like we talked about earlier), if only for no other reason than the fact that you’ll gain back the weight you lost rapidly. Secondly, you won’t get full. Not only are you eating too little through eating mainly cookies and sweets, but also you’re not getting the nutrients you need. You know how pregnant women get cravings? It’s because they’re missing essentials in their diets. You need to make sure that you’re following a healthy, realistic diet so that you won’t get cravings.

To create a weight loss program:

1. Research how many calories you should be ingesting per day to break even--not losing weight, not gaining. Google will give you many websites which will calculate this: a standard, reputable calculator should ask for your age range, height, sex, weight, and activity level. Try to find a calculator that gives details about activity levels—they should describe what each level contains.

2. After you've discovered how many calories you should be ingesting per day, decide how many pounds you want to lose. Remember, one pound=3500 calories!

3. Decide over how long a period you plan to lose weight--when's the deadline to burn those pounds? Do you have a special dance in three weeks? Perhaps a marathon in six months? Whatever it is, you need to know.

4. Do the math. How many calories should you be burning per day in order to lose those pounds by your deadline? (Remember, you don't have to diet and exercise every day. You can take the weekends off, skip Thursdays, whatever. Just as long as it works for you schedule).

5. Decide how many of those calories you want to burn through dieting, and how many through exercise.

6. Create an exercise and diet plan! AKA, this is how much and in these ways that I’m going to exercise on these days, and this is how much and what I’m going to eat on these days. Remember, do one that you’ll follow.

7. Begin! Good luck to you. :)