Where to start losing weight: developing an action plan

Why is losing a few tens of kilograms considered almost a success? People who have achieved significant weight loss and changed beyond recognition become heroes of television shows and social networks. This happens because, according to statistics, 85% of the female population and 55% of the male population have set such goals at least once in their lives, but 25% and 10%, respectively, reach the final stage. Fighting the inherent food instinct itself is a real challenge. The outcome of the battle largely depends on what the starting point is.

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

The simplest and correct solution

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

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

  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 the recommendations.
  5. Visit him regularly to adjust the plan he made in the beginning.
  6. Find a professional fitness trainer who specializes in weight loss and schedule an appointment with him.
  7. Consult with him, order an individual training plan, taking into account the recommendations given by the nutritionist.
  8. Follow all the recommendations.

You need money to pay for a personalized nutrition and exercise plan. The amount is an estimate and may vary in different cities and among different experts. On average, each such development costs about $100. Only nutritionists and trainers will help you start losing weight correctly and will guide you until you achieve the desired results.

Make an appointment with a nutritionist

First, you will receive a detailed survey aimed at collecting anamnesis. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions:

  • whether there is a chronic disease;
  • what you eat, how many times a day (in the smallest details, down to seeds and a bottle of mineral water);
  • how quickly you gain weight;
  • what illness have you had for the past 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 problems with excess weight etc.

After collecting data, tests and instrumental studies are set:

  • general blood and urine tests;
  • blood sugar test;
  • blood chemistry;
  • blood test for thyroid hormone;
  • tomography;
  • Ultrasound of the abdominal cavity;
  • gastroscopy / other endoscopic examination of the gastrointestinal tract.

Based on all the data collected, an individual nutrition plan will be prepared, which you must follow strictly. You also need to follow all relevant advice given to you by the nutritionist (walk at night, go upstairs without elevator, do exercise, etc. ).

Coach consultation

After the nutritionist with all his recommendations and nutrition plans, you go to the trainer. He should adjust the weight loss program at the gym to suit them. It is important to understand the following here: as soon as the instructor starts criticizing the nutritionist's actions, turn around, go and find another expert. Doctors are properly educated and know what they are advising, but in the fitness industry there are too many amateurs who can ruin 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 very easy to start losing weight properly. This method is great because you don't need to independently calculate BMI, daily calorie intake, BJU ratio, etc. Errors are excluded here, health risks are minimal, and the end result is guaranteed. The disadvantage is the high cost of developing an individual nutrition and training plan, as well as the duration of the course - from 3 months to 2 years.

Lose weight independently

If you plan to organize the weight loss process yourself, at home, you need to devote a lot of time to preparation. Regardless of gender, age and weight, it is recommended to start with the following steps.

General matters

The first is motivation: formulate your goals clearly and determine why you need to lose weight. You can make a selection of photos when you were thin and how you are now. You can hang your favorite clothes in a prominent place, which you must "customize". Read relevant literature, watch movies. There are a huge number of ways to motivate yourself, and they should work throughout the month you will be working on your body.

The second is a health check. You can't go anywhere without him. 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 examination data, you will be sure that this or that diet or exercise system will not harm your health.

Keep a weight loss diary: you will write down 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 problems.

Prepare your family for the fact that you will lose weight. Ask them for help. Sometimes, if you don't have the courage to not eat before bed, let your husband distract you from this temptation and prevent you from repeating it. Effective, but must be thought of early in the journey.

Required purchases:

  • scales;
  • kitchen scales;
  • dumbbells.

Think about what causes excess weight: poor diet, overeating, inactive lifestyle, age or some disease. Understand: without eliminating the provoking factor, you cannot lose weight.

Nutrition

Immediately prepare yourself for the fact that the first step towards losing weight can take up to 1 month. Of course, the preparation 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 this.

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 main goal of losing weight) - your current weight - the number of kg you need to lose. Then proceed according to the following plan.

First week

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

Third week

  1. Start with a fasting day.
  2. Study complex and simple carbohydrates. Leave only the first in the diet.
  3. Make a menu for this week, reduce your daily calorie intake by 100 kcal. Stick to it.
  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 every day to 1. 5 liters.
  4. Avoid fatty foods: meat, fish, milk (more than 2%).

Remember - this is not weight loss itself, although you may have already lost a few kilograms, but only preparation for it. It minimizes the stress your body will experience in the coming weeks or months.

In the last week, the preparation of the fourth week, start choosing a diet. We immediately rejected the express option for 3 days and a week, which promises to lose 1 kg in 1 day. First, it is dangerous to health. Second, the weight will return with benefits after the end of the hunger strike.

If you want to lose weight properly, choose a long-term nutrition system for weight loss, designed for 1-3 months. Mostly this is the development of authors: Montignac, Atkins, Dukan, Liepaja. Carefully study everything related to them, prepare a menu for the first week, find recipes for dishes, and calculate the calorie content.

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

Sports

If you want your weight loss to really work, just organizing your food won't be enough. The calories you eat also need to be spent. To do this, you need to increase physical activity and physical activity. But if tomorrow you start training for several hours in the gym, your body will rebel from the habit: the next day you will not be able to wake up because of muscle pain. And all because this also requires preparation. Fortunately, there is something to do in those 4 weeks while you create your new diet.

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

The training program recommended below is called "From Scratch". It is designed for those who have never exercised, but understand that they need to do it to lose weight.

First week

  1. Avoid elevators: 5-6 floors must be walked every day.
  2. When working inactively, get up for 5 minutes every hour and warm up: walk, stretch.
  3. Walk for at least half an hour at night.

Second week

  1. Find an easy set of exercises for a 10-minute morning workout. It should invigorate and lift your mood, not wear you down. Do it every day.
  2. Learn some breathing exercises (qigong, bodyflex, oxysize), try to master one of them.
  3. Increase your evening walk to 40 minutes.

Third week

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

Fourth week

  1. Morning exercise should take 15 minutes.
  2. After that, walk (Finland, sports) for half an hour at a brisk pace.
  3. Evening walks are extended by an hour.
  4. Create a training plan.

If you start losing weight by implementing such a plan, your body will be fully prepared for new physical activity. Numerical correction will occur more intensively and with minimal losses. Of course, the muscles will hurt at first, but not so much.

When creating a training plan, remember that the benefits of intervals are greater. And don't exhaust yourself every day: muscle fibers need to be given time to recover, so every day is the easiest schedule.

Consider the question of where the class will be held. Gym memberships are a financial hit, but they're worth it. A professional simulator will help you, and you can always ask the coach for advice. Or a group fitness class - it's heartwarming and won't let you break down.

Buy some nice sports clothes - this is also a kind of motivation. And when buying it, think that in 2-3 months you will replace it with things 1-2 sizes smaller.

Recommendations for special cases

The right start to losing weight is 50% of the success of your plan. However, the above plan must be adjusted taking into account the individual characteristics of each person. Therefore, some tips for special categories of residents will help organize the whole process more correctly.

Women over 35 years old

At this age, the body gradually begins to age and adapt to menopause. Metabolism slows down, few people are ready to engage in sports. So even the owner of the slimmest figure begins to blur. The stomach grows, the lower part expands, the breast increases in volume and sags a little.

In addition to the nutrition and exercise program suggested above, there is a special step-by-step system for women after the age of 35-40 who do not want to bear excess weight.

  1. If you can skip visiting the doctor before the age of 35, then at this age it is mandatory before losing weight. Maybe he will suggest the most suitable weight loss method for you.
  2. Start taking special vitamins.
  3. A high-protein, low-fat, low-carb diet is not for you. Choose the most balanced nutrition system with a daily intake of at least 1500 kcal.
  4. There is no need for strength training at this age, but you should not completely exclude it from your training plan. When compiling it, focus on cardio exercises, but do not forget about dumbbells.
  5. Replace morning jogging with sports or Finnish walking.
  6. Dancing, of course, is good. But, when planning to lose weight at this age, still choose to swim.

And the most important advice to older women who are starting to lose weight: get a doctor's checkup every 3 months. Any change in the body during the premenopausal period is important.

The man with the beer belly

Deciding to lose weight for a man with a belly is a real success. Dieting is common for women, but they are not ready for food restrictions. What would it be like to push down a can of beer in the evening with salted fish, instead of sitting in the shower with friends on the weekend?

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

However, the process needs to start with this:

  1. No need to look for a diet - just remove alcoholic and carbonated drinks, fast food and junk food from your diet.
  2. Daily calorie intake should be reduced to 2000 kcal. Usually men do not like to sit with this formula and table, so it is better to ask your wife, sister or mother for help.
  3. Give priority 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 training and cardio.

For a man who has set a goal to lose weight, the main thing is to start. They engage in the process itself more quickly, without allowing themselves any indulgences, as women like to do. Don't postpone your plans. If the four-week preparation outlined above is too long a journey for you, start as soon as tomorrow so as not to drag it out for months, where your beer belly will only grow.

Age after 50

The most dangerous and difficult thing for men and women is to lose weight after 50-60 years, when the body wears out and its organs no longer work at full capacity. Age is often the main cause of impaired metabolism, which is why you gain weight.

Here you should definitely start with a visit to the doctor - it is not recommended to make a plan yourself. After all, any restriction in eating fat or carbohydrates can worsen your health. An additional 10 minutes of exercise results in shortness of breath and tachycardia. Exercises that are not done correctly can result in joint pain or injury.

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

How much weight do you need to lose?

If you need to lose 10 kg, it is enough to adhere to the four-week training program outlined in detail above. With that you can lose 3-4 kg per month. After implementing it, you don't need to diet - just continue following the nutritional recommendations for the 4th week and go for 40 minutes of exercise every day. The main thing is to start correctly, and then the need for a hunger strike will disappear by itself.

Another thing if you initially have a very large weight (more than 100 kg). Here the stage of preparation also plays an important role. If you immediately start with express weight loss minus 10 kg per week, in the end, even if you manage to lose kilograms, it will affect your health, and the skin will multiply because it did not have time to shrink. What is important for you is a smooth and gradual introduction to any diet and slow weight loss (1-2 kg per week). But then you will save plastic surgery.

The start of any business is 50% of its success is completed. 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.