Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Best Diet For Rapid Weight Loss

Question:
Iam in a 'biggest loser' contest at work. Whoever loses the highest % of body weight in 3 months. After two months, I've lost 18 lbs, but to win, I still need to lose a lot more, my guess is at least that much again. Questions: Is 2 hours aerobic excercize too much if it's spread throughout the day? Will this routine make me lose more weight and burn more fat? I moderate exercize in really cold weather (it's been a really cold winter here in Connecticut) bad for me if I dress appropriatley? Is 1200 calories enough to sustain this routine? What foods will be the most efficient? When should I eat? (I eat before I work out and never eat within 3 hours of bed time)

Answer:
I'll bet you expect to get this answer, or something like it. First, sorry about your wife and best wishes for her speedy and complete recovery. If you have not used this as an excuse to throw your diet out the window, that speaks very highly for you. You probably have enough will to do this the right way. In general, your participation in this contest is unhealthy and will almost certainly lead to your re-gaining all the weight you have lost, and more, as soon as the contest ends. I suggest you instantly drop out of it and concentrate on changing your destructive health habits in a way that will last for the rest of your life. Your wife needs you. You are not going to be much good to her, lying in a hospital bed recovering from your first heart attack -- or lying in a coffin. That is where you are heading, the way you are going. Large gut people, btw, are especially prone to heart attacks. Quick weight loss and gain is very, very unhealthy and shortens lifespan. It is not known for sure why this is so -- perhaps it is because the fat tissue stores environmental poisons and when you yo-yo diet, you pour too many of them into your bloodstream for your liver to detoxify. Experiments confirm the problem but nobody knows for sure why it happens. It just does. Be warned. Also, almost no one who loses weight quickly, by means other than simply changing their eating habits so that they A. become used to eating more healthy food and B. become used to eating less food -- ever retains the weight loss. It always comes back, with a vengeance. You would be better off never dieting in the first place. Carl, every time you repeat this stuff about how broccoli makes you vomit, you make the problem worse by nailing it down in your head. How good an accountant do you think you would be if you constantly told yourself, I can't add and subtract without making mistakes! Not very good. Your current inability to eat certain healthy foods is a reinforced habit. Grow up, be a man and change that habit. Start by never making those negative statements about healthy food again. Then, eat a very tiny bit every day, adding a little every day until the habit is broken. Just do it. You can learn to LOVE healthy vegetables! It took me years but I can honestly say that the thought of a greasy hamburger makes ME want to vomit while I sometimes start craving salad, salmon and brussel sprouts hours before dinner. Put aside the cigarettes and never pick them up again. People who smoked in 1933 knew it was probably very bad for you but they did it anyway and, besides, everybody did it. In 1933, you would probably die first from something else. Now, we KNOW it is HORRIBLE for you, most people don't smoke, it is expensive and obnoxious to others and, if you do it, you will probably die from smoking years BEFORE you would die from something else. So stop. By whatever means work for you. You are not a baby; take your life in your hands. You don't sound stupid. Only stupid people and people who are hopelessly addicted continue to smoke. Stop smoking. Get off the sweets and crap. These are just more bad habits. You are really loaded down with bad health habits, aren't you? Happily, habits can be changed. You obviously have a will; use it. Don't be a weakling. I suggest you buy the book Sugar Busters. Not a crash diet, but a way of eating, concentrating on low-glycemic (sugar content) foods, lots of healthy fruits and vegetables plus a little lean fish and chicken, a way of eating that you can use for the rest of your life. Another good book is Beyond the 120-Day Diet by Roy Walford. About CRON (calorie restriction with optimal nutrition) but even if you don't choose to get into that, the nutrition information is fantastic. Educate yourself about nutrition. Exercise almost every day. You should probably eat about 1500 calories a day of healthy food, cut out the non-healthy food and the smoking, and exercise moderately 3-6 days per week. In the end, what you want is to not burn off calories with exercise, but rather to reduce calories by eating only good food and eating less food. The exercise -- which should be resistance AND aerobic -- is to keep your musculature toned and fit and your heart and lungs in good condition. What you have to do is BECOME someone different, rather than just temporarily DOING something different. People on diets are looking for a way to eat more and still lose weight when what you should do is BECOME a person who is looking for a way to eat less and still be healthy. Less food is good. It makes you healthier and makes you live longer, as long as the food you do eat is highly nutritious. Benjamin Franklin said, To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.