Weight loss can be achieved only when the output of calories exceeds the intake of calories.
Neither fasting nor the use of drugs, which are being so widely advertised by the self-proclaimed beauticians, can help you. In fact, they have many dangerous side effects including death if you are unlucky.
Some of these drugs being sold here over the counter are banned in western countries.
Sauna & steam are also useless & so are massages-in fact, the person who massages lose calories & not the one who receive!
Only a combination of right diet & exercise can put you on the road to slimness.
Your entire body weight depends upon your food intake, your expenditure of energy & your metabolic rate.
Metabolic rate is genetically acquired, which means some remain slim eating the same amount & type of food as the fat ones do.
To start the slimming program, you should exercise daily. Kick away your sedentary lifestyle & go for long brisk walk in the morning & evening. Play tennis; play with your children, swim & cycle. Do anything but do not be a couch potato. Always keep on the move. Two hrs after dinner at night try to go for a quick walk for 20 minutes.
Here is a calorie burner, decide what suits you best & follow it up rigorously:
Walking burns: 256 calories/hour,
Active cycling: 481cal/hr,
swimming: 641 cal/hr,
Running: 770cal/hr,
Walking upstairs: 900 cal/hr,
Salsa: 300cal/hr,
Skating: 65ocal/hr.
To lose a kilo, walk for 30 hrs, cycle for 16 hrs, swim for 12 hrs run for 10 hrs or climb up the stairs for 8.5 hrs.
Walking 30 minutes a day at a reasonable pace (about 6km/hr- burns 150 cals), fives times a week. Add 20 minutes of yoga thrice a week
Besides exercise, you should learn to reduce the intake of food. But it is wrong to think that skipping breakfast will reduce the weight. In fact, if you do not eat a good breakfast, you will end up eating more during lunchtime, besides making yourself a potent patient for stomach ulcers.
To loose weight & be healthy eat & sleep on time
Consume 1200 calories per day & burn 400 calories per day, you can loose 1-4 kg per month.
Early dinner by 7 pm will help you in avoiding metabolic disorders & weight gain.
Here is a sample of what you should eat in the course of the day:
Early morning when you get up, you can have 2 glasses of warm water, one with 1/2 lime squeezed with a dash of honey another with pinch of cinnamon powder
Breakfast:
Good healthy breakfast by 8-9 am
One fresh fruit such as orange, apple or a slice of papaya, 1 cup of skimmed milk, 1-2 slices of whole wheat bread either made into a sandwich with cottage cheese or green chutney. Or 100 gms of museli Or, Or 2-3 idlies with sambar, OR 1 cup Dalia or broken wheat cooked in skimmed milk with little or no sugar & ½ cup mixed sprouts OR 2 chappathis (without oil) with veg subzi or 1 vegetable wheat parotha with curds or 2 dosas (without oil) Or 1 cup of Pongal (red rice/millets) or Uppittu (millets) or 1 cup of sabhudana kichdi or Ragi porridge with milk.
Other breakfast options like whole wheat brown bread with egg & vegetables, Rolled oats or Museli with dry fruits & milk are other options.
After breakfast a glass of milk is a must with a cup of dry fruits like Walnuts, overnight soaked almonds, dates & figs. This will help you give energy, sustain your hunger till lunch.
Mid morning: coconut water or fruit or buttermilk.
Lunch:
Medium lunch by 1-2 pm
Before your meals have a small portion of vegetable salad (Tomato, carrot, beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beetroot, lettuce, green or red or yellow capsicum, onion etc) with sprouts/sunflower or pumpkin seeds/walnuts. This will help you quench your hunger & it is very healthy.
2 chapathi (without oil), or medium size Raagi ball or 1 cup of Red or Brown Rice/Millets or Jawar roti with a cup of cooked vegetable dry dish (subzi), a cup of Dhal/sambar/Rajma curry or a small piece of white meat (chicken or fish) & a cup of curds.
Other options like whole wheat bread sandwich with vegetable & paneer or tofu filling, or Vegetable soup, steamed whole wheat noodles with vegetables or cooked chicken or wheat pasta with steamed vegetables or fish.
Tea time: 2 dates, 2 figs or 2 tablespoons of ground nuts with 1 cup tea or coffee with skimmed milk (no sugar or sugar subsitutes).
Dinner:
Light dinner by 7-8 pm or earlier better.
Before dinner have a small portion of vegetable salad (Tomato, carrot, beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beetroot, lettuce, green or red or yellow capsicum, onion etc) with sprouts/sunflower or pumpkin seeds/walnuts. This will help you quench your hunger & it is very healthy.
A small cup of boiled or stewed vegetables or dry veg subzi , ½ cup curds of skimmed milk & 1 small roti/small cup of Millets or Red rice, small cup of dhal. Dinner should be light.
Late night when hungry you can have a small portion of fruit, pomegranate is a very good option.
The above menu is a sample, which you can adopt to your lifestyle.
Most weight reduction diet cut down a large chunk of calories about 500-1000. Most of this diet fails as they eliminate your favorite food. Ideally the rate of weight loss should not be more than 1 to 2 kg per month. This requires a deficit of about 300 cals/day. Weight loss plans both dietary & activity pattern-should fit into your routine. It should also teach you to eat right for life.
There are some more hints, which can be of immense help. Cabbage is considered an effective remedy fro slimming. It contains tartaric acid, which inhibits the conversion of sugar, & other carbohydrates into fat. Hence it is of great value to weight reducers. A cabbage salad a day will keep you slim. Two tomatoes taken in the morning before breakfast is also a safe method. Eating 2 tablespoons of groundnuts before lunchtime checks the desire to eat much & therefore helps in reducing weight.
Curry leaves too have weight reducing properties, therefore always prepare your green chutney with curry leaves. Potato juice if taken daily also helps greatly in reducing.
2 fruits, 2 veg salads & 2 litres of fluids a day is the mantra for healthy diet.
Healthy snacks to eat in between your meals:
Nibbling on carrot fingers, cucumber or beetroot fingers & other raw vegetables, bowel of fruit salads, or nut brittle (patti or chikki), Yoghurt, roasted channas, or roasted peanuts, or dry fruits (almonds or walnuts) or steamed sprouts with tadka (Husli in kannada or Ussal in hindi), boiled corn, dhokla, Khandvi, boiled egg, Beans on whole wheat bread toast, Puffed rice with roasted channa or Jal muri, puffed lotus seeds.
Many people are afraid to go on a vegetarian diet believing that they will lose on proteins but even vegetarian food such as curds, milk, paneer & groundnuts are protein rich. Proteins are found in pulses & lentils; especially Soya beans are full of proteins.
But if you cannot do without non-veg food, you must only eat lean meat in which you should trim off all fat. While eating chicken, avoid the skin because most of the fat is concentrated on the skin. Try to reduce eating non-veg at night. If you have to eat non-veg at night try to have boiled non-veg instead of deep fried nonveg.
Avoid fried foods as much as possible. Boil, grill, steam or bake your food instead. But if you have a craving for fried foods, cut the foods into big pieces in order to reduce the total surface of fried area & eat it once in a while. Avoid eating fried foods after evening as you seldom exercise at night, so all the high calorie food you consume will convert into fat.
Use only groundnut/sunflower oil at high temperature till it begins to smoke, so that the food you are frying develops a crisp crust quickly & absorbs less oil. Pat off the excess oil with brown paper.
Healthy diet would be low in fats (especially saturated fats) & simple carbohydrates, moderate in protein, & high in fresh fruits, vegetables & whole grains.
Instead of meat & chicken, eat fish. It is low on fat & rich in omega 3-fatty acids, (especially fish such as surmai, rawas & pomfret) unsaturated oil not widely available in other foods.
Eat more of fiber rich foods like cereals, green leafy vegetables, peas, beans & other pulses. These not only add bulk to your but prevent constipation.
Eat plenty of fruits, especially juicy fruits but keep away from mangoes, chickoos & bananas. They help you gain weight.
Drink water with meals this prevents you from overeating & makes you feel full.
Consuming alcohol adds to your calories as each peg gives you around 250 calories. Wine or any hot drink or beer does increase your calories. Limit your drinks & avoid eating fried stuff (veg or non-veg) along with drinks instead have raw or grilled vegetables.
Stop eating before you are full. Avoid second helpings
Follow the healthy dietary guidelines while eating out.
Follow half plate rule: Half of your plate should be filled with carbohydrates & proteins (rice & dal or roti & paneer) & other half should be veggies cooked in minimal oil. Increase protein intake-Eat more pulses (esp soya bean), milk & 8-10 nuts a day.
Totally avoid whole milk & its products. Use double tonned or skimmed milk. Avoid egg yolk, shell fish, organ meat (liver, kidneys, and brain) & foie gras.
Do not eat harmful fats like vanaspati, margarine butter substitutes & packaged processed food.
Most restaurants use vansapati for cooking; limit eating out.
Do not add sugar to your food
Calorie count:
One samosa, one batata vada is 500 calories. One small chapat, one idli, a small cup of rice, is 50 calories. A small serving of cooked lentils is 350 calories. Cooked breast piece of chicken or fish-fillet, oil free is 150 calories. One gm of any cooking oil provides about 9 cals.
Myths about food:
“Rice fattens you while roties are not”. According to doctors, a gram each of wheat & rice contain four calories. Moreover, whole wheat loses it fiber content when it is grounded & eaten in the polished form.
“Potato is fatty food”. No, it is a very good source of carbohydrates & vitamins.
Good practice for healthy cooking:
Peeling the fruits before eating them, you lose the vitamins & minerals concentrated in the peels.
It is always wise to wash them well & eat the peels.
Washing the dals & rice till the water becomes clear results in a great deal of loss of vitamins & minerals. Cutting vegetables into tiny pieces before cooking them also results in a loss of vitamins & minerals.
Use Tofu for cooking
Good Practice for healthy life style:
Your meals should combine foods from all groups: cereals, pulses/meat, milk/curd with liberal amounts of fruits & vegetables.
Eating on time & sleeping on time gives a healthy body.
Have breakfast between 7-9 am, lunch by 1-2 pm, dinner by 7-8 pm. Good breakfast, medium lunch & light dinner helps in reducing weight.
Experts recommend 4-5 meals a day-3 main meals & 2 healthy snacks. Gap between two meals should not be less than three hours.
Do not eat anything in between the meals.
Never skip meals as it causes sudden hunger pangs leading to bingeing.
What makes you fat?
Frequent snacking on chips, deep fried foods (pokadas, somosas, gobi manchuri, paani poori, poori, vadas, namkeens), chocolates & colas, nachos, Maida products like bread, bun, biscuits, brownies, cookies,cakes, pizzas, burgers, noodles, pasta.
Red meat, Popcorns, packaged baked goods, White Rice or other processed foods, instant packed foods, Fizzi drinks including sodas.
Desserts & mithai
Eating in front of TV-You will consume more food.
Eating full & trying to finish what is on your plate
Regular eating out at hotel, parties, marriages (food is tasty but oily) will give you lot of unwanted calories thereby increasing your body weight
Lack of exercises
Take food from home for lunch & dinner as they are healthy. Eat salads or home food before a party so that you are not hungry thereby you can choose & eat the healthy options.
Food-on the run (during hectic schedule):
Sandwiches (whole wheat brown bread) layered with mushroom/chicken filing
Rolls (Whole wheat) containing kebabs & vegetables
Daily requirement of calories:
Male: 2400-3800 K cal/day
Female: 1875-2900 K cal/day
Recommended protein intake:
1 gm/kg wt. 15-20% of total daily energy intake (Chicken, fish, dhal, sprouts)
Recommended Fat intake: 20% in adult
Recommended Carbohydrate intake: 50-70% of total daily energy intake (Whole bran rice, Ragi, Whole grain wheat)
Adult needs about 4-6 teaspoon of total added fat/day.
Website for proper diet & recipes: www.foodpyramidindia.org
Good App for calorie management:
healthifyme, myfitnesspal
BMI( Body Mass Index):
BMI is defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in metres (kg/m2)
Compare the number you get with the following chart:
<18.5 under weight
18.5-24.9 Ideal weight for good health
25-29.9 overweight
>30 Obese
To suit the leaner fitness measurements, an Indian male should have a waist size below 35 inches & Indian women below 31.5 inches.
Your ideal wt: Your ht in cms minus 100
Coronary artery disease risk:
Measurement in waist at the umbilicus divided by measurement in hip, should be below 1 in men & below 0.8 in women.
BMR:
The amount of energy (in the form of calories) that the body needs to function while resting for 24 hours is known as the basal metabolic rate, or BMR.
Mifflin St. Jeor Equation is the most popular BMR calculator:
For men: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
For women: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161
Simple way of calculating BMR is by multiplying your ht in cm by 10
Min amount of energy to be burnt in a day for staying healthy is 450 cal per day, equivalent to 2 hrs of brisk walk or 45 min of jogging.
Daily consumption of calories must not exceed your BMR plus whatever calories you are burning. Each extra calories are absorbed by the body & converted into fat, & the body swells.
Each Extra kg is 7700 cal
To lose wt you have to build a calorie deficiet & you will lose wt predictably provided you have no hormonal problems & you do not cheat on diet & exercises.
If you are 10 kg over wt, & 175 cm tall, your daily resting calories loss will be 1750 cal. You need to add 1000 cal workout which will take 90 min. Cut your normal 2500-3000 cal to 1200 cal. You burn 1750+ 1200= 2750 cal. You consume 1200 cal, you get a deficeit of 2750-1200= 1550 cal. So to lose a kg you require to burn 7700 cal which will take at least 5-7 days( 1550 multiplied by 5 days)aprox
You can burn 1000 cal by using treadmill, cross trainer, stationary cycle, rowing machine. It will take 90min initially, later it takes 60-75 min to burn the same
Eat to live-a good life:
Plant based food contains different antioxidants & so help the body eliminate different toxins, less calorie value.
Eat wild foods when you can-like wild greens or wild fish-contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids
Eat less- eat until you are 80% full. Several smaller portions on smaller plates; serve food & beverages from small containers, use glasses that are more vertical than horizontal, since people tend to pour more into squat glasses
Try not to eat alone; communal meals tend to limit consumption, if only because we’re less likely to stuff ourselves when others are watching.
Most underweight people eat very slowly.
Limit salt, sugar & fat intake
Avoid trans fats & reuse of oil
Do not skip your vegetables & protein
Chew well
Food to improve digestion & Sleep:
Black beans, Bran cereal, Avocado, Apples, Brown rice, Onions, Grapefruit, Pound cake, Cucumbers, Peppermint, Pinto beans, Celery, Pineapple, Melon, Soybeans, Ginger, Aspargus,
Food to prevent colds & other common illness:
Orange juice, Bell peppers, Green tea, Pumpkin seeds, Summer squash, Apricots, Ground cinnamon, Garlic, Cayenne pepper, Clementines, Cloves, Cranberries
Food for General productivity boosters:
Salmon, Shrimp, Water, Turkey, Mustard greens, Plums, cauliflower, Papaya, Sweet potatoes, Pear
Food for eyesight:
Carrots, Flaxseeds, Smoothies, Strawberries
Food for energy & brain foods:
Brinjals, Raisins, Hummus, Walnuts, Sunflower seeds, Pita bread, Peanut butter, chicken, Turnip leaves, Double beans, Honey, Figs, Tuna, Spinach, Lima beans, Corn, Green beans, Cod, Lemons, Sage
Food for cancer & long-term illness prevention:
Blueberries, Cabbage, Leeks, Baby portobello mushrooms, Broccoli, Bye bread, Brussels sprouts, Basil, Kale seaweed
Food for control blood pressure & improve heart health:
Bananas, Dark chocolate, Scallops, Romaine lettuce, Olives, Kiwi, Grapes, Spring greens
Low-fat filling foods:
Salsa, Egg whites, Venison whole wheat pasta, Yoghurt cheese, Milk, Almonds, Snapper, Vanilla soy milk, Watermelon, Snow peas, Low fat frozen yoghurt, Tofu, Potatoes
Food rich in Calcium: Low fat dairy products (milk, cheese & yoghurt), broccoli, cauliflower, tofu & green leafy vegetables
Phytoesterogen: They are chemicals that mimic oestrogen & reduce menopausal symptoms.
Sources rich in Phytoesterogen: Alfalfa sprouts, soyabeans, chickpeas, lentil, tofu, flaxseeds or spinach.
Almonds: do not have cholesterol (only foods of animal origin do). It provides right kind of fat, proteins, carabohydrates & fibre. They are a great source of vitamin E as well as B-complexes such as folic acid, niacin, & pyridoxine. They are rich in magnesium, copper, zinc, selenium, phosphorus & potassium. One serving of about 20 almonds provides 164 kilocalories, 6 gm protein, 14gm fat, 9gm monounsaturated fat, 4gm polyunsaturated fat, 1gm saturated fat, 6 gm carbohydrates, 3gm fibre & 7.5 gm vitamin E. Almonds lowers the risk of heart disease & cancer. They are good for constipation, delaying aging.
Surgery for Obesity:
The three common surgeries for obesity in India: Gastric band surgery, Gastric bypass & sleeve gastractomy.
Bariatric surgery: Who needs it?
BMI of above 32.5 with metabolic abnormalities are candidates for bariatric surgery, so also people with 37.5 above without any metabolic abnormalities.
How does it work?
By far the most common procedure is gastric bypass surgery—it makes the stomach smaller & allows food to bypass a part of the small intestine. Most people can return to their normal activities within 2 to 3 weeks.
The risks:
Nausea, weakness, sweating, fainting & diarrhoea soon after eating. Ulcers & hernias have also been reported. The bypassed stomach may enlarge, resulting in hiccups & a bloated feeling.
Cost:
In India: Rs.1.5 lakh to 4 lakh
Follow-up
The surgery leads to a deficiency in iron, calcium, magnesium, & may lead to problems such as osteoporosis. This means life-long supplements.