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Where to start losing weight: developing an action plan

Why is losing a few dozen kilograms considered almost an achievement? People who have achieved significant weight loss and changed beyond recognition become heroes of TV shows and social networks. This is because, according to statistics, 85% of the female population and 55% of the male population have set such a goal at least once in their lives, but respectively 25% and 10% reach the final stage. Fighting the natural eating instinct in nature is a real challenge. The outcome of the battle largely depends on what served as the starting point.

To take the matter to the end, you need to know where to start losing weight and how to make an accurate plan - not only food and exercise, but also make adjustments to your usual lifestyle. Making such a decision must come with an awareness of the complexity of the approach to weight loss. From now on, every step should bring you closer to the goal, and they should be carefully thought out from the start.

The simplest and most accurate solution

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

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

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

You'll need money to pay for personalized nutrition plans and workouts. The amount is approximate and may vary in different cities and between different specialists. On average, each such development costs about $100. Only a nutritionist and trainer will help you start losing weight correctly and guide you until you achieve the desired result.

Meeting with a nutritionist

First, you will receive a detailed study aimed at collecting anamnesis. Get ready to answer a lot of questions:

  • if 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 gained weight;
  • what illness have you suffered during the last 2 years;
  • Do you have bad habits;
  • what is the nature of your work (sitting or you have to move constantly - on foot or by car);
  • what life do you do after work?
  • Do your parents have a problem with excess weight etc.

After data collection, instrumental tests and studies are described:

  • general blood and urine tests;
  • blood sugar test;
  • blood chemistry;
  • blood test for thyroid hormones;
  • tomography;
  • Abdominal ultrasound;
  • gastroscopy / other endoscopic examinations of the gastrointestinal tract.

Based on all the collected data, an individual nutrition plan will be drawn up, which you must follow carefully. You should also follow all the advice that the nutritionist gives you (walk in the evening, go to the upper floors without an elevator, do exercises, etc. ).

Consultation with trainer

After the nutritionist with all his recommendations and food plan, you go to the trainer. He should create a weight loss program in the gym that suits them. It is important to understand the following point: as soon as the instructor begins to criticize the nutritionist's actions, turn around, leave and look for another specialist. Doctors are properly educated and know what they are advising, but in the fitness industry there are many amateurs who can spoil 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, 6 months is usually enough.

So it is extremely easy to start losing weight properly. This method is good because you don't need to independently calculate BMI, daily calorie intake, BJU ratios, etc. Here mistakes are excluded, health risks are minimal and the final result is guaranteed. The disadvantages are the high cost of developing individual nutrition and training plans, as well as the duration of the course - from 3 months to 2 years.

Independent weight loss

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

General points

The first is motivation: clearly formulate your goal and determine why you need to lose weight. You can make a selection of pictures of when you were thin and what you are now. You can hang your favorite dress in a visible place, in which you need to "fit". Read relevant literature, watch movies. There are a number of ways to motivate yourself, and they should work throughout the months you will be working on your body.

The second is a medical examination. You can't go anywhere without it. 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 exercises have contraindications - with examination data, you will be sure that this or that food system or exercises 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 for any issues.

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 going back. Effective, but must be thought from the beginning of the trip.

Required purchases:

  • scales;
  • kitchen scales;
  • dumbbells.

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

Nutrition

Prepare immediately for the fact that the first steps towards weight loss can take up to 1 month. Of course, the preparation phase can be shortened to 3-5 days, but in 90% of cases such a start leads to an inevitable failure. So be prepared to spend time on this.

Preparing for weight loss involves weighing yourself and cutting your daily calories.

Start by calculating your BMI. Determine how many extra pounds you have. Enter three numbers: your ideal weight (ultimate weight loss goal) - your current weight - the number of kg you need to lose. Then proceed according to the plan below.

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 consume.
  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 from 1500-2000 kcal, for women - 1200-1500 kcal.
  5. Calculate the difference between what you consume now and what you get according to the formula.
  6. Think about which foods or dishes you should reduce your daily calorie intake (food calorie tables will help you with this).

The second week

This preparatory stage is already the beginning of weight loss, because with the right food, you can lose 1-2 kg. You should give up fast food, fried food, alcoholic and carbonated drinks and limit the consumption of sweet and salty foods.

The third week

  1. Start with a day of fasting.
  2. Study the issue of complex and simple carbohydrates. Leave only the first in the diet.
  3. Create a menu for the week, reducing daily calorie intake by 100 kcal. Stay in it.
  4. Drink at least 1 liter of water a day.

The fourth week

  1. Start with a day of fasting.
  2. Remove another 100 kcal from your diet.
  3. Increase the amount of water you drink per day to 1. 5 liters.
  4. Avoid fatty foods: meat, fish, milk (more than 2%).

Remember - this is not weight loss itself, although you will probably already lose 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, fourth week of preparation, start choosing a diet. We immediately reject express options for 3 days and a week, which promise a loss of 1 kg in 1 day. First, it is harmful to health. Second, the weight will return with interest after the hunger strike is over.

If you want to lose weight correctly, choose long-term nutritional systems for weight loss, designed for 1-3 months. Mainly these are developments of the author: Montignac, Atkins, Dukan, Liepaja. Carefully study everything related to them, prepare a menu for the first week, look for recipes for dishes and calculate the calorie content.

That's it: in terms of nutrition, you are ready to lose weight.

sports

If you want your weight loss to be truly effective, simply organizing your meals will not be enough. The calories you consume must also be expended. To do this, you will need to increase physical activity and physical activity. But if tomorrow you start working out for a few hours in the gym, your body will rebel from the habit: the next day you won't be able to get 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 pounds and get a slim body

The training program recommended below is called "From scratch". It is designed for those who have never exercised but know they will need to in order to lose weight.

First week

  1. Avoid the elevator: 5-6 floors must be walked every day.
  2. When you work sitting, get up for 5 minutes every hour and warm up: walk, lie down.
  3. Walk for at least half an hour in the evening.

The second week

  1. Find an easy 10-minute morning exercise set. It should energize and improve 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 the walking time in the evening to 40 minutes.

The third week

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

The fourth week

  1. Morning exercises should last 15 minutes.
  2. After that, walk (Finnish, sport) for half an hour at a brisk pace.
  3. Evening walks are extended by one hour.
  4. Make a training plan.

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

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

Consider the question of where the classes will take place. A gym membership is a financial hit, but it's worth it. Professional simulators will be at your disposal and you can always ask for advice from the trainer. Or group fitness classes - it's fascinating and doesn't let you break down.

Buy some nice sports clothes - this is also a kind of motivation. And when you buy 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 lose weight is 50% of the success of your plan. However, the above plans must be adjusted taking into account the individual characteristics of each person. Therefore, some advice for specific categories of the population will help to 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 do sports. So even owners of thinner figures begin to blur. The belly grows, the lower part expands, the chest increases in volume and decreases a little.

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

  1. If you can skip a visit to the doctor before the age of 35, then at this age it is mandatory before losing weight. Perhaps he will suggest the most suitable weight loss methods for you.
  2. Start taking special vitamins.
  3. High protein, low fat, low carb diets are not for you. Choose the most balanced food system with a daily intake of at least 1500 kcal.
  4. There is no need for strength training at this age, but you can't completely exclude it from your training plan. When you compile it, focus on cardio exercises, but don't forget about dumbbells.
  5. Replace morning jogging with sports or Finnish walking.
  6. Dancing is, of course, good. But when you plan to lose weight at this age, choose swimming again.

And the most important advice for an elderly woman who has started to lose weight: to be examined by a doctor every 3 months. Every change in the body during the period before menopause is important.

Men with beer bellies

Deciding to lose weight for a man with a belly is a real feat. Diets are a common thing for women, but they are not ready for food restrictions. What is it like to refuse a can of beer in the evening with salted fish, not to sit in the bathroom with friends on the weekend?

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

However, the process will have to start with this:

  1. There is no need to look for a diet - just remove from your diet alcoholic and carbonated drinks, fast food and snacks.
  2. Daily intake of calories should be reduced to 2000 kcal. Usually men do not like to sit with these formulas and tables, 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 exercise plan.
  5. Choose abdominal exercises.
  6. Alternate strength and cardio exercises.

For a man who has set a goal to lose weight, the main thing is to start. They get involved in the process much faster, without allowing themselves any indulgence, as women like. Don't put your plans on hold. If the four-week prep described above is too long a journey for you, start right away tomorrow so you don't drag it out for months while your beer belly grows on its own.

Age after 50

The most dangerous and difficult thing for men and women is losing weight after 50-60 years, when the body is tired and its organs no longer work at full capacity. It is age that often becomes the main cause of metabolic disorders, which is why you gain extra pounds.

Here you should definitely start with a visit to the doctor - it is categorically not recommended to develop plans yourself. After all, any restriction in eating fats or carbohydrates can worsen your health. An extra 10 minutes of exercise results in shortness of breath and tachycardia. An exercise performed incorrectly can result in joint pain or even injury.

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

How much weight should you lose?

If you need to lose 10 kg, just stick to the four-week training program that was described in detail above. With it you can lose 3-4 kg per month. After implementing it, you don't even have to diet - just continue to follow the nutritional recommendations for week 4 and do 40 minutes of exercise every other day. The main thing is to start properly, and then the need for hunger strikes will disappear by itself.

It is another matter if you initially have a very large weight (more than 100 kg). Here an important role is also played by the preparatory phase. If you start immediately with rapid 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 hang in folds because it does not have time to shrink. What is important for you is a smooth, gradual introduction to any diet and slow weight loss (1-2 kg per week). But then you will save on plastic surgery.

The beginning of any business is 50% of its successful completion. Weight loss is no exception. If you're motivated to go all the way, don't dive in head first: the plunge should be slow and gradual. This is the only way to achieve results.