Originally Posted By: NightHiker
The best way to lose weight is to expend more calories than you consume.


+1

I am not an expert in nutrition but I have been in the fitness industry for 15 years and trained or assisted hundreds of people into the best shape of their life, through diet and exercise. I understand these at a very high level.

Lots of good advice on here, except stating Atkins is good for you. I am sorry but Atkins, apart from being a great self-marketing company that reinvents itself every ten years, is a horrible long term strategy for success and creates no long term positive eating habits. I will never advise a client, friend or family member to do this program.

YOU CANNOT SUSTAIN A LIFE LONG HEALTHY EATING PROGRAM BY DENYING YOURSELF FOOD. The biggest failure in Atkins is psychologically people miss the 'crunch'. Aside from bacon and pork rinds you are hard pressed to find foods that are crisp. Add to this, the lack of carbohydrates and the body enters a process of Ketosis.

People who partake in this diet do see immediate weight loss in a range of 10-20% but like most denial diets only about 5% will maintain that loss for even a short period of time. Eventually you have to start eating in the real world and the cascade of denial psychosis leads to binge eating and eventual yo-yo back to the start weight or higher.

I do apologize for speaking harshly about Atkins and I am not being personal, but it is a horrible diet program usually started by people who are looking for quick fixes to a long term eating problem.

The real fact is this. Almost every diet is crap. Seriously. Less than 5% of 'dieters' maintain their weight loss long term. Don't even start on the latest fad, HCG. The highest percentage of people who successfully lose weight and maintain that weight loss are people that make lifestyle changes that can be followed for life.

*In order to lose weight you must eat less, move more.
*Find your resting metabolism to find how many calories you burn in a day. stay under that number either through 100% nutrition or a combination of nutrition and exercise.
*My personal experience with people shows a percentage of intake equaling about 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, 30% fat is a simple and long term sustainable nutrition plan.
*Vary the exercise with frequency, intensity, time and type and plateaus will be rare.
*If your unsure, unmotivated, have a medical condition, or do best with a laid out plan, there are a variety of resources to get the education, motivation and accountability you need.
_________________________
Don't just survive. Thrive.