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Where to start losing weight: developing an action plan

Why is losing several dozen kilos considered a real feat? People who have achieved significant weight loss and changed beyond recognition become heroes of TV shows and social networks. This is due to the fact that, according to statistics, 85% of the female population and 55% of the male population have set themselves such a goal at least once in their lives, but 25% and 10%, respectively, reach the final stage. Combating the food instinct inherent in nature itself is a real challenge. The outcome of the battle largely depends on what served as the starting point.

To get the matter over with, you need to know where to start losing weight and how to make a plan correctly - not only in nutrition and training, but also in adjusting your usual lifestyle. Making such a decision must be accompanied by an awareness of the complexity of the approach to weight loss. Now, each step must bring you closer to the goal, and it must be carefully thought out from the start.

The simplest and most correct solution

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

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

  1. Save around $200.
  2. Find a nutritionist in your city and make an appointment with them.
  3. Go on a date.
  4. Follow all of its recommendations.
  5. Visit him regularly to adjust the plan he initially developed.
  6. Find a professional fitness trainer who specializes in weight loss and arrange a meeting with them.
  7. Consult it, order an individual training plan, taking into account the recommendations given by the nutritionist.
  8. Follow all of its recommendations.

You'll need money to pay for personalized nutrition plans and workouts. The amount is approximate and may vary depending on the city and the specialists. On average, each of these developments costs about 100 dollars. Only a nutritionist and trainer will help you properly start losing weight and guide you until you achieve the desired result.

Appointment with a nutritionist

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

  • whether there are chronic diseases;
  • what you eat, how many times a day (down to the smallest details, down to seeds and a bottle of mineral water);
  • how quickly you gained weight;
  • what illnesses have you suffered from in the last 2 years;
  • Do you have any bad habits?
  • what is the nature of your work (sedentary or you constantly have to move around - on foot or by car);
  • what kind of life do you lead after work?
  • Do your parents have a problem with being overweight, etc.?

After collecting data, tests and instrumental studies are prescribed:

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

Based on all the collected data, an individual nutritional plan will be drawn up, which you must strictly follow. You must also follow all the associated advice given to you by the nutritionist (walking in the evening, going up floors without an elevator, doing exercises, etc. ).

Consultation of trainers

After the nutritionist with all his recommendations and nutritional plan, you go to the coach. He should tailor a weight loss program in the gym to suit them. It is important to grasp the following point here: as soon as the instructor begins to criticize the actions of the nutritionist, turn around, leave and look for another specialist. Doctors have the proper training and know what they advise, 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 to 20 kg, 6 months is usually enough.

This makes it extremely simple to start losing weight correctly. This method is good because you do not need to independently calculate BMI, daily calorie intake, BJU ratios, etc. Errors are excluded here, 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

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

The second is a medical examination. You can't go anywhere without it. What this will give you:

  • certain diseases cause excess weight, and we cannot get rid of the latter without treating the former;
  • all diets and certain types of exercises have contraindications - with the data from the review you will be sure that this or that nutritional system or exercise will not harm your health.

Keep a weight loss diary: you will note all your mistakes and achievements, changes in weight and volume.

Find like-minded people: Join groups on social media where people share successes, give each other advice, and support each other. Please contact them if you have 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 save you from a relapse. Effective, but needs to be thought through from the start of the trip.

Required purchases:

  • Balance;
  • kitchen scales;
  • dumbbells.

Think about the cause of excess weight: poor diet, overeating, sedentary lifestyle, age or illness. Understand: without eliminating the provoking factor, you cannot lose weight.

Nutrition

Immediately prepare for the fact that the first steps towards losing weight 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 inevitable failure. So be prepared to put in the time.

Preparing to lose weight involves 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 ultimate goal of losing weight) - your actual weight at the moment - 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 how much.
  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 the amount of calories needed to lose weight effectively. Usually for men it ranges from 1500 to 2000 kcal, for women from 1200 to 1500 kcal.
  5. Calculate the difference between what you currently consume and what you get according to the formula.
  6. Consider which foods or dishes to reduce your daily calorie intake (food calorie charts will help you 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 should give up fast food, fried foods, alcoholic and carbonated drinks and limit your consumption of sweet and salty foods.

Third week

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

Fourth week

  1. Start with a day of fasting.
  2. Remove an extra 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 that it's not about the weight loss itself, although you will probably already lose a few pounds, but only about the preparation. This minimizes the stress your body will experience over the coming weeks or months.

In the last and fourth week of preparation, start choosing a diet. We immediately reject the express options 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 ends.

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

That's it: nutrition-wise, you're ready to lose weight.

sport

If you want your weight loss to be truly effective, it is not enough to organize your meals. The calories you consume must also be spent. To do this, you will need to increase physical activity and physical activity. But if tomorrow you start training for several hours in the gym, your body will rebel out of habit: the next day you will no longer be able to get up because of muscle pain. And all because it also requires preparation. Fortunately, there is something to do during these 4 weeks while you work out your new diet.

Thanks to sport, you can lose extra pounds and regain 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 will need to do so to lose weight.

First week

  1. Avoid the elevator: 5 to 6 floors must be covered daily.
  2. When working sedentary, get up for 5 minutes every hour and warm up: walk, stretch.
  3. Walk for at least half an hour in the evening.

Second week

  1. Find a set of simple exercises for morning exercises for 10 minutes. This should invigorate and improve your mood, not exhaust you. Do it daily.
  2. Learn several breathing exercises (qigong, bodyflex, oxysize), try to master one.
  3. Increase the length of your evening walk to 40 minutes.

Third week

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

Fourth week

  1. Morning exercises should take 15 minutes.
  2. After that, walk (Finnish, sporty) for half an hour at a fast 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 perfectly prepared for new physical activity. The correction of the figure will be carried out much more intensively and with minimal losses. Of course, the muscles will be sore at first, but not so much.

When creating a training plan, remember that the benefits of intervals are much greater. And don't exhaust yourself every day: you need to give the muscle fibers time to recover, which is why every other day is the most practical program.

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 the trainer for advice. Or group fitness classes, it's captivating and doesn't let you down.

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

Recommendations for special cases

A good start to losing weight is 50% of the success of your plan. However, the above plans should be adjusted taking into account the individual characteristics of each person. Therefore, a few tips aimed at special categories of the population will help to organize the whole process more correctly.

Women over 35

At this age, the body gradually begins to age and adapt to menopause. The metabolism slows down, few people are ready to play sports. So even the owners of the most slender figures begin to fade. The belly grows, the buttocks expand, the breasts increase in volume and sag a little.

In addition to the nutrition and training programs offered above, there is a special step-by-step system for women over 35-40 years old who do not want to carry excess weight.

  1. If you can avoid seeing a doctor before the age of 35, then at this age it is mandatory before losing weight. Perhaps he will offer you the most suitable weight loss methods.
  2. Start taking special vitamins.
  3. High-protein, low-fat, low-carb diets are not for you. Choose the most balanced nutritional system with a daily intake of at least 1500 kcal.
  4. There is no need to do strength training exercises at this age, but you cannot completely exclude them from your training plan. When preparing it, focus on cardio exercises, but don't forget about dumbbells.
  5. Replace morning jogging with sport or Finnish walking.
  6. Dancing is of course good. But if you are planning to lose weight at this age, always opt for swimming.

And the most important advice to an older woman who is starting to lose weight: get checked by a doctor every 3 months. Any changes in the body during the premenopausal period are important.

Men with beer bellies

Deciding to lose weight for a man with a belly is a real feat. Diets are common among women, but they are not ready to face dietary restrictions. How does it feel to refuse a can of beer in the evening with salted fish, not to sit in the bathhouse with friends on weekends?

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

However, the process should start with this:

  1. There is no need to look for a diet - just remove alcoholic and carbonated drinks, fast foods and snacks from your diet.
  2. Daily calorie intake should be reduced to 2000 kcal. Usually men don't like to sit with these formulas and tables, so it's better to ask your wife, sister or mother for help.
  3. Choose protein and low-fat foods.
  4. Make sure to include morning jogging in your workout plan.
  5. Choose abdominal exercises.
  6. Alternate strength and cardio exercises.

For a man who has set himself the goal of losing weight, the main thing is to get started. They get involved much more quickly in the process itself, without giving themselves any indulgence, as women like to do. Don't put your projects on hold. If the four-week preparation described above is too long a journey for you, start tomorrow so you don't drag it out for months, during which your beer belly will only increase.

Age after 50

The most dangerous and difficult thing for both men and women is to lose weight after 50-60 years, when the body is exhausted and its organs no longer work at full capacity. It is age that often becomes the main reason for impaired metabolism, which is why you gain extra pounds.

Here you should definitely start with a visit to the doctor - it is categorically not recommended to make plans on your own. After all, any restriction in the consumption of fats or carbohydrates can harm your health. An additional ten minutes of exercise leads to shortness of breath and tachycardia. A poorly performed exercise can lead to joint pain and even injury.

Therefore, making the 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 follow the four-week training program described in detail above. With this you can lose 3-4 kg per month. After implementing it, you don't even need to follow a diet - just continue to follow the nutritional recommendations for the 4th week and do 40-minute workouts every other day. The main thing is to start correctly, then the need for hunger strikes will disappear by itself.

It's another matter if you initially have a very large weight (more than 100 kg). Here the preparation phase also plays an important role. If you start immediately with express weight loss of minus 10 kg per week, in the end, even if you manage to lose pounds, this will affect your health, and the skin will hang in folds because it will not have time to shrink. What is important for you is a gentle, gradual introduction to any diet and slow weight loss (1-2 kg per week). But then you will save on plastic surgery.

Starting any business is 50% of its success. Weight loss is no exception. If you are motivated to go all the way, don't go into it headlong: the dive should be slow and progressive. This is the only way to get results.