Diet and exercise tips for beginners

It’s important to understand that dieting is a lifestyle, which means you’ll need to regulate what you eat and drink for the rest of your life to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. You should focus on being healthy and not on being “thin”.

With that said, let’s start with our life goal of eating healthy and being healthy. You must first check your body mass index, or BMI, which is a measure of a person’s weight in relation to their height. Visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for help with proper BMI calculation. The second step is to keep a daily log of everything you eat and drink. I put an emphasis on drinking because people have a tendency not to record what they drink. It is imperative that you appreciate that sodas, juices, and beverages other than water contain calories. Eliminating soda from your diet can save you about 300 calories or more per day. An ideal calorie intake for someone on a diet is about 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day (more on this later), so drinking a couple of sodas a day can drastically affect your daily calorie intake goals. Remember this is a lifestyle change and I will remind you of that throughout this article.

It doesn’t really matter which diet plan you choose, as long as the source is legit, as most focus on reducing your calorie intake by eating less and starting an exercise regimen. Therefore, it is more important to choose the diet plan that you will enjoy the most, because the diet is based on lifestyle changes, not an eight-week plan and then you go back to your old bad habits. This will only cause you to gain the weight back. The secret weapon to lose weight is physical activity. The more physical activity you do each day, the more weight you will lose. Be sure to check with your doctor before starting an exercise regiment.

Again, remember that this is a lifestyle change, so choose an exercise regiment that you can stick with for the rest of your life. Listed below are the benefits of exercising regularly:

• Reduces heart disease
• Lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) and increases good cholesterol (HDL)
• Helps prevent type 2 diabetes
• Helps fight stress and improves mood
• Helps lower high blood pressure
• Increase your energy level
• Increase your sexual desire

The bottom line is that regular physical activity is the key to a long and healthy life.

Calorie intake for weight loss.

To lose weight, you will need to start with a diet of 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day. Over time, you can increase your calorie intake, but you’ll also need to increase your physical activity to burn off excess calories. The more you exercise, the more calories you can consume, since exercise is the key to losing weight and maintaining an ideal weight.

Stay on track with the food pyramid by visiting the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans to help you balance your diet or simply follow one of the legitimate diet programs. Try to follow a diet plan that suggests high fiber and moderately low fat, as these diets tend to work best. Again, keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change, so choose a meal plan that you enjoy.

Here are some tips to help you get started.

Do not skip breakfast.
Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day; especially for dieting, as it prevents you from feeling like you’re starving and helps jump-start your metabolism. When your body feels like it’s starving, it tends to consume more calories, and simply eating breakfast will prevent this from happening. Eat a breakfast that is moderately low in fat, contains fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, are low-density foods. This simply means that you can eat more without accumulating calories, because they contain a lot of water, and water has zero density. Here are some suggestions:

• Oatmeal containing fruit (berries, peaches, apples, etc.)
• Low-fat granola bars plus fruits and/or vegetables
• bananas with peanut butter
• Whole grain cereal with fruit
• low-fat milk, 1% milk, or soy milk

Be especially careful what you drink.
Sodas, juices, and most other beverages contain extra calories that you don’t really need if your goal is to be healthy. Therefore, it is imperative that you eliminate soft drinks from your diet completely, as this can save you approximately 300 calories or more per day. Drink water instead, it contains ZERO calories. Drink soy milk, low-fat milk, or fat-free milk instead of whole milk or other sugar-free beverages.

Eat more often, but eat less.
It’s okay to snack during the day and eat less at dinner. Be sure to eat healthy low-fat snacks like carrots, pretzels, fruit, low-fat yogurt, or low-fat granola bars. Increase your daily intake of colorful fruits and vegetables. When you want something sweet, try low-fat yogurt or fruit.

Move more.
Try walking to the store instead of driving if you’re only picking up a couple of items. Take the stairs instead of the elevator if you’re only going up a couple of floors. Jog up and down the stairs either in the morning after you wake up or at night before you go to bed. The more you move, the more calories you will burn.

Don’t punish yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with indulging in some of the foods you enjoy from time to time, like ice cream, but don’t make it a habit. This way you will appreciate the ice cream much more if you do not eat it regularly. If you decide to splurge once, you need to increase your physical activity. Remember that exercise is the key to weight loss and control, the more you eat, the more physical activity you should do.

Don’t worry about your falling off the bandwagon, just re-log everything you eat and drink and continue exercising. You will see results that will last a lifetime.

GOOD LUCK!!