I recently managed to lose just over a stone in weight
from 10 stone 2 pounds to 9 stones. You
may look at these figures and be absolutely dismissive of the fact that I
weighed so little in the first place that I didn’t need to shed any weight, but
my build is very slight (skinny) and basically all the added fat was stored on
my stomach. The weight loss took place
over a six monthly period. I did a lot
of research on the Internet during this time, and, thought it may be helpful to
put down in writing the information I learned.
It must be stated that the following has absolutely no medical
foundation, and, is just my interpretation of how the body works. If you embark on any kind of weight loss you should
obtain medical advice.
The first thing I found out was the number of calories my
body need to maintain itself daily.
There are a number of calculators available which work this out for
you. In my case this was 2,200 calories
a day. The next thing was to calculate
the number of calories I was consuming daily.
To monitor this I set up a spreadsheet, which I completed on a daily
basis. I used the calorie labels found
on the various foodstuffs I bought to update it. The big shock I had the first time I
completed this was that the evening meal I had prepared actually bust my daily
limit. It turned out the calorie count was
2,500! I must admit at this point I did
lose heart and thought that losing weight would be an impossible task. However, I persevered and learnt the art of
halving or third-ing the portions.
Cutting out snacks such as ginger biscuits, and, sugar in tea also
helped. My aim for each day was to
consume foodstuffs that added up to 1,600 calories.
The next area I researched was about exercise. How could I make my body consume even more
calories than the 2,200 needed to maintain its’ normal existence. I learned that when surplus calories where
consumed that the body didn’t need at that moment it stored them in the form of
fat cells. If this happened on a regular
basis then the storage of the fat cells would get bigger and bigger hence you
would find yourself gaining weight. When
you undertake exercise, the muscles in your body required energy to work, which
came in the form of calories from the fat cells. So for example if you were running the
muscles in your arms and legs would need energy (calories) to power them. The body would provide this through the blood
stream. Fat would be picked up, and,
carried by the blood to the muscles where it was required, and, hence this
would lead to a reduction in the fat cells, which in turn would lead to losing
weight. The key here seemed to me to be
the velocity of the exercise. I felt it
was important to make your heart race, and, therefore exercise vigorously for
as long as you could to consume fat cells (calories). My exercise regime was not onerous, it only
consisted of a vigorous three minute dance exercise when I awoke, along with 30
– 60 minutes a day cycling, but the key was to try and get my heart racing.
Initially I also went to the extreme of drinking hot
lemon juice in the morning to help my metabolism process food more
efficiently. Don’t forget the body needs
to cool hot water as you are consuming it which consumes more calories. In addition after exercising I drank cold
water from the fridge, and, yes you guessed it, the body needed to heat this up
on consumption, again burning more calories in the process. As a large supermarket chain says, “Every
little helps!”
So by undertaking the above this is how I managed to lose
the weight. Looking back one of the most
important aspects was the record keeping.
Every day I recorded the exercise, and, number of calories burned; my
weight; and, the calories I consumed.
There is nothing like having it in black and white in front of you. For me personally it was a motivating factor.
If you are embarking on any kind of weight loss program I
wish you all the best, and, remember keep your heart pumping, even if it is
just by dancing around the room!
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