In my previous post I talked about 5 Flaws associated with weight loss diet.

So, if dieting does not result in weight loss and is proven to be ineffective and detrimental in the long run then how do we do it?

Here are 5 steps to weight loss.

Effective weight loss does not have to be a difficult process. The key is to stay consistent and measure results.

Step 1 to Weight Loss: Educate Yourself Learn where you currently stand. Understand how many calories you need to consume to start losing weight. A good place to start is with my Top 3 Online Weight Control Tools post. It lists awesome calculators to help you figure out how many calories you need to eat daily, how to plan your meals and understand how much weight you need to lose.

Step 2 to Weight Loss: No DietsDo not go on a diet but eat everything in moderation. Do keep track of calories. Try to find a way to reduce your usual caloric intake by about 500 calories a day (it will ensure loss of 1lb a week). You can accomplish this by reducing consumption of some foods or doing things like replacing a soda or two with water or sparkling water and a bit of juice to give you that bubbly feeling.

Step 3 to Weight Loss: Exercise You need to exercise to preserve and increase muscle mass. Remember that muscle burns way more calories than fat. The more muscle you have, the easier it will be to burn off excess fat from that midsection. Refer to my post How To Exercise: 5 Tips to Starting Out

Step 4 to Weight Loss: Measure Measure results. Get on a scale once a week. Take measurements of chest, hips, and waist. Record where you are. Compare to previous week. Ask yourself whether you are moving in a right direction. If you are, great! Keep doing what you are doing. If not, look at the week and try to understand what happened. Too many calories? Too little movement? Adjust and keep on going! It is important to measure and analyze your progress to ensure that there is progress and you are not just spinning your wheels and wasting time.

Step 5 to Weight Loss: Consistency One of the most important qualities in being successful at mastering your body and losing weight is to stay patient and consistent with your plan. Remember that this is not a fad diet, this is a way of life. You don’t need to lose 20lb in one week, as long as your weight is moving in the right direction, you are on your way. In fact losing 20lb like they do on biggest loser is also unhealthy and dangerous. Here is post about Truth About Biggest Loser.

To lose weight we must go on a diet, right?

I’d like to share with you that a weight loss diet is not the best path to a long term, healthy weight loss.

There are many fad diets that not only not true but are also damaging to our bodies (think of infamous cabbage soup diet).

Do these quick weight loss diets work?

Long term, no!

Flaw #1 Such weight loss diets are not sustainable. You can’t drink juice or eat cabbage soup for the rest of you life. You’ll have to go off of soon and then weight comes back and then some.

Flaw #2Undermines health and brings on physical discomfort (stomach cramps and flatulence)

Flaw #3 Many of these weight loss diets do not encourage exercise and physical activity. So when the person go on it, they lose a lot of muscle mass and reduce their basic metabolic rate

Flaw #4 Many weight loss diets are based on food folklore from 19th century (cabbage soup… do I need to say more?). They have not been shown to be safe or effective in long term.

Flaw #5 Focus on now instead of charting a long term solution.

Did you ever go on a diet? What happened after a few months?

Internet has a lot of information. Some is good, some is bad, other is irrelevant.

I found these online weight control tools to be not just good but awesome. Lets face it, trying to lose weight without understanding how many calories to consume can be frustrating and time consuming. Following weight control tools should make things a bit easier:

#1 Calorie Counter (American Cancer Society): This tool approximates how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. If you would like to lose weight, eat 500 calories less than the number stated. If you would like to gain weight, eat more.

#2 Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute): please remember that BMI has it’s limitations. If you have much muscle mass, your reading will not accurately reflect your state of health. If you are an athlete, this tool is not very useful. For an average person this tool gives a decent estimate of how overweight/fit you are.

#3 Interactive Menu Planner (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute): The name says it all Simple and effective menu planner

• BMI Calculator will tell you whether your current weight is healthy or not
• Calorie Counter Tool will tel you how many calories you should be consuming to maintain, lose or gain weight
• Meal Planner Tool will help you plan your meals so that you meet your caloric goal

Did I miss something? What tools do you use?

As a fitness professional, obesity epidemic is close to my heart.

It seems like kids and adults are getting bigger and bigger.

Everyone is sitting more because of computer work, homework, and television hypnosis.

And as a result we are getting more and more sick.

Just look at this obesity map:

Darker areas imply higher percentages of obese population according to 2008 data

Obesity worsened in 16 states in 2010 and no state became more fit!

What can we do? To quote a Michael Jackson’s song, “start with a man in the mirror”.

Improve your personal health and fitness. It’s that simple.

If you would like to see how obesity changed since 1985, enjoy this animated map, curtesy of CDC.

USDA’s recent nutrition recommendations are hitting the wallet hard according to recent University of Washington research.

Latest changes to USDA’s recommendations will increase food bills of many families. An example that NRP articles “USDA’s Advice For Eating Right Is Hard on the Wallet”sites is that in order to meet new USDA’s requirements for potassium alone, food bill of an average family would go up by $380 a year.

This is the estimate calculated through research at University of Washington.

The concern is that low income families will fall even further behind on the health and wellness curve.

It is no secret that organic, raw food is much more expensive than a cheeseburger from local fast food chain.

First step would be to educate. After all, replacing soda and sugar water with water is cheaper.

What do you think?

Should we subsidies healthier foods and make it more affordable?