Weight Loss: Your Guide To Good Nutrition

By Author: Bruce Tucker
Total Articles: 174
Comment this article

Every year starts off the same for a lot of people with the desire to lose weight. January first rolls around and the number one item on your list for things to get done is drop about five to ten pounds. Over the next two or three days you work really hard, eat right, maybe do some exercise, then step on the scale and low and behold your worse night mare occurs. The scale reads a loss of only a half of a pound, or worse no loss at all.

By day four you pretty give up because in your mind after three days of eating healthy, well gosh darn it, your body should just give in and drop the weight. Here is a quick question you can ask yourself. How long did it take for you to put that weight on? Chances are it was not three days. So can you realistically expect to lose all of that weight in three days? Of course not.

You are in luck. The information I am about to give you will help you achieve the results you are looking for in a slow, steady pace, which is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

Before we begin let me say this. Stay off the scale. Nothing discourages people more than when the scale ...
... does not give them the reading they were hoping for. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning on the same day every week. For instance I weight myself on Tuesday mornings directly after the morning shower. I make a mental note of my weight so I can write it down later on the chart I am keeping.

To lose weight on a consistent and steady basis you need to keep your metabolism running. Your metabolism is the process by which your body burns fat. It can run high for a number of reasons but more commonly because you are exercising or when you consume food.

In order to keep it running while you are consuming food, you must be constantly putting food in your body. But not just any food, but the right foods. The right foods are lean proteins such as egg whites or egg substitutes, chicken breast, lean meats, fish and so on. Combine that with healthy carbohydrates such as multi grain breads and cereals, brown rice and potatoes, and green vegetables like asparagus, spinach and broccoli.

Constantly eating does not mean you should be shoving food in your mouth every second of the day. What it means is consuming smaller meals periodically throughout the day. Studies have shown that consuming one well balanced meal every two and a half to three hours works best.

Each meal should consist of an equal portion of the protein, carbohydrate and green vegetable sources that we talked about earlier in this article. You could weight out your portion sizes to be around four to six ounces, but who wants to carry around a scale with them everywhere they go?

A portion size should be the same size as your clenched fist. So if you were to make a fist, that would be the size of a portion of each of the food groups.

If you were to follow these helpful tips you will lose the most weight in your first week, typically 4 to 6 pounds. Then your body will tail off to average about a pound and a half to two pounds each week. As you can see you will be able to lose your weight in no time, but you will do it properly and most importantly you will not be starving yourself.

Just remember to get a complete physical from your primary care physician prior to starting your exercise program.
About the Author:
Mr. Tucker is a regular contributor on Bukisa, an online community for writers where writers can submit their articles. You can also follow him on Twitter.