Find a fuck buddy.
Surprisingly true advice. Sex (that lasts more than 2 seconds) is very good cardio. Very good for the whole body in general, male and female (or any combination).
It's why oral sex sucks.
WARNING: OK HEALTH RANT INCOMINGWeight gain is mediated by an equation:
Caloric intake - Caloric expenditure = Caloric Net
Basically, if you want to lose weight, you need to reduce your caloric net gain. A caloric change about 3000-3500 calories = 1 pound, so, it figures, expending that many calories would make you lose 1 pound. It's a bit more complicated than that (diseases, what you eat, etc.), but works as a generalization. There are two ways to modify that equation = eat less or be more active. This is why most places will recommend weight loss diets of 1500-1800 calories, so you lose on average about 1-3 pounds (average: 2) per week.
In terms of speed, dropping caloric intake will drop your weight fastest. Starvation does that. The problem with this is that it is not durable - when you stop eating, your body will go in to starvation mode, and drop metabolism to conserve energy for the important organs. This means that, when you do start eating, your body stores faster and a larger portion of energy than normal. Increasing activity, on the other hand, is a very slow initial process (starts off very slow, and you'll actually gain weight initially - this is muscle, though, and you'll notice your pants fit better even as you gain weight), but ups the metabolism, which helps the durability of it. The key point here is that you need to combine both. In some way. Thirty minutes of cardio is good - do it 3 times a week or more.
In terms of food and decreasing what you eat, you need to be exceptionally careful. Cooking is the lifeblood of weight loss via diet, as 90% of the stuff you find premade is rather craptastic.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, READ THE GODDAMNED NUTRITION LABELS IF YOU ARE SERIOUSJust because it says "low fat" does not mean it's healthy, or even low in calories. You have to look at serving size as well - I'm not sure about Britain, but in the United States, take a look at the Marie Callender's Pot Pie in the frozen section. On the surface, it looks ok - 800 calories for a pie. But you need to realize that one pot pie is 2 servings - 1600 calories for what most people would eat for Lunch. It's retarded. That kills your entire day, effectively. Most of the low fat and "light" stuff is awful - they add extra sugar or boost the calories or some other vile, esoteric trick.
This is not to say that low fat is necessarily bad, but it's for a different reason. Low salt, low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar, etc., are all for medical conditions to prevent exacerbations. And not all of them are perfect either.
Having been exceptionally fat and dropped down a lot (320-ish back in 11th grade - God, only 8 years ago), I can emphasize with frustration at this. It is not easy. A few tips:
- Saiety is important. When in doubt, add more protein and fibre to your diet. Fibre is good, protein is good (lean protein - chicken, fish, alligator, rabbit, etc.). You say a 3-oz piece of chicken is too little - if it's lean, add more of that, cut down on the worse stuff (stuffing, heavy carbohydrate things, etc.).
- I would highly recommend against cutting things out entirely from your diet. From personal experience, you are far more likely to gorge. Do it in moderation - one day a week, you can have a small piece of cake or something. Besides, part of food is fun from eating it! You have to enjoy it (and people wonder why I was fat >_>)
- Eat breakfast, and split your food up into smaller amounts each day (for instance, 200 calories at 700, 400 around 1100, 400 around 1400, 600 around 1700) - it helps keep your metabolism good and going, and keeps you awake - massive meals make you tired.
- Eat slower. Ideally, you should eat over 20-30 minutes, because your body is dumb and doesn't realize it's eaten too much until a lot of time has passed.
- Water. Lots of water. If your urine is not clear, you need more water. Not soda. Not juice. Water.
- Eat out rarely. Most places are awful for portion control. Even on "healthy" things like salads. Cooking is sexy.
- Don't eat late. Ideally eat before 2000 at night. Especially if you want to exercise at night.
I don't want to ramble too much, so if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.
