-
. Do not make your fat-loss diet into one of deprivation and extremes. You
want to be able to keep to your new dietary program for the long term, not
just stick to it for a month or two and then return to normal. ere are
plenty of tasty, filling and satisfying meals you can eat if you do some inves-
tigation and use your imagination.
. Visit a bookstore and pick up a title that provides tasty and satisfying
meals, while keeping calories in check. Nancy Clark’s
is a title to check out for help with recipes.
. Along with the revised dietary schedule, increase your energy expenditure.
Do this to enable you to eat enough to satisfy you both nutritionally and
enjoyment wise, but while keeping you in energy deficit. You must be in
energy deficit so that you draw upon your fat stores for the balance of your
energy needs. Avoid vigorous aerobic activities because you do not want
to hurt your ability to recover from your weight training. Covering a mile
“burns” about the same calories whether you walk it, jog it or run it. e
only difference is the speed of covering the distance. Add walking to your
weekly schedule. Start with three walks a week for minutes each, pref-
erably on the days you do not train with weights. Without getting carried
away and turning the walks into competitive races, pick up the speed of the
walks a little as the weeks go by so that you cover more distance in the same
time period, and increase the duration of your walks to or more minutes
at a time. If you are grossly fat, then walk for an hour or more every day
until you have your fat level under control. Aerobic exercise that works more
musculature than walking, e.g., use of rowers and ski machines, uses more
energy for the same time investment and perceived effort, and is thus a bet-
ter choice. If you have access to this machinery, use it several times a week.
. Religiously maintain your bodyweight maintenance caloric intake minus
calories for four weeks, along with the stepped up energy output. A
calorie reduction in input, together with, say, an increased average output
of a day (approximately equivalent to walking two miles a day), totals
a daily caloric deficit (, per week). at will produce adequate
results for many people, keeping in mind that a pound of fat contains ,
calories. But if no bodyweight loss is registered, reduce you caloric intake by
a further and test again a few weeks later. Continue this process until
you discover the caloric intake that produces a gradual but steady loss of no
more than a pound a week, preferably a pound every two weeks.