JayLoss

What/How much should I eat in order to lose weight?

Posted on27. Jul, 2011 by Jay.

• I want to Lose Weight
• I want to be Thinner
• I want to Lose these Love Handles
• I want to Burn off Extra Fat
• I want to Tone UP

Answer: Do you want to lose WEIGHT? Or do you want to love FAT?

In order to lose fat: You must count your calories, and consume foods that your body needs. No more fats, sweets, oils, and unnecessary starches. Huge helpings of pasta, rice and white-bread sandwiches are out.

Eat whole wheat bread and pasta, oatmeal, fresh fruits and vegetables, lowfat/fat free dairies, and lean meats such as chicken/turkey breast, fish, etc. One classic stable is the garden vegetable/chicken breast salad. Satisfying, healthy (garden greens are extremely nutritious), and cheap.

You should aim to eat five or six smaller meals a day. This keeps the body in a state of constant metabolism. It takes energy to digest food. Eating three big square meals a day lets your body settle into a routine, digesting one big lump and then remaining dormant for hours until the next meal.

Also? Never eat or drink anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup again. Ever again. Every time you drink a soda (HFCS), you create an insulin spike in the body. Long story short, this leads to the creation and retention of BODY FAT. So yeah, quit * doing that.

• Determain your Target Caloric Intake
• Count the calories in your food

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Keep The Same Weight / Mon-Fri Workout

Posted on16. May, 2011 by Jay.

Today is Monday, I woke up late today after staying up the night before catching up on lots of work. Saturday I drove 200 miles to the next city to play some paintball with friends. It was a lot of fun and a great workout as always. I got back in town late Sunday night pretty much exhausted.

This morning my legs are still sore from doing a lot of crouching and running around on Saturday. I found a few weeks ago when I was last paintballing, that my cardio was pretty bad. I was out of breath often and extremely hot, it could of been the large padded clothing I was wearing but I’m sure my cardio had something to do with it too. So for two weeks I worked harder on cardio and I’m happy to say I think it paid off. Running around Saturday wasn’t a problem at all. I didn’t get out of breath very much and I was actually much more mobile. What I did was focus mostly on elliptical training, 20 minute intervals every other day. That and I wore a light Under Armour shirt this time around.

So since it’s Monday, and my plan is to workout Monday through Friday at least an hour a day, it’s about time I get going for the day.

I’m logging what foods I eat in a day again. I found I’m eating slightly more calories then my goal but it’s okay as long as I’m working out often. I don’t want to gain or lose anymore weight, I just want to to stay the same weight (180-pounds), and this morning I’m exactly that, 180-pounds.

To tell you the truth I’m surprised how I’m able to stay the same weight pretty much every day. I used to always fluctuate in weight but now for the first time in my life I’ve stayed pretty much the same weight for around 6 months.

I weigh myself often, several times a week and if I see I gain weight or lost weight, I adjust my calorie intake and in a few days I’m back at 180 pounds. Now I’m wanting to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. That’s easy to do, all it takes is persistence. At one point my body fat went as low as 8%, now I’m around 12%-13% I believe. I think a good 10% or 11% body-fat is a good goal to reach. Once reached I’ll focus on maintaining THAT as moving up and down in body fat isn’t as forgiving I found.

Time to workout!

Jay,

• 180 pounds
• 13%-14% bodyfat
• Goal is 180-pounds and 10%-11% body fat

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Time to Build Muscles!

Posted on22. May, 2010 by Jay.

That’s the goal anyway.

I wish I were an expert on building muscles, but I’m not. All I know is to intake lots of protein and lift heavy weights.

I think I need to educate myself a little and read some popular ebooks on the subject. Anyone recommend some material?

I’ve gained a lot of muscle the past year or so, but it wasn’t my main goal to do so. It’s still great, but now that I’m going to focus most of my efforts on bulking up or trying to I should probably learn more about the subject.

I like to think of myself as someone who gains muscle quickly.. so as long as I do what I should be doing (don’t know what that is yet), I think I’ll do well.

I’m five pounds away from my goal weight by the way.

I’m 195 pounds and I’m eating tons.

I think soon my daily calorie intake will reach 2000 calories a day. It’s weird I started out at 1000 calories a day when I wanted to lose weight at 300 plus pounds. Then moved it up to 1200 calories at 260s, then up again to 1400 calories in the 230s, and now I’m eating 1800 calories or more in a day just to slow my weight loss down. It’s weird.. I guess the muscle I gained over the months is requiring more calories in a day? Probably.

That’s great though. I was worried a couple months ago that my metabolism would get used to the 1200 calories in a day and if I increased my calories any, I would start to gain weight. That doesn’t seem to be a problem.

When I get some extra time, I’m going to check out some eBooks on gaining muscle and I’ll let you know what I find.

Cheers!

Jay,
Current Weight: 195 lbs.

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How I Lose Weight – Down 26 Pounds

Posted on30. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

I figured out the secret to losing weight and it’s exactly what you thought it was. It’s as simple as dieting and exercising and that’s it. If you thought it was anything more then that, then you were wrong.

You can diet without exercising and still lose weight, but you’ll lose weight at a slower rate and most likely you will probably lose a lot of muscle at the same time; unless you were dieting very slowly.

If you do the opposite of that, and just exercise without changing your diet, you won’t lose very much weight or any at all. Trust me I did this for an entire year with a personal trainer (only exercising and no dieting) and I didn’t lose any weight, yet I worked out HARD five times a week. I did gain a lot of muscle though.

The only way to lose weight, and the way I’m losing weight is a combination of diet plus exercise. And when I say diet, I’m not talking about a low carb diet, or high carb diet, or any of those specialty diets. I’m talking about a specific calorie intake per day (calorie counting) and not going over your calories. You can eat WHATEVER you want as long as you’re within your calorie allowance per day. What you need to do is figure out how many calories it takes you to maintain your weight daily, and then subtract 1000 calories from that to safely lose weight while exercising. There are plenty of low calorie foods out there to maintain a low calorie diet; and that’s whats needed to lose weight.

I’m taking a more aggressive approach myself and limiting my calories to 1200-1400 calories per day and exercising 3-5 days a week on average and it’s working great for me. I try to workout as much as I can to maintain or grow muscle and I think I’m doing a good job at that.

Since December 7th, I have lost 26 lbs, an average of 3.25 pounds a week; and 4 inches off my waist.

There are days where I go over my calorie intake per day but the next day I’m back on track and I workout in the gym to counter any increase. I say my goal is 1200 calories per day, but on average I eat 1350 calories daily.

It’s what I have been doing and I’m loving the new me. I have a little over a month left with the Weight Loss Challenge; and I’m sure I can squeeze out another 15 pounds before I’m done. Most likely I will keep the weight loss challenge going until I reach 210ish, but we’ll see what happens.

How I Lose Weight – And How You Can Too.

Down 26 Pounds!

JayLoss
Current Weight: 242

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Gym for a Week: Update

Posted on26. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

Today is the 4th day of the 7 days I said I would go to the gym without taking a break and I feel pretty good.

I find the more I workout, the less sore I actually get. I’ll be sore after the gym for a couple hours.. but the next morning I’m usually fine. I’m also finding that stuff that used to be difficult for me has become A LOT easier since losing weight; for example I can actually run on the stair climber for 10 minutes straight without stopping (before I could barely do 3 minutes). I can RUN on the treadmill for 15-20 minutes non stop, where before I couldn’t run at all. It’s amazing the more weight I lose, the easier things become (funny how that works).

The only negative thing that I have noticed since working out these past 4 days, is that everyday I have worked out, I have lost a pound. Today I’m at 242.5, a pound less then yesterday. I guess with my low calorie diet (1200 calories a day) and my extreme workout rate I’m just losing weight left and right. So today I have upped my calories to 1500, and I will hold that amount for the next couple of days. I’m happy losing 3-4 pounds a week, but not much more then that.

An update for today.

Cheers,
JayLoss

Current Weight: 242.5

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Calorie Counting Notepad

Posted on23. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

I just wanted to make a quick video and post about a calorie counting notepad I finished yesterday. Please note this is my first YouTube video so bare with me.

It’s just a simple video I made with my digital camera. It was easier to do then I thought. Basically I finished my first calorie counting notepad (I rarely do), and wanted to show it off.

My calorie counting notepad is basically where I write down my calorie intake throughout the day as I eat something. I have it sitting in front of my fridge so whenever I grab something to eat, I just jot down the calories. It helps remind me of how many calories I eat in a day, how many I have left to eat and it’s somewhat accountable. Since I started using the notepad it has been 1000% easier watching my calorie intake. Before I would try and remember what I ate throughout the day and it never worked out well.

Just something I do to help lose weight.

Cheers,
JayLoss

Current Weight: 245!

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5 Benefits of a Healthy Diet

Posted on17. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

Since I started my weight loss challenge, I noticed a few benefits that have surprised me.

1. My Acid Reflux is no more!

I used to have pretty bad acid reflux, and I didn’t know why. Since I started to eat better, and cut out all the high fat foods (which can cause acid reflux), I have NO more acid reflux. What a surprise.

2. No more Heart Palpitations

Since the diet I cut out all sodas, caffeine and energy drinks.  I noticed when I drank Monster Energy drink a lot, I would have heart palpitations, where I would have abnormally rapid or violent beating of the heart. I kind of figured after awhile Monster Energy had a lot to do with it, so I stopped drinking it and magically no more heart palpitations.

3. I’m actually losing weight!

Well this should be a give me, but ever since I started eating better, watching my calorie intake and what not, I actually started to lose weight where before I could exercise all I wanted, but didn’t really lose weight. It’s all about your calorie intake.

4. I don’t feel like crap anymore.

Because I’ve lost around 20 pounds since my weight loss challenge, I feel a lot better, and people actually notice me now. Now whenever I let go and eat a greasy high calorie food I feel bloated and sluggish.. when I eat light, I feel light.

5. I’m Saving Money!

Before I would eat out at least two times a day, mostly fast food. And I would average spend around $15 a day, sometimes more! Now that I don’t do that anymore I’m saving all that money ($450 a month) for other things now!

The benefits keep going, and I’m loving every minute of it. I actually had to buy more new clothes today.. even a belt because I’m out of notches on my last belt! Can you believe that? A belt that I’ve had for five plus years.. is too big for me now!

Current Weight: 249

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Starving for Weight Loss

Posted on12. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

A striking title, I know, but people starve themselves all the time in a hope to lose weight. I actually did it myself years ago when I was in middle school. I lost weight (of course) but I lost the wrong type of weight (lean muscle).

Starving yourself to lose weight is the worst thing you can do. I think people do it because they don’t know any better, I certainly didn’t. I had some weight I wanted to lose and I didn’t know the best way to do it until I overheard a friend of mine say he wanted to lose weight so he was not going to eat for a few weeks. Well, because I was stupid I went with that idea and basically only ate 100 calories a day for three weeks. I lost weight (30lbs), but it was mostly muscle weight that I lost.

I played soccer and football during this time, and I actually felt that I lost power because I starved myself. Even to this day I have only gotten back around 90% of what I felt I lost and I’m still working on areas. This was 10+ years ago!

When you starve yourself, your body starts to use your lean muscle and fat tissue for eneregy. If you are already pretty lean, you lose mostly muscle when you starve yourself. If you are obese you lose fat and muscle pretty much equally. And once you start losing muscle, it makes it harder for you to lose weight after you stop starving yourself. I actually remember gaining all that weight back and then some months later.

I’m not an expert, but after trial and error I figured for me to safely lose weight I needed to reduce my calorie intake 1000 calories from the amount of calories it takes to maintain my weight. I’m 6ft, 250 lbs., male, and have a pretty sedentary lifestyle though I exercise as much as I can. That means I should eat between 1200-1400 calories daily, and not to go below 1200 calories. And so that’s what I’m doing.

I’ve been with the 3-month weight loss challenge for a month now, and I have so far lost around 15 pounds. Though there are times where life has gotten in the way; I have and will stick to the weight loss challenge until it’s done with. And afterwords I’ll maintain!

So it’s you’re thinking about starving yourself… don’t do it! You’ll lose much more in the long run, then you’ll gain in the short run. Decrease your calorie intake moderately under what it takes for you to maintain and you’ll do a lot better.

Current Weight: 253

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Snacking the Right Way

Posted on03. Jan, 2010 by Jay.

I realized a long time ago that if I had a big bag of whatever in front of me, whether it be chips, popcorn, or whatever, I would most likely eat the entire bag in one sitting without question. I’m the type of person that can mindlessly eat all day long without knowing it. I think the only time I really felt full was when I ate two entire large Papa Johns pizzas one after another (love Papa Johns). At that time I was somewhat depressed, I think I lost 2k dollars that day (that’s something else though).

The point is snacking the wrong way can ruin a diet. A person needs to snack but it needs to be controlled. At least for me it does. I try to eat at least once every two hours. I have breakfast about an hour after I wake up, then an hour or two afterwords I have a snack, then I have lunch a couple hours later, then another snack a couple hours later, then dinner a couple hours later after that. Some days I snack less or more, it depends what I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Here’s a breakdown of my typical day calories wise:

• Breakfast (200-300 calories)
• Snack (100 calories)
• Lunch (300-400 calories)
• Snack (100 calories)
• Dinner (300-500 calories)
• Total: 1000-1400 calories

I spread out what I eat over 8 to 9 hours in the day. After I’m done with dinner, I usually have 3-4 hours of nothing, and then go to sleep. That’s what I do.

As far as snacks go I only eat snacks that are portioned out for me, and are around 100 calories each. I’ve tried portioning out snacks in baggies and it somewhat works, but then for some reason I eat more (snacks).. I don’t know why. So I just stick to the packaged snacks that you can get in the snack section of most stores. I know they’re not the best snacks for you, but they work for me.

Below are some of the snacks I eat during the day:

CHEEZ-ITs are good, but they have a lot of salt in them. I’m getting tired of CHEEZ-ITs,

This is the fist box of Craisins I’ve ever bought, and I’ve had it for awhile (2-3 months) now. They’re good, but I’m not a big Craisins fan I guess. They’re better for you then CHEEZ-ITs though.

MINIWAFERS! It’s the first time I’ve tried these, they’re only 70 calories each, and I love them. They’re not so filling, but they taste pretty good.

I still can’t believe a big bag of kettle korn is only 100 calories. I’m not a huge pop corn fan so I don’t have these often, but it’s pretty good when I do have it.

The Right Bite 100 calorie snacks are my bread and butter of snacks. You can usually get varieties of several different snacks in each box, I like the cookie snacks over the CHEEZ-ITs. Again this isn’t the best snack for you, but it’s better then eating huge bags of chips mindlessly (like I used to do).

Nature Valley is pretty good. I usually have a pack for breakfast if I’m in a hurry somewhere. They’re very filling as well, the only negative is they’re 180 calories each. So they’re not so much a snack for me, as they are breakfast.

I do like them though, and I’ll continue to buy more.

That’s pretty much how I do it. Without portioned snacks I probably wouldn’t have lost any weight at all. I’m a sucker for once you pop, you can’t stop!

Also when I’m counting calories, that’s all I do. I don’t look at fat content for the most part, or anything else. All I care about is calories. I write calories down as I eat them and make sure not to go over what I’m supposed to have. Easy!

Current Weight: 254

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Soda Can Make You Gain 10LBS A Year!

Posted on17. Dec, 2009 by Jay.

I stopped drinking soda about 4-5 months ago because it just made me feel horrible. I think it was because I switched to diet soda thinking it was a good alternative.. but then after the daily crashing and just not feeling good.. I decided to quit. Now my drink of choice is tea and water mostly.

So I was on YouTube earlier and saw this video… it’s basically a guy chugging down a glass a fat in which the video is comparing that to gaining 10 pounds a year after drinking soda. Which I believe.

Really if you’re on a diet, you need to cut out as much sugar as you can and switching to diet soda doesn’t count because it has aspartame in it which is actually worse for you then regular soda. I know it made me feel horrible after a few months.

Cut out the soda (empty calories) and switch to water or tea!

Current Weight: 261

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