Starting a weight loss diet: Step 1

So now we're going to get started on building a healthy diet. In this step, it's all about the homework. You might have a picture in your head of what you want to look like, but it helps to have quantifiable goals you can attach to what your scale says. Plus you might be surprised by how you are classified in terms of your weight.

To start, get yourself a notebook. Nothing fancy, a nice spiral notebook will do. The first page is going to be devoted to just info. I've accumulated a list of calculators for important benchmarks. They may not be the best out there, but they were the first I came across from Google that I liked enough to recommend:

BMI Calculator:
http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/av.htm

BMI (body mass index) is the ratio of weight to height to determine how much a square meter of you weighs. Sounds silly, but it's a helpful guide to determine obesity. I chose this calculator because it gives you a nice idea of not only your healthy BMI range, but also how fat you are compared to everybody else. Plug your stats in and record the data.

Body Fat Calculator:
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

This one does exactly what it says. Don't worry about all the options, just use the tape measure method for a good idea. Record your body fat percentage.

Daily Calorie Needs Calculator:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#

Again, no mystery what this one does. Plug in your stats, and record the three amounts given.

Ideal Weight Calculator:
http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

These things are not truly accurate, but I think this one is closest to accurate. Personally, I think it's a little on the heavy side, but it will do the job. Record the "People's Choice" amount.

Now take the weight from the last calculator, and plug it in to all the others, and record those as well. Now you know where you are versus where you should, ideally, be.

That's the easy homework. Now learn to love your little notebook. Carry it around with you for a week and record everything you eat and drink. EVERYTHING. And quantity, and calories consumed with each. If you go out to eat, you can find nutrition info on the restaurant's website. Otherwise, read it off the packaging. If the packaging is missing info, you can also find it on the manufacturer's website. As a last ditch effort, try looking at this website: http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/

Keep each day separate. At the end of the week, tally your calories for each day, and then total for the week. See how it compares to the calculators.

Because you are keeping track, you may cut some foods you would normally eat out to make yourself look good. If you're doing this, add the calories you would have eaten into your totals. You need a good idea of how you are really eating to see what kinds of honest cutbacks you can make.

The virtues of supplements

There's a long list of supplements that people take, ranging from weight loss to weight gain. They range from very basic vitamins to complex amino acid compounds to illegal substances. Sometimes people take supplements from both ends of the spectrum, so they can lose (or keep from gaining) fat while still building muscle. It can be difficult to know what you should or should not be taking. After all, all the advertisements show people with perfect bodies and they all promise to get you there. So how do you know what to take? I'm here to help.

Although, to be clear, these are my opinions and personal experiences. Before dumping new chemicals into your body, it's highly recommended you consult a physician FIRST.

For real hard gainers, I'm not going to be incredibly helpful. This is common sense fitness. And besides, you probably know more about the supplements you take than I do. For everybody else, you may find this useful.


Neutral supplements

I'm calling these neutral because they don't explicitly help in the gaining or losing of weight. Just things people take, and perhaps should, as part of their fitness regime.

• Multivitamin: Yes, that Flintstone chewable vitamin your mom gave you is still a good idea, although you should upgrade to an adult formula if you haven't already. Multivitamins are a great way to make sure your body is getting enough of what it needs to be healthy. It's not a substitute for eating healthy, just a part of it.
• B Complex: B vitamins are all kinds of good for your body, especially if you are trying to build muscle and taking supplements with amino acids or protein, because they help your body turn them into muscle. Although, they may not be necessary if your multivitamin is already loaded up with them.

Weight Gain

I'm personally not a fan of all the exotic muscle building/weight gain supplements out there. And there's a lot of them. Pick up a copy of Men's Health or Muscle & Fitness and it's like half the magazine. My opinion is unless you are spending at least 8 hours of strength training a week, you're probably not going to see substantial gains using the more exotic supplements. Instead, I'm a fan of the basics:

• Protein: Protein builds muscle. You can try to eat enough protein throughout the day to come to an appropriate level (1-2 grams per pound of your weight), or you can cheat your way through and drink some protein shake. I'm not a fan of the protein pills. Suffer the awful taste of protein shakes with the rest of us. I think whey protein is perfectly fine, but if you feel you need to go more high end, look for blends of multiple protein types. I'm also fond of protein shakes with amino acids built in. That way I don't have MORE pills to take during the day, and I'm getting them when I need them the most.
• Amino acids: There's dozens of amino acids that start with "L-" you can take. They help your body turn protein to muscle mass. You can buy them individually, but I think it makes more sense to pay a little extra for the protein with the right amino acids already there.
• Creatine: Creatine helps your muscles heal quicker, so as a result you can work out more frequently. Creatine should be used if you're doing resistance training on a frequent basis. You can get it pure and just mix it into your protein shake. You can also get it as a mix, sold on the basis that creatine works best when paired with carbs. This is true, but the mix is little more than Kool-Aid with creatine. Skip the excess sugar and eat some pre-workout carbs.
• Weight gain formula: This stuff tastes gross, and should only be used if your caloric needs really warrant it and/or your metabolism is too fast. Otherwise, it will just make you fat.
  

Weight Loss

There's about as many weight loss supplements as there are weight gain supplements. The real concern is that while few people experiement with weight gain supplements, a much larger number of people regularly take weight loss supplements. There's a lot of danger in taking those supplements. Some have questionable substances (remember ephedra?), they are not tested by the FDA, and can lead to heart and nervous problems.

I'm not going to lie and say I never took these. I did. And they were moderately successful. However, I found I could accomplish the same results with common, unquestionable supplements. The reason I could do this, and you can do this, is because most weight loss supplements that are commercially available are built around very common substances. At their most basic level, these weight loss supplements are just pills full of thermogenics--substances that increase your metabolism. Basically, they cause your metabolism to spike, and you burn fat much quicker than normal. That's why most people will sweat or get cramps right after taking them. It's turning your body heat up very quickly. The ancillary effect of thermogenics is a decreased sense of appetite. So it's understandable why people trying to lose weight take these.

If you read the label on a given bottle of weight loss pills, you'll find they aren't made up of many exotic chemicals. You're more likely to find caffeine and green tea extract as primary components. That's because you're basically paying $20-40 for a bottle of diluted No Doz. Instead of taking those pills, consider adding these to your daily supplement fiesta:

• Caffeine: What can I say, it works? Caffeine raises your metabolism and suppresses your appetite. But you don't need a huge amount to obtain the desired effect. One or two cups of coffee or tea will suffice. No need for a caffeine addiction.
• Green tea extract: It's exactly what it sounds like. Green tea extract is another themogenic, but it has the added bonus of being antioxidant that will help you stay healthy.
• Fish oil: Fish oil helps your body break down fat. I recommend finding ones made from salmon because you'll get the added Omega-3 that's good for your heart.
• Flax seed: Although I prefer adding real flax seed to food, the pills are a decent substitute. Flax seed also helps break down fat, as well as adds fiber to your diet.
• Carnitine: Carnitine also helps break down fat in the body.

There's a number of other dietary supplements that are decent for weight loss, but in my opinion, these are the best. You can explore other options, but there's only so much your body can process in a given time. And most of all, they are never a substitute for proper eating and exercise.