Dieting Part 2 : What to think about when planning the diet

Part 2 of diet starts today: The Plan

As this is a personal diet for me I will continue to write this like a blog.

This is the third part of my writing about the diet. The first part is long and gives you a day by day account of the food i eat in order to lose weight. ( A separate hub )

Part 2 is what i do when i am beginning to plan the continuation diet to reach my goal.

This is the third part and reminds me of how to be sensible in order to achieve a realistic plan.

The plan will come soon as i start the diet today and i need this in place before i start.

However, the thoughts below are how i will arrive at the plan and for me this is a very important part of any diet.

I know there are many people following  me on this and doing the same diet, that is ok, i am really flattered by that, but please remember to take into consideration your own body type, your level of fitness at the moment and more than this set up your own goals to achieve your own personal goal.

Make it your personal diet you are more likely to succeed. Communicate with me if you want to i will be more than happy to encourage you and motivate you when the going gets tough.

To make this a little more understandable, when I first decided to diet three years ago I was a hefty 30 kilos heavier, I was unfit and very undertrained.

Whereas now, I will run for an hour at different speeds, back then I would walk and jog. The main thing was that I was moving, I was being true to myself and this worked. If it gives any encouragement I will tell you that it took me several weeks before I could run a kilometer without coughing and pains in every joint, however, determination and realistic goals got me to my fist 10 kilometer race within six months. I was 49 years old and I completed it in under one hour. It is possible.

I am not going to say “ If I can do it, you can too” I don’t know you! But I really hope that you find the motivation to get there as it gives the best feeling of accomplishment in the world.

Three years down the line I am still fighting the flab but I do it for me and I get a kick out of doing it sensibly. I love being over fifty and still being able to race. Last year I did my first half marathon and I feel fitter today than I did at forty. That makes me feel alive.

This life style works for me, let yours work for you.

SETTING REALISTIC GOALS

My goal does not simply include lose 5 kilos. I want to lose the weight without having saggy skin under my arms and around my belly. I don’t want my skin to look dehydrated and I want my hair to shine and my eyes to sparkle. I want to be able to think clearly and stay awake until I decide to go to bed…..Now that is some goal.

MY main goal:

Fit into those black ski pants in my picture by Easter. To do so I need to drop two dress sizes in a month. This means a loss of approximately 1.3 kilos per week.

1.3 kilos of fat is a lot. Of course I could lose a couple of kilos of fluid but that is not the point here, I want to keep my muscles and water, I want to target the fat. The rolls that pop over the trouser belt, the fat that gathers around the butt and thighs. The little roll under the chin and anywhere else it wants to hide. I know it won’t all disappear by Easter but my dream is to get into those skipants!

My plan needs to be sat up so that I can burm more calories than I eat while also providing me with enough energy to go about my daily routines.

To function and train daily I need to eat 1200 calories. Why do I not just cut out the training and eat even less?

The training will give me better muscle function which will both serve me by keeping me fit and help me burn more calories. Muscle burns calories when you exercise and the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn.

Remember that if you are building muscle you must not expect to lose weight on the scales, your energy will be used to build more muscle. This does not mean that you are not losing fat especially if you are sticking to your plan.

I on the other hand do not want to build muscle at the moment but I certainly do not want to lose any of the muscle I already have, therefore I need to make sure that I take in 1200 calories each day.

I will incorporate different types of exercise to both maintain muscle and burn fat.

I have heard that in order to lose weight when exercising at the same time you should multiply your weight in Lbs by 7. This is the amount of calories you should be eating each day.

Should this number come to less than 1100 calories you should not apply this rule.

If this number is less then your weight is going down nicely but you cannot expect to lose the weight faster. You must realize that you will still need 1100 calories for normal daily functioning.

It is true that top models, fad dieters and film stars survive on 700 calories each day.

Just remember that some of them are hungry all of the time and they often go up in weight when their career is over!! Many of these guys end up with chronic osteoporosis and they have very little muscle under their skin to boast about. More than likely you will never achieve this type of body without doing damage to yourself……….this is your choice, I want to be realistic I want my goal to give me a body type that I can have well into my old age which will support me and keep me agile as long as possible.

Okay now that I have that thought in place I need to get down to the real heavy duty planning. One that I can and will stick to.