Diet
High carbs... low carbs...total calories...none of them matter.
The key is controlling your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is high, insulin rushes in to clear it out and it converts it to fat.
Eat carbs that are low on the glycemic index or easier...eating only carbs with 3 grams of fiber or more per serving for pasta, rice, cereals etc. Eat all the fresh fruit and veggies you want (naturally high in fiber)
Only drink 100% fruit juice or water (soda, sports drinks, fruit "drinks" are all no good)
Never get hungry (causes blood sugar low which in turn causes a spike when you eat again)

This way of eating covers (and explains) all popular diet recommendations i.e. eating 4-6 smaller meals, increasing fiber intake, drinking lots of water, eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Exercise
The best exercise is the exercise you enjoy because otherwise you won't do it for very long. If you are passionate about it, you will do it often...sometimes in detriment to your diet (think computer geek who sits on the computer 10 hours a day).

If you are simply determined to fry fat and it doesn't matter what you have to go through to do it, interval training is #1. Intervals are very hard efforts within an already difficult exercise. Hard efforts burn more calories; sprinting burns twice the calories as jogging but you cannot sprint long enough. By jogging on a track, sprinting in the corners, and returning to a jogging pace, you get the mild fat burn from the jog and the fat sizzling of the sprint. Intervals can pretty much be applied to any exercise; walk/run, run/sprint, cycle/sprint or climb, etc.

In weight training one of the best over all weight loss methods is circuit training, which uses strength training done one exercise after another, not resting until the entire body is trained.

Welcome tcguy, good post! We drink only the 100% fruit juices and water, a lot of our water is carbonated seltzer with zero sodium, caffeine, etc.

Walking is the exercise of choice in my case, but like you said, I lost the most weight in the fastest time when I was doing circuit, a combination of step-aerobics and light weights.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

NatMedTalk and Beyond

You're close on this data but no cigar yet! You say "the key is controlling your blood sugar" but what affects blood sugar??

I've had diabetes for almost 50 years so I do know the answer: Carbohydrate.

Carbohydrate is the nutrient that the body uses for energy first because it is available more rapidly than fat, which is also used for energy but after available carbohydrate is burned.

Imagine carbs as the small kindling you use to get the fire started, while fat is represented by the larger, slower burning logs.

Carbohydrate breaks down during digestion and enters the bloodstream as glucose. Glucose is a simple form of sugar that the body uses to create energy by combining with oxygen in the mitochondria of cells.

In order for the glucose to get into the cells, the hormone insulin is produced by the pancreas and travels through the bloodstream. Insulin is the "doorkey" that allows glucose to enter the cells.

Insulin isn't the "bad guy." Too much carbohydrate is.

Insulin only signals the body that it does not need to burn fat for energy because it is getting energy from carbohydrate. You could say that it tells the body to store fat, but that is not wholly accurate.

Eating a lot of carbohydrate will cause a lot of insulin production. This is a two-edged sword.

One, the presence of the hormone insulin (caused by carbohydrate consumption) tells the body that there is a source of fuel (carbs) so it doesn't need to go into fat burning mode.

Two, some of the carbohydrate that isn't used right away for energy production eventually gets metabolized into and stored as fat for future energy needs.

Simply speaking then, if you want your body to burn fat for fuel, give it less carbohydrate to burn.

The next thing to know is what carbohydrate is. Look at nutrition fact labels. Most foods have a combination of carbohydrate, fats and protein and learning them will be of great benefit.

As far as weight loss goes, you want healthy foods (minimally processed) that are low in carbohydrate. Sorry, but most fruits and fruit juices are high in carbohydrate. Healthy, yes! But they should be eaten occasionally, not gorged on if you want to lose weight and control blood sugar levels.

However, most vegetables (with the exception of starchy veggies like potatoes and corn) have the same health benefits as fruit (enzymes, vitamins and minerals) so if you want to lose weight and improve your health, take it easy on the fruit and starchy veggies and load up on fresh veggies like celery, spinach, cucumber, kale, cabbage, and the like that are low in carbohydrate content.

There are sites all over the Web that will tell you the carbohydrate and other nutritional information of unprocessed foods which do not require a label.

Cheers,
BB

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Improving health made simple.

kind2creatures,
Thanks for the welcome! Walking is great especially if that is what you like!! I for one hate it...well, I like to hike and since I live in the Smokies I am set. But just walking around...can't do it.

bbmartin,

Hi! I must contest you argument! Carbohydrate is not the enemy but the wrong carbs are (unless of course you are diabetic!), everyone else need only ensure that their carbs have mucho fiber (3g+) as I stated.

What "affects" blood sugar is the wrong carbs. I can eat high fiber carbs at every meal and have no insulin spike...but if I eat Ramen noodles, well that's another story.

Not saying your ideas are incorrect, each to his or her own I suppose, but the next time I am doing a hundred mile bike ride, I won't be pulling Kale or a cucumber out of my jersey pocket ...just sayin'!

Thanks for the tips! It's been really hard to be motivated to go to the gym or take a run out of the block, so I got a Wii fit and Just Dance. I'm having fun and losing weight without even realizing it!

Having fun with physical exercise is great for your brain and heart so I do hope this isn't a short lived craze but a long tern change in activity level.

But do bear in mind my experience.
Because of an underlying medical condition I cannot perform prolonged or vigorous exercise but by eliminating refined carbohydrates, eliminating industrial seed oils such as corn, soybean, safflower, sunflower and cottonseed oil and all the commercially prepared foods that contain them, and eliminating refined caloric sweeteners like sugar and fructose corn syrup I was able to lose weight ( which I haven't regained) without calorie or carbohydrate counting or the requirement of additional exercise.

I certainly don't want to put you or anyone else off enjoying as much physical exercise as pleases you, I just don't want any reader here to think that exercise (however enjoyable or desirable) is a necessary component for a successful weight loss or weight maintenance strategy.

IMO it is far better to understand the underlying reasons for metabolic dysfunction and then by correcting micro nutrient deficiency, imbalanced gut flora, chronic inflammation allow the natural regulation of appetite and energy expenditure to maintain metabolic homoeostasis. I'm sure this is a better long term strategy than swinging from extreme diet/exercise regimes that are not sustainable in the long term because they don't correct the underlying causes of weight gain.

I'm going to take part in a local gym here. It's called She's fit. It used to be called Just Ladies Fitness, but it's changed and it's quite new. They have the best rates I have found and they have a lot of new equipment and it looks really well maintained.
I went for a walk through the other day I've been just waiting to see if I really want to do this. Which I have thought about it. But I'm the type to go a lot at first and then it's like ya i dont want to go and then before you know it, its a waste.
So, I'm waiting for my sister to sign up with me and I know 2 other ladies that have joined so I will not have an excuse not to go... unless all of us don't haha...
What do you think...if you would quit at something a lot, would you keep trying to do it?

I'd find something that I really loved doing. It needs to be FUN. How about dancing? Swimming. Walking?

Something that gets you out of doors and moving is ideal. But best of all is PLAYING a game and having FUN. If you love doing it you won't want to quit. If you are half hearted before you start you know what the end result will be. More money down the drain.

The 6 month drop out rate for gym subscriptions is about 60%. Gym's make their money on the people who buy 12months and don't turn up for most of them.

Don't worry about working off calories, that is a myth.
Generally most people working off calories simply work up an appetite and grab an energy bar or drink to more than make up the difference as soon as they can. But exercising is healthy and good for you so is to be encouraged but you'll only succeed in the long run if you really enjoy doing it so find something you just love doing.

Hi chrissysnook, I never belonged to a gym before, but just joined one in November. They advertise only $10 per month, but there's some hidden fees, comes to about $165 per year.

So far it's been good. Last night I did a Zumba class, good fun workout. They have step-aerobics, core & cardio, cycle (spinning), kickbox, yoga, etc. When I don't feel like making it to an evening class, I go in the daytime and do treadmill, step or their other machines.

It's easy to quit things. Try again if it means good health for sure. Walking outdoors with my dogs is one of the things I really like, and do it almost everyday regardless of weather. I think it's very important to be happy about your daily exercise for not only physical reasons, but mental health too. Better to do things for yourself, and don't rely on anyone else for your motivation, you'll benefit more.

I find walking everyday helps as well.

I've grown up lifting weights and my entire life I worked out at home, gyms, school..etc
Personally I agree have to agree with Ted that you need to find something that you enjoy and change it up. I really enjoy lifting weights, but it's because I lift for a certain body part one day a week. For instance Monday I might do chest and triceps, Tuesday may be back and biceps..etc So only once a week do I do the same exercise.

Each day of the week I'm doing something different, which keeps me from getting bored or repeative, since it's once a week the same exercise, not the same every single day.

I used to run a few miles every day, but again I would slowly get sick of running and loose motivation, because it wasn't fun for me.
I personally work out 5 days a week, but only lift 3 days a week, so I do cardio 2 days a week, which for my two days of cardio I do the eleptical machine one day and then run the other day. So 5 days a week it's something different, which keeps me from getting too bored.

I live in a warm climate, which we're in the 70's right now and I walk my dog every day for 25 minutes, which at least for me I really don't care for it. Walking, running or doing 100% the same activity gets me bored really quick. It's why if you can swim one day, play some sports like soccer, basketball one day or just change it up each day I think is the trick to sticking with it.

Well thank you everyone. I went back to the gym and felt better. I've been off quite a bit lately because I have been sick with the flu and colds and such but also joined a slow pitch team this year so i can get some more exercise! Thanks for being there for me I appreciate it!

I wanted to share a link with you if interested. It's a limited time promotion that has an offer I'm going to scoop up. It's around a book I've been meaning to purchase (Full: A Life Without Dieting) and today when you purchase it you get something like over $200 worth of free goodies. I'm going to do this for sure! Here's the link : thefullbook.com/amazonpromotion.html
Gotta love freebee's! Enjoy!

I Did it and can't wait to read Michael Snyders book.
I've realized diets don't work. And maybe just I don't work well with diets but I want more help to find out what I can do to stop the diets and just eat healthy forever!
I think I've finally realized this is always going to be a work in progress.
But at least I have the tools I need (not to mention freebees!)

However there are many people like me who have managed to lose a lot of weight and have not regained that weight without having to fight a constant battle.
No one NEEDS to sign up for an expensive book or program.
The answers to what causes us to eat excess calories and become lethargic are fully understood.
Removing from our diets those foods that increase appetite and raise our inflammatory status and alter our gut bacteria is the simplest option.
No one needs to eat refined carbohydrates, sugar, fructose, HFCS, or pro inflammatory industrial seed oils. These are the foods that are making us sick and cause us to be hungry all the time and prevent our body burning the stored fat.
If you watch this video
How to cure Type 2 diabetes you will also understand how better to lose weight safely and for the long term.