How to Lose Weight in 2011 - My Personal Plan

Regarding My Personal Goals for 2011, I'm almost done with my final to-do-list for 2011. I am able to execute most of them already.  But what I haven't detailed yet is the how to lose weight part.

Lose Weight Now.  Image by Alan Cleaver, Flickr

Having some background in Nutrition way back in college, I know that in order for someone to maintain his ideal weight, his calorie intake should equal his calorie expenditure. If one would like to lose weight, either he reduce his calorie intake or increase his calorie expenditure or balance both.  Choosing the third option is what I would like to aim for.

So, how am I going to do just that? First, regarding how to reduce my calorie intake, let me just say that I am still breastfeeding my 2-year old daughter. That is why sometimes it's still difficult for me to control what I eat. When she breastfeeds, sooner or later I would feel hungry.  Anyway, research says breastfeeding also contributes to the burning of extra calories.


Here are three things which I could think of doing regarding my calorie intake:

• Choose the food I eat. It is a fact that carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram while fat contains 9 calories per gram. So, if I want to consume lesser calories, it is an option to eat lesser fatty foods.

Moreover, fats usually get stored in the body. This is because the way our body consumes energy, it uses up first those from carbohydrates and protein. And by the time fat calories is to be consumed, usually we stop needing the energy or stop doing activities.

So, maybe for 2011, I would go for more vegetables and fruits without the mayonnaise based dressings and then less dessert also. I love cakes and brownies, but aside from being sweet it is also packed with lots of fat, so I have to let go of that, though I could still take a bite, I guess, once in a while.  There would also be days that I would go meatless or maybe just fish (not fried).

• Do not eat after dinner.  I have this tendency to eat a snack again after dinner because I'm a late sleeper and by the time I go to sleep I feel my stomach growling already. Anyway, I have been trying to avoid eating after dinner (not necessarily after six). I read somewhere that we need to space at least 4 hours between our last food intake and going to sleep to make sure that the food has been sufficiently digested.  This time, I just drink a glass of milk at least then go to bed.

• Eat six small meals a day. This is still what most nutritionists advice.  Eat small meals everyday to avoid binge eating. I would like to emphasize on the "small". Because sometimes, when the viand is really tasty, I tend to eat more rice. Got to watch out for that rice, half a cup (125 grams) already contains about 175 calories. Check this food calories list to see how much calories regular servings of food have. Using this food calories list, I can roughly compute how much of eat I should eat to stay within the 1500 - 1800 calories I need everyday (calorie requirement is based on my height, gender and age, I think).

So, six meals means having breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack. But since I am trying to lose weight, I am foregoing the evening snack. Right (grin). 

That's it I guess for this post on how to lose weight by reducing my calorie intake. Next post, would be how to lose weight by increasing energy expenditure.

By the way, if you have ideas for me to lose weight also, share it with me, please.  Thanks.