I am overweight and need to reduce?

Question

I am an IT engineer and most of my time I spend near my PC. I noticed after a few months that I've gained a lot of weight and now it's at 100kg. Sounds too much to me. I have no medical conditions, but am aware that I need to reduce soon for a few reasons.

1. I may end up having some diseases.
2. It looks pretty odd when I look at myself.
3. It is kinda depressing.

I have a height of 5'7" and would like to reduce. Please give me some advice and do let me know few sites where I can get proper instructions. If you can suggest something that would be good enough. I am asking because I am aware that I am not doing good due to my weight.

Answer 1

If you have a typical Indian diet like I used to (though I don't want to typecast or stereotype here), it's probably very carbohydrate-heavy. This means a lot of wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar. (Ignore everything below if this is not the case)

Based on personal experience (lost 8 kilos in the last 6 months), but absolutely no other qualification whatsoever, you can achieve good progress by reducing carbohydrates from those sources that I mentioned above. Increase the proportion of fruits, vegetables and pulses in your diet. Cut down wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar to as little as possible (this can mean just one chapati per meal and no rice, or about two tablespoons of rice), and fill up with fruits, vegetables (which does not mean potatoes) and pulses. If you do eat grains, try to eat whole grains; no refined wheat flour or maida, or white rice (brown, unpolished rice is preferable). Dairy products are also great: yogurt, milk, buttermilk, paneer, butter and cheese (in moderation, because of cholesterol). Lean meats (if you are non-vegetarian) such as chicken and turkey (and not red meats such as mutton), eggs (no more than one egg yellow/day because of cholesterol), soy etc. are also good things to eat.

A lot of snacks popular in India also consist of fried grains and potatoes (chips, sev, farsan, any chaat item such as bhel , wadas, samosas etc.). From personal experience, it's impossible to completely stop eating these, so restrict it to a maximum of once per week (and just one normal serving, it defeats the purpose if you eat 8 samosas at a time, once a week). Try and get some sprouts and pulses on your bhel to make it at least slightly healthy.

As long as you are exercising regularly (3 times a week, 45 minutes each time should be enough), and watching what you eat, you should see steady (but not dramatic) weight loss (based on my experience, about 1.1 kilo/month, starting from 89 kilos, so maybe a faster initial rate for you since you weigh more now)

Answer 2

Your question is somewhat vague, but I think typical of someone looking to lose some weight and feel better about themselves health wise. There's a few steps to take prior to the hard work:

• start a log of everything you eat for two weeks
• start a log of any exercising you are currently doing
• write down some specific goals - both long and short term: lose 20 lbs, fit into a size x pants, run around the track without stopping once, etc.

This will give you a map of where you are and where you want to go. The best approach is to find a good fitness/nutritional coach, if you can't afford one - start reading, there's a lot of good advice here, t-nation.com, livestrong.com, etc.

You'll need to determine what your new diet will look like, what your exercise program will look like and how you'll keep yourself motivated (some people need to workout in groups, some alone, some need to publish their goals, etc.).

Good luck and come back once you have the top part complete.

Answer 3

For lifting: Training for Newbies, part 1

Training for Newbies, part 2

For Running: 8 Week Program

I'm an IT guy too. It does not take much, just avoid the junk food, and go take a long walk sometime during the day. Figure out how many calories you can take in, then track them using something like: Fit Day