Weight Loss Plan? (Read 115 times)

I am having very good friend of mine who is very obese. He seriously need to lose his weight weight. As a friend i am helpless. Like from where to start? Any suggestions ??

You're a good friend to be concerned.  Having been on the other side of it (lost 85lbs), external motivation rarely works.  The person has to want to do it for themselves.  Definitely be encouraging and try to help, but if they're not willing to help themselves, it's going to be very difficult.  But if they're open to your help, here's what worked for me:

- Use a food tracking app/website, I used myfitnesspal.com to track all of the food I ate, once you learn how much you're truly eating (I was a little surprised), then you can work on reducing your intake.

- Stop drinking calories, this was a big one for me.  I loved sweet tea and Starbucks, I was probably drinking 1,500 calories a day.

- Get moving.  I started with walking, just a two mile loop in my neighborhood.  Then after a few months, I added in a lil running, and did a run/walk deal on the same loop and kept going until I could run the entire loop without stopping.  Then it just kind of took off from there.  But it doesn't have to be running, any activity that they can enjoy and that they'll stick with.

- Think long term, the weight didn't come on overnight, it's not going to be dropped overnight, it will take time.  It took me 10 months to drop 85lbs, and that was pretty quick by most standards, it takes longer for most people.  But if you stay consistent with eating and exercise, it will happen.

Losing weight is simple, but it's not easy.

Obviously, eat less move more.  When I've been successful, it's been by counting calories.  Myfitnesspal.com and Lose It are two great smartphone apps for doing this.  They have deep databases for food calories, and have barcode readers to make finding / recording items really fast and easy.

There are a lot of advantages to calorie counting using an app.  You're able to record food eaten on the spot -- if you have to do it at the end of the day, you're liable to forget stuff or not do it at all.  Sometimes, just the fact that you know you have to scan in that candy bar can discourage you from eating it at all.  And the apps take your current weight, activity level, and exercise into account to set a daily calorie target that's in the weight-loss zone.  Tracking those calories, even if only for a short while, can help identify weak spots.  I found that I don't eat too much with my breakfast-lunch-dinner, but snacking is a major weak point.

Every diet plan in the world is nothing more than a dressed-up calorie reduction scheme.  But it's really hard to lose weight by diet or exercise alone.  The best chance for success is to do both in concert.  Calorie reduction alone sucks, but throw in some exercise, and you buy back the chance to eat some of those calories and still stay in the weight loss zone.  It works.

Oh, and do as I say, not as I do.

 

As a friend, stay out of it unless he asks for your help, and even then, point him in the right direction and then stay out of it.  Dont make it YOUR journey.

Unfortunately, this. It's completely up to your friend. Trying to do too much will just lose you a friend.

So help them if they ask for specific help. Point them to a calorie tracker if they ask for one. Suggest good exercises if they ask for suggestions. Acknowlege progress, but don't go overboard.

For me, the only way I've lost weight is lowering the intake. I've never been able to up the output enough to make significant changes. Doing both has been best... I started and stopped several times over the years, sometimes absolutely unsuccessfully... But I had to do it...

-Kelly

It's not a matter of going on a diet, or resolving to exercise more.  The best advice I've seen is that you have to live the weight you want to be.  It's really a matter of what lifestyle you choose to have and who you choose to be.