When you lose weight, where does it go?

You are constantly burning calories... every hour of every day... even when you sleep.  On average, about 2000 calories a day.  If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. One pound of body fat contains about 3500 calories.

So... to lose weight, eat less!

So simple to say, but so hard to do.   This is a behavior problem and you need to change your behavior.  This requires focus and discipline. But you can do it if you set your mind to it.  Here are some tips to help.

If you don't measure it, you can't manage it.

Get a scale and weigh yourself every day.  It doesn't have to be a fancy scale or even a very accurate scale.  I have a $3 scale from Ikea. We are looking for changes over time.  Write down your weight every day on a piece of paper next to the scale.  You will notice that your weight jumps around a lot.  Often it will go up or down a few pounds from one day to the next.  Don't panic!  This is normal.  We are looking for a long term trend and after a few weeks you should be able to see a trend in your weight.  It's easier to see if you graph your daily weight.

Write down everything you eat.

Most people don't realize how much they eat or even what they eat.  To get started, keep a food diary for a week.  Write down everything that you eat along with the amount you eat.  Most packaged food comes with the number of calories and portion size.  If you need to find out the calories in other foods... Google it! 
Add up the number of calories you eat each day.  If it's significantly less than 2000, you'll lose weight. You should aim to eat 1500 calories a day to lose weight.

Meals

Don't skip meals.  Eat three meals a day.  When you skip a meal, you tend to overeat at the next meal. Breakfast is probably the most important meal.  Never skip breakfast.

Adjust your portion size.  Eat smaller portions. Use smaller plates. Don't go back for seconds. Eat slowly (it takes about 20 minutes to feel full after a meal).  Don't snack between meals.  It's a good thing to be hungry before a meal. 
Once you get an idea from your food diary of how much you are eating, try to adjust your portion size so that you eat about 500 calories at each meal.  At this level, you will have satisfying meals and your total daily calories (1500) will be less than you are burning through normal activities.  You will lose weight.  


What NOT to eat.
All of these foods are contain empty calories and are unhealthy.  Avoid these foods.  Depending your your current diet, this may be easy or may be hard.  Just remember, these foods provide calories but not good nutrition. 

• white flour

• white rice

• sugar (in all forms... cane, beet, corn, etc.)

• salt (2000 mg sodium max per day)

• animal fat (cows, pigs, chickens, etc. all contain saturated fat and cholesterol

• dairy products (milk, eggs) 

Instead of white flour, eat whole grain breads. Eat brown rice instead of white rice. Avoid all sugar and also artificial sweeteners which seem to have a bad effect on your metabolism.
There is a large body of evidence that animal fat (cholesterol and saturated fat) which comes from cows, pigs, chickens, etc. is bad for you.  It causes cardiovascular disease and cancer.  It's just not healthy.

What to eat. 

• Fish is healthy. 

• Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, beans, vegetable oil.

Look for vegan recipes.  There are free of the unhealthy foods listed above and contain lots of healthy nutrition.

Alcohol

Alcohol in moderation is healthy.  However, it does have calories.... another reason to drink only in moderation.  Most alcoholic drinks contain about 100 calories per serving (5 oz. wine, 1.5 oz. distilled spirits). Beer and mixed drinks have more calories since they have more carbohydrates (beer 150 calories/ 12 oz.). 
Alcohol has calories.  Be sure to write down your alcohol consumption and count the calories.  Drink in moderation.  Just a few beers (3) have as many calories (450) as a full meal.

Exercise

If you exercise, you burn more calories but it takes a lot of work to burn calories.  One hour of strenuous exercise will only burn a few hundred calories. It's good to exercise regularly for the health benefits.  However, don't expect to burn a lot of calories through exercise unless you are willing to run marathons daily.

So... where does the weight go?  

Fat is made up of strings of carbon atoms. When you burn fat for fuel, the carbon is broken apart, combined with oxygen from the air your breathe and ends up as carbon dioxide and it is released when you breathe.  When you lose weight, it literally disappears into thin air.