This is our new store. Feel free to come in look around and shop. DIET RECOMMENDATIONS OF CALORIES, PROTEIN, FAT GRAMS, WEIGHT AND EXERCISE Our diet and exercise recommendations are compatible for healthy persons 18 years and
older and for most people with medical conditions that are not serious
or life threatening. But, before starting any exercise or diet program, you
should check with your Healthcare Provider to make sure that you are healthy
and that you do not have any medical conditions that require special
precautions or would make exercise or dieting hazardous to your health. Your doctor can also
help you pick a desirable and realistic goal weight. Always check with your doctor if you have questions or problems as you pursue your diet and health plan. In order to facilitate
your weight loss, we recommend a diary of your eating and activity habits,
recorded on a daily basis, especially in the first few weeks. You will probably
need one or two books. The books are to provide you the calories, fat grams,
and protein content for various foods. There
are many other books available at bookstores which can provide additional
dietary information about food items. If you eat out at fast food restaurants a
lot, you may find a Fast
Food Guide helpful, and much of this information can be found on various websites
at no charge. A. Record the day and date, and your daily weight (if desired)
if you have a scale at home. For consistency, try weighing when you first wake
up, before eating breakfast or drinking coffee or other liquids. WARNING: IF YOU
HAD VERY POOR EATING HABITS—SUCH AS SKIPPING MEALS, OR EATING LOW AMOUNTS OF
PROTEIN, YOU MIGHT GAIN A FEW POUNDS IN THE BEGINNING. THIS IS OKAY AND MAY BE NECESSARY
HEALING PROCESS FOR LOSING FAT AND GAINING MUSCLE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOUR BODY
GAINS 7 LBS. OF MUSCLE AND LOSES 5 LBS. OF FAT, YOU WILL GAIN 2 POUNDS BUT YOUR
CLOTHES WILL BE LOSER AND YOU WILL BE LESS FAT!! THIS HEALING PROCESS WILL HELP
YOUR BODY TO REGAIN ITS STRENGTH AND METABOLISM, AND MANDATORY TO LOSE EXCESS
BODY FAT AND TO LOSE WEIGHT PROPERLY TO HELP STABILIZE WEIGHT DURING
MAINTENANCE.
B. Exercise is important and can be very useful to assist
weight loss and help stabilize weight during maintenance. Record your exercise
activity. List the activities, the time and duration, the amounts such as the
speed, incline, intensity, etc. According to recent studies, walking or other
low energy activity like gardening, cleaning house or even shopping and
especially when coupled with weight training can actually cause more fat loss
while dieting, compared to vigorous exercise such as aerobic dancing or
running. To increase walking, try parking further from stores or work (providing
it is safe), or walk while talking on phone with a long cord or cordless phone,
or even while watching television. If you are adding weight training and have
never had proper instruction, you should start with a certified trainer to help
avoid injuries that could occur from improper training. C. For your diet diary, you should record the 1) item, 2)
amount of the item, 3) calories, 4) protein, 5) fat grams, 6) and approximate
time the item is consumed, for every item you eat or drink. The amount
of each item is: the weight or other measure, such as 1/2 cup,
1/3 slice, etc. The container the item comes in usually lists the amount of
calories, protein, and fat grams per serving size, in which case you might need
to also estimate and record the serving size such as 1/2, 1, or 2 servings,
etc. (Everything that is consumed should be weighed, measured, and/or
calculated as accurately as possible—at least in the beginning until you a very
good at your estimates.) D. Calculate and record the sum of your calories, protein, and
fat grams for each meal and snack and total up for the day, as best you can. We
recommend 3 or more balanced meals a day, with optional snacks. You need to
decrease your normal caloric intake by about 500 Calories a day to lose one pound
of fat per week. Most persons should not
decrease their daily Calories by more than 1000 calories per day unless one is
very overweight and has been eating excessive amount of Calories. In general,
most women should consume 1100 to 1500 Calories per day and men should consume
about 1400 to 1800 Calories per day. You may need to go a little lower if you
are very short or very sedentary or a little higher if you are very large
person or very active. Your Healthcare Provider should be able to help guide
you if you are not sure how many Calories per day you should consume. Each meal
should usually be at least 300 calories if you are eating 3 meals a day. A person should not consume less than 1000 Calories per day,unless closely monitroed by their doctor. E. For persons eating three meals per day, the protein for each meal should be about
25 grams for women and 35 grams for men... This means
most women should consume 75 to 100 grams of protein per day and most men
should consume 100 to 150 grams per day. Persons engaged in moderate to intense
athletics or body builders will need even more protein, and should check with
experts in sports nutrition for the proper amount. Make sure you don’t have a medical
condition like gout or kidney failure or some other condition that could be
detrimental to your health if you increase your protein. Lean red meat,
poultry without skin, most fish, no fat cheese, egg whites (which is low in
calories and no fat or cholesterol—not the yolk which is high in cholesterol),
and egg substitutes such as EGG BEATERS® will usually provide over 25 grams
of protein for 150 calories or less. High protein supplements like shakes,
fruit flavored drinks, and soups that we sell on-line here, can be a very useful way to boost your protein
when eaten along with regular food. But, you need to make sure you are eating
enough regular food to keep your calories in the desired range. Also, make sure
you maintain your hydration. High protein drinks are not good for hydration and
are not to be used in the place of sports drinks like “Gatorade” that replace
lost fluids and electrolytes. You need at least eight 8 oz. glasses of fluids a
day such as water, diet sodas or other low caloric drinks. If you have vigorous
workouts and/or are in a very hot or humid climate, you may need even more
fluids in order to maintain adequate hydration. If you are not sure about your
hydration, you may need to check with your trainer, Healthcare Provider, or
specialist in Sports Nutrition. F. Fat Grams should be about 15% to 20%
of your daily calories. Women should aim for about 20 to 30 grams per day and
men should aim for about 30 to 40 grams per day. You should take a multiple vitamin with minerals e.g., Centrum every day (consult your doctor if any medical problems as to which vitamins and minerals to take). Aim for 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day. You may need to increase your fiber intake slowly to avoid intestinal problems. (Consult your doctor if you have any medical conditions as to how much or type of fiber to take.) |