QuestionI am 5 ft 6. I was married 2/05 and weighed 155 pounds. 11/05 I had my first son and after weighed 180. My second son born 5/07 and I weighed 200. I breastfed both babies, worked out and gone to fitness classes. I now weigh 189 lbs. What is the best diet for me? My husband is doing the Atkins diet and I was trying but I feel so unhealthy! I need to drink milk and eat veggies!!! I want to be a vegetarian but I want to loose weight more right now. I am very depressed/stressed and unhappy about my body. Any suggestions? Any cure for severe stretch marks? I seem to be working too hard to not loose more than 11 lbs per year!
AnswerSince you've been working out, this means that you have built muscle along with having lost fat. So eleven pound weight loss on the scale over one year's time, probably means that you've actually have lost about 16 pounds of fat(!) and have gained 5 pounds of lean tissue. This is a healthy rate of change. It's unfortunate but true: in fitness, slow really does win the race. It's natural to feel frustration at the slow rate of change. But clearly you have already made significant progress.
I don't like the Aktins diet, no one in the fitness industry does, because your right, it's not healthy. Many people have their cholesterol/lipid levels spike dangerously high on this unbalanced diet.
If you want a program to follow, I like the Volumetics method best, or as a second choice the Zone diet. I'm sure both of these books can be bought used on Amazon.
But with whatever method you follow, the number one key to getting to, and maintaining a healthy weight is to: Eat Caloric Balance. Day in and day out, eat the amount of calories that your metabolism, at your ideal weight, requires. Using this method you can get down to your ideal weight without suffering/deprivation and if fact never have to go on another diet for the rest of your life.
Keep up with exercise. Put it into your weekly schedule, and GO to class/the gym no matter how you feel. I guarantee that you'll feel much happier and have a more positive outlook after each workout.
For optimal weight loss, you need to do aerobic exercise that lasts at least 40 minutes. During the first 20 minutes of cardio, our bodies primarily burn muscle glycogen. This is like snack food, readily available. Only after these stores get depleted to we "go into the pantry" and start to burn significant amounts of fat as fuel. So a 40 minute workout will burn about 1/2 carbs and 1/2 fat.
Burning fat as fuel is the second important key to permanent weight loss.
