Beginners!

I may be beating a dead horse, but I'm going to post a more simple guide for the starters who might come across this here blog:

If you are trying to lose dramatic weight (more than 20 lbs.), then you might be lost. Not only that, but you might have some misconceptions. I'll try to straighten that out and make it simple, but unfortunately that will require some lengthy explanations. Let's clear a few misconceptions quick:

1.) Just eat a lot less, and you'll lose the weight - NOT TRUE. If you eat too little, then you'll lose a lot of muscle. To girls, that might sound okay, but it's not. What it means is you'll lose weight, and be left with all that flab. It won't be attractive like you want it to be, I promise. If you are losing more than 10 lbs. per week, then you're burning too much muscle.

2.) Eat the appropriate amount of calories, and it's all good - NOT TRUE. Starting out that might be true, but when you want to lose the last 5-10 (or even 15) then you HAVE to look into the specific types of calories you are eating; protein, carbs, fat all matters.

3.) Weight training will make you look bulky - NOT TRUE. If you do weight training correctly, you will get smaller and more toned!

Let's begin with the basics:

DIET - the toughest part for sure. To start, let's find out how many calories you should be eating. Take your target weight. Multiply it by 10, and then multiply it by 12. This range of calories will be how much you should be taking in each day. Now, if you work out, then feel free to take in a LITTLE more. But jogging for 30 minutes doesn't constitute another 500 calories. Be fair about it. Take a few weeks to make this adjustment. Once you feel comfortable with this, let's get more specific.

Next let's focus on carbs. Now, 1 carb is 4 calories. That's just a nutritional constant and the genetic make up of a carbohydrate. What you want is for 40% of your diet to be made up of carbs - this is typically a pretty steep drop in carb intake. To figure this out, we need to do some math: take your caloric intake and multiply it by 40%. This will give you the number of carb calories you are to eat each day, but this is NOT the number of carbs you need to eat each day. Remember 1 carb is 4 calories, so take that number you just got and divide it by 4. THIS is the number of grams of carbs you need to take in each day. Never go below 100 carbs (regardless of what the math tells you). Take a few weeks on this, and once you feel comfortable with this diet, move on to the next part.

Next we'll focus on protein. This is easy, because you want to do the SAME EXACT equation as you did for carbs. 1 gram of protein = 4 calories, and you want 40% of your diet to be protein. So, whatever number you have for carbs, you have for protein. The only difference between protein and carbs is you do not want to go too short on your protein. This means that protein is more important than carbs, and if you have to eat less carbs or eat less protein, always eat less carbs. Take a few weeks for this to settle in, and then move on to the next part of the diet.

Last focus is fat. You do the same equation, BUT you change the numbers. We want fat to make up 20% of your diet, and 1 gram of fat is 9 calories. So instead of multiplying your caloric intake by 40%, multiply it by 20%, and instead of dividing this number by 4, you will divide it by 9.

At this point you should have your caloric intake, your protein intake, your carb intake, and your fat intake. What you absolutely must do is monitor your progress and results - if you aren't losing weight fast enough, then mess around with the numbers. If you are to drop your intake of anything, make it carbs/fat first. If this doesn't do anything, then up the carbs back to normal and drop the protein. It's up to you to adjust!

Also try to eat every 2-3 hours to keep that metabolism happy, and drink lots of water (3-5 liters) per day.

WEIGHT TRAINING - remember: weight training will NOT make you bigger if you don't want it to. Weight training will burn PURE fat, and it will help you tone. It will also boost your muscles' metabolism for up to 24 hours (or more) after lifting. Start your weight training out to 2 days per week. Perform 4-6 different exercises, with 3 sets per exercise, and aim for 16-24 reps if you don't want to gain any muscle mass. If you DO want to gain muscle mass, then aim for 8-12 reps. Let this routine settle in, and when you feel ready to go harder, move on.

Once you are in the groove, then start lifting 3 days per week, and aim for 6-8 different exercises. Maintain the same set/reps. Remember: you do not want to lift on back-to-back days. If you DO lift on back-to-back days, then work different muscle groups. If you work your abs on Monday, then you need to let them rest until at least Wednesday. Truly, this routine of 3 days per week is as far as you NEED to go. However, some people need to go harder to lose those last 15. If you are one of those people, read on.

The next and last step in losing weight and burning fat with weight lifting would be circuit training. Basically what you do is 1 set of an exercise, then immediately (without rest) do 1 set of your next exercise, and keep doing 1 set of each exercise back-to-back-to-back without any rest in between. Once you have done 1 set for each, then take a 2 minute break and do it all over again. Do this for 3 sets. This is the best way to burn fat for weight lifting - but it can be awfully intense. Though it's also the quickest way to lift. More bang for your buck!

CARDIO - cardio is the last thing (not the least important for weight loss, though!) and also the trickiest. There are 3 basic forms of cardio: slow/moderate, moderate/fast, and HIIT. Slow/moderate (a brisk walk as an example) is great for losing fat without burning muscle. Moderate/fast (jogging as an example) is great for burning more calories, but you will lose a little more muscle. HIIT (high intensity interval training) is where you work as hard as you possibly can for a short period of time (30-60 seconds), then you rest for a short period of time (30-60 seconds). That work+rest time = 1 interval, and you aim for 5-10 intervals. It's the most intense, but the best for boosting your metabolism and burning fat.

Basically, cardio is easy to do wrong. You never want to jump into it too hard, you need to work your way up. Start out with a brisk walk or light jog, and once a week you should increase your distance or speed (maybe by .5 mph, or by going an extra half mile, or both). Once you are proficient in these, then try HIIT. It's really, really effective for fat burning.

If you are losing more than 20 lbs., then the most important things are diet and cardio. If you are losing less than 20 lbs., then the most important things are diet and weight lifting.

You want to remember that losing weight is not losing weight is not losing weight. If you do it correctly; you will burn fat, and you will look more toned. If you do it wrong, then you will burn muscle, and you will look smaller yet still flabby. The toughest thing about losing weight is overcoming the fear of eating. You HAVE to eat, you just have to eat smarter is all.

Good luck, guys.