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xedo123 wrote:@some1anywhere @kartikxxx any health app sugeestion, which can focus on food intake and where we put our goal and it can put some suggestion in food intakes other than workout details
There are many apps/websites but my advice is don't track on such a fine-grained level. Just go by your estimates of how much portions of food you are having. Getting into this calculation of calorie counting and macronutrients counting becomes a nightmare - it was not feasible for me to follow day-in and day-out. I never counted calories I consumed when I lost all that weight but I did see the packaging of ready-made food products to get a rough idea of which packaged foods were high calorie foods. Try to remember that XYZ food or rather its ingredient is fattening. Try to observe what caused your weight to go UP (based on what you ate the day before) e.g. "Hey yesterday's pizza or milkshake must have caused me +1 kg today morning". Daily tracking of weight once a day is important, just don't be obsessed about it in an unhealthy way to repeatedly check it or worry too much about it.
Try to observe what foods keep you full for longer and make you less hungry so you can make it a lifestyle/long-term habit of eating healthy. Don't be snacking frequently. If you get acidity, observe if certain foods reduce it and eat those at that time (in my case, fatty foods e.g. cheese, peanut butter completely eliminate my acidity). Eat small meals with sufficient gap, not large meals that can cause fat storage. Eat balance of carbs, protein and healthy fats - be mindful while eating. Get a weighing scale at home and measure your weight once daily at the beginning of the day before eating anything but after visiting the loo. Don't be tempted by others around eating junk but delicious and think of the far bigger reward, a healthy, disease-free and toned body with clothes that fit comfortably and looks that get you respect.
As part of your efforts to reduce weight, focus on retaining muscle mass and lowering the fat percentage - it's the fat weight that we all want to lose. Whether the goal is fat loss or muscle gain, tracking fat % helps.
You can use any online formula-based calculator to keep track of your fat percentage, such as this one: https://www.fitwatch.com/calculator/body-fat-pe...
Another way is using a body composition BIA scale. I got one from Amazon for a throwaway price. None of them are 100% accurate with an error margin of 2%-3% but calculating by both methods, you get an idea of how much your fat % is.
While gaining muscle also, why body fat % matters is when you are eating clean, gymming and attempting a slow bulk, the calorie partitioning/nutrient partitioning is improved at lower fat percentages, as in, more of the surplus calories go towards muscle cells. As fat % rises, they get diverted more towards fat cells.
BMI can be misleading and not always the best indicator of fitness. BMI is not irrelevant but fat % is more useful for those who already got overweight or obese and trying to reduce.
From my own experience of losing 52 kg after several years of obesity and bad habits, weight loss is 80%-85% diet control and 10%-15% exercise to speed up metabolism. If your calorie intake is too high than what your body needs then no matter how much you exercise, it won't work. In exercise too, weight training is a must to retain maximum muscle mass and increase your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Regular low intensity cardio like walking is good, walking when fasted/insulin is low does burn fat slowly, but low intensity cardio does nothing to increase your BMR. Resistance training on the other hand elevates your BMR and burns more calories for hours. There's also HIIT (high intensity cardio) but your cardiovascular conditioning has to be great to do that. Besides not every age group or everyone can do HIIT.
Do moderate amounts of cardio per week in general, give priority to resistance training. Cardio 2-3 times a week is enough, weights also 3 times a week. I lost 52 kg after being obese for years - came down from 122 kg to 70 kg. Earlier, cut out all sugar during actual weight loss phase and once I found it is relatively easy to manage with disciplined eating and exercise, started eating everything but in moderation. In tea and coffee since I have them with milk, I cut out sugar and replaced it with stevia which is a natural sweetener and safer than artificial sweeteners. But I do consume sweets in moderation (biscuits, cakes, all those Indian delicacies). Initially my weight was a bit up and down but after I realized I was still overeating, I can now keep it stable at 70-71 kg.
Protein-rich foods are healthy and will keep you away from junky carbs, they also keep you full for a long time. Some examples of protein-rich healthy foods (as long as they are not fried) are: besan, chana dal or udid dal preparations, peanut butter (unsweetened and free of vegetable oils), all kinds of nuts and seeds, chicken and egg of course if you eat meat, soya chunks (in moderation), and whey protein concentrate or isolate (make sure it's wholesome, minimally processed and free of chemicals). As for carby foods, maida as others said can be replaced with besan or whole grain items. I don't like fruits particularly but I do eat veggies, legumes and pulses a lot. Rice if you must have - get brown rice - yes it is worth the price premium. Daliya or oats are also good. Processed and packaged foods in moderation/occasionally, those are not good.
Also, remember a healthy diet + exercise is about keeping your body's hormones in optimal condition. When we are eating junk for too long or too much, or not exercizing at all, the hormones start to go out of whack and then one problem leads to another. There are a lot of hormones that impact fat loss and metabolism - insulin (the one that brings down blood sugar), ghrelin (the hunger hormone), leptin (the satiety or fullness hormone), thyroid (the master hormone gland regulating metabolism), growth hormone (cell regeneration and repair - only proper deep sleep gives you this), glucagon (to prevent too low blood sugar), cortisol (the stress hormone) and many many others (Cholecystokinin, Neuropeptide Y, IGF-1). Junk food, lack of sleep & no exercise cause some of these to not get secreted at all or too much of them secreted.
Weight loss is a slow patient process so track it once daily in the morning with a digital scale, don't be upset if it goes up a little on some days as long as the overall trend during the week or 2 weeks is downwards. Mindful disciplined eating and exercise that raises your BMR are the ways to fight weight problem. Eat healthy most of the time, but once in a while, do indulge in junk foods that you crave for instead of punishing yourself 24 x 7 x 365 to eat healthy. Remember the golden rule: everything in moderation.
Sugar -> stevia
Maida items -> besan items
Deploy these two changes in your life bhai. 🙂
Don't do all at once.
If you want to quit junk food, just reduce the frequency of it. Like if you are eating junk food daily, just reduce it to every 2 days for 2 weeks, then every 3 days for the next week and every 4 days for the next week and so on until you no longer 'crave' for it.
Similarly, if you plan to step out for a morning walk, just do it every alternative day for 2-3 weeks until you could set a habit of going everyday.
Also, if you are planning for Intermittent Fasting, go for 12:12 first, then 14:10, then 15:9, then 16:8 and so on.
Before taking any of the above steps, do consult with your nutritionist first.