Weight Loss Tips To Help You "Lose Big" At Home

We didn't become the most obese nation in the world overnight and the damage won't be undone quickly either. However, while there may be larger cultural and economic factors that led us here as a nation, the road back to health is made up of a plethora of personal journeys, each filled with small steps individuals take each and every day.

As the nutritionist for "The Biggest Loser," I've had the opportunity to play a part in some remarkable transformations. And while not everyone faces the extreme challenges the "Biggest Loser" contestants do, the mistakes they make are the same that many of us fall into.

When I'm asked, as I often am, "What can I do to help me lose weight and/or improve my health?" I definitely make my recommendations based on a list of common denominators that have helped hundreds of overweight contestants win a place on "The Biggest Loser." Over the course of 12 seasons, I've identified the key factors that have led America to earn its top ranking among obese nations of the world.

I found that most of our contestants:

1. Had absolutely no idea how many calories their body really needs (and how many more they are actually taking in)
2. Skipped breakfast and, often, many other meals
3. Didn't eat enough fruit or vegetables
4. Didn't eat enough protein (specifically lean protein)
5. Didn't eat enough whole grains
6. Ate too much white stuff: white flour, white pasta, white sugar, white rice and simple carbs
7. Didn't feel they had time to plan ahead, so they found themselves grabbing something quick for a meal -- often consumed standing up, at their desks or in their cars.
8. Often had enough calories in beverages alone to meet their daily caloric needs -- but didn't drink enough water
9. Didn't exercise enough (if at all)
10. Prioritized their spouse, partner, children and/or their jobs over their own health and well-being

Does any of this sound familiar?

These 10 factors helped me to co-write an eating plan -- the same plan I've shared with contestants (and my own clients) since the show premiered in 2004.

I believe that this weight loss plan works -- and it's based on an ambitious exercise regimen and the following basic recommendations:

1. Learn your body's calorie needs -- you must burn off more calories than you are taking in.
2. Don't skip meals; you must develop a regular eating schedule of three meals and two or three snacks per day.
3. Eat plenty fruit and vegetables.
4. Eat plenty of lean protein.
5. Eliminate the white stuff.
6. Choose whole grains.
7. Plan everything ahead: your meals, your snacks and your exercise. As Jillian Michaels once said, "If you don't plan ahead, you plan to fail."
8. EAT (don't drink) your calories, with the exception of milk.
9. Include exercise as part of your weight loss plan.
10. Prioritize your health and well-being. If you don't have your health, you can't take care of your loved ones.

And even on the show, it's not just the biggest losers who win.

Some of you may remember Jerry from season 6 of "The Biggest Loser." Jerry may have been voted off in week three of that season, but he was on the ranch long enough to learn exactly how to keep the scale moving down once he got home. Since that season Jerry has lost 70 pounds to date!

Jerry's calorie budget was determined to be about 2,000 calories. The way for him to divide those calories up throughout the day was to divide 2,000 by four -- 500 calories.
That means:
Breakfast = 500 calories
Lunch = 500 calories
Dinner = 500 calories
Two snacks = 500 calories (meaning 250 calories per snack)

He can choose to have his two 250-calorie snacks in the morning, afternoon or evening -- whatever works best for his schedule and his energy levels.

This is just one example of how, over time, the choices we make every day add up. Jerry's choices added up to healthy weight loss -- the wrong choices can easily add up to the needle on the scale going in the other direction.

I hope for this to be my first of many blogs here at The Huffington Post. I look forward to reading your comments and answering as many of your questions as I can!

Cheryl Forberg, RD is a James Beard award-winning chef, nutritionist for NBC's "The Biggest Loser" and NYT bestselling author. Her latest book is "Flavor First" (Rodale). She lives on a farm in Napa, California

 

 

 

Follow Cheryl Forberg, RD on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CherylForbergRD

Comments

[LuvRed14]

03:09 PM on 09/01/2011

Very sound advice. I have gained forty pounds this years. Twenty pounds were gained after my emergency surgery. It's been a very stressful year for me. This article just reminded me to prioritized my life so that I can reach my weightoss goals.

[CherylForbergRD]

03:08 PM on 09/05/2011

Thanks LuvRed! good luck to you!
Cheryl

[April Abtey-Pettigrew]

05:05 PM on 08/14/2011

I'm over weight and disabled. I know I need to eat more fruits, vegetables and as you mentioned the whole grains, unfortunately I also have food allergies that make adding all those items to my diet very tough. I'm looking for additional help or ideas to do this without sacrificing more of my health to the allergies. I can't eat a lot of the fruits especially oranges and vegetables without some kind of a reaction with my stomach except the oranges which give me a rash, hives and other issues that just aren't pretty. I know with lean proteins I should be adding fish to my diet but don't particularly care for the smell or taste any suggestions. I can't eat whole grains without the stomach reactions either but I also have irritable bowel syndrome. Any suggestions for someone like me? Just wondering. I can't afford a professional consult with a dietician or nutritionist.
Thanks.

[bracken]

10:19 AM on 07/20/2011

I haven't eaten healthywholegrains in nearly four months and I never felt better. Grains left me feeling bloated, crampy, tired, and sick.

[TitaniumAvatar]

04:02 PM on 07/19/2011

Gain knowledge, and make better choices.

[Chicookie]

03:23 PM on 07/19/2011

I started with diet pills and I am off them now. They helped me get that jump start. I've been off them a month now and I am still losing weight. But I am so much more careful with what goes into my mouth. If I am not hungry I don't eat. Its been hard especially after I stopped the diet pills but its helped. Almost 30lbs in 4 months and I didn't exercise while on the diet pills but now that I stopped, I have started to exercise so hopefully I can keep it up! :D Biggest challenge for me was to get rid of the white stuff. All the food I love is white or beige. D:

[sbuttrflyy]

09:58 AM on 07/19/2011

I learned the hard way about fad dieting. I was trying to lose baby weight since March 2010 and instead of doing it properly, I started with the diet pills and etc. Finally, in April of this year after I realized none of that was working, I began to exercise 30 min a day at least five days a week and began drinking more water. After two months I managed to lose 10 lbs and I was so excited. It made me realize that losing weight is not an overnight thing and if done improperly can really harm you. It has to be done the old fashioned way and I wish I had not wasted so much time being delusional.

[AnaM]

12:53 AM on 07/19/2011

In regard to drinking calories. Recently I was watching a UK produced documentary about the science of food and they had a segment on artificial sweeteners and how they are processed in the brain.
Basically the brain knows the difference between artificial and real sweeteners and processes this information in two separate areas in the brain.
In short: the more artificial sweeteners people use/ingest, the possibility that -like relapse with addicts - the body's rebound is stronger such that the brain tells the body that it needs sugars i.e. strong cravings. This may one aspect of binge eating that relates to adults who use artificial sweeteners a lot and how artificial sweeteners indirectly contribute to weight gain.
I find that I struggle to keep weight off because I lapse between artificial vs sweet/sugar. I've noticed that, as the years go on, I increase the amount of artificial sweetener I add to coffee and this has resulted in even worse sweetener rebound for me.
So now it's a matter of cutting back on artificial sweetener and gradually removing it from coffee and tea.I think even a smaller amount of sugar is better than artificial sweetener. The metabolic centres in the brain do register the difference.

[Monique Engicht]

10:43 AM on 07/19/2011

I agree 100%. I drink splenda in my coffee... but heard it has a cancelling effect on live bacteria that's healthy for digestion - since then I started gradually switching to sugar. I know brown sugar is best, but I am not there yet. Since the switch, I have not gained one ounce. I think losing weight can be contributed to other efforts... but overall I think sweeteners have little to no effect on calorie count due to bad side effects.

[bracken]

10:22 AM on 07/20/2011

Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added. There's no real metabolic difference between brown sugar, white sugar, honey, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, raw sugar, turbinado sugar. They're all blends of glucose and fructose, and/or sucrose with fancy names. Molasses has some minerals, but hardly enough to justify using it.

[Jazzbeau]

12:10 AM on 07/19/2011

I have shed 75 pounds since I started working at it over two years ago. Amazingly, 45 of those have been in the last four and a half months. That began when I really got serious, (my lady friend says fanatical.) Before that I was dieting and, as I've since discovered, diets simply do not work over the long term.

I'm now half way there (to my goal weight) and am confident that I will reach that goal within the next year. Three critical things I've learned:

1 - What the American commercial food industry is doing to us (cynically destroying our health in the name of profits... but they wouldn't really do that, would they? Remember the tobacco companies?)

2 - Successful long term weight loss is as much psychological as it is physical.

3 - Like it or not, regular, vigorous exercise is essential, at least for me.

I started on my current 'no dieting' path after reading two books, both of which I recommend:

The End of Overeating by David Kessler and

The Gabriel Method by Jon Gabriel

I am a senior (i.e. an Old F**t,) and I'm finding the method I currently use a pretty effortless way of losing a pound or two, and sometimes a good deal more, almost every week. For everyone this is important but, according to my doctor, for me is quite likely life saving. There are few motivators more powerful than the fear of death.

Good luck

[tod47]

11:51 PM on 07/18/2011

2 steps
Eat less
More more

and no..... crunches and situps will not give you visible abs.

[ughseriously4]

04:23 AM on 07/19/2011

Pretty much. Anyone who says this is false is deluding themselves.

If you eat less and move more, you WILL lose weight. Whether or not most people can do that is another story. But your lack of willpower is your problem.

[LDubman]

11:01 PM on 07/18/2011

Well Cheryl, everything you recommend matches the same stuff many of us have been hearing for 25 years, at least. Yet, most of america is fatter than 25 years ago and especially children are fatter than 25 years ago. Doesn't that tell you something? There are important things missing in your simple message, in my opinion.

[williamg]

12:05 AM on 07/19/2011

Yes, it tells you that too many Americans aren't following these recommendations.

[SeanMMasters]

09:24 AM on 07/19/2011

Exactly.

[raisinglittlespirits]

10:28 AM on 07/19/2011

It's comments such as this one that make it still acceptable to be prejudiced against people who are overweight. It's like saying, "The cure for insomnia is to get some sleep" or "The cure for depression is to be happy." It's just not that simple.

[George Head]

09:37 PM on 07/18/2011

The reason they 'can't' lose weight is because they cannot change there eating habits! (read: shut you mouths!). I lost 200 pounds in 11 months on pure determination because I WANTED TO DO! My personal motto was "what goes in, stays on!". I never really exercised except for walking and pool aerobics, but I CHANGED my personal eating habits! These people can too, but until they decide to make the committment, the won't! Losing weight is 95% mental. Counting calories is a waste of time! Don't eat sugar, breads, pasta, rice, blah blah blah..yeah you've heard it all before, but YOU KNOW what makes you fat! DON'T EAT IT!! Good luck...I did it and you can too...without surgery!!

[LDubman]

09:09 PM on 07/18/2011

When are the "weight-lo­ss experts" going to expose the chemicals that restaurant­s and food manufactur­ers hide in food that are MSG related? All national chain restaurant­s like McDonalds or Applebees use MSG or related chemicals in almost all their foods. More and more food manufactur­ers are including these chemicals and hiding them under the words "spices" and "flavoring­s" in everything from salad dressings, catsup, pickles and a million other products. These chemicals act like drugs when they go to our brains. They make us hungry. Good thing if you want to sell lots of food, bad if you want to be thin. Think about it---why put the word spices or flavoring in the ingredient list. In other words, if it is actually natural spices or flavoring, wouldn't you be proud of them and list them by their actual name?

[lordtarant]

10:16 PM on 07/18/2011

Ingredients are listed as "spices" because makers of the food don't want competitors ripping off their flavor combinations. That's why coke is never replicated. No one knows what's in it.

[LDubman]

10:44 PM on 07/18/2011

That is the explanation given by the food manufacturers to get us to shut up. It's a weak excuse because good chemists can isolate every ingredient in any food. You have heard of reverse engineering? So that argument fails. Here is a list of MSG type crap that is in almost all food from national chains, both restaurants and at the grocery store. They don't give a damn about obesity, they just care about their bottom line.
Glutamic acid (E 620)2, Glutamate (E 620) Monopotassium glutamate (E 622) Calcium glutamate (E 623) Monoammonium glutamate (E 624) Magnesium glutamate (E 625) Natrium glutamate Yeast extract, Anything “hydrolyzed”, Any “hydrolyzed protein” ,Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
Yeast food, Yeast nutrient, Autolyzed yeast, Gelatin, Textured protein,
Soy protein, soy protein concentrate, Soy protein isolate, Whey protein, whey protein concentrate, Whey protein isolate

[SeanMMasters]

09:24 AM on 07/19/2011

Don't eat them, then. Eat whole, clean foods.

[karishmarahman]

09:01 PM on 07/18/2011

Hi,
I have been trying to lose weight for years and have finally found a plan that works for me. It is very similar to the plan you just detailed and I have lost 20 lbs so far since January.
The only problem is that I am Muslim and Ramadan is fast approaching. This means fasting (no food and no water) from 4:30 am to 8:30 pm for the entire month of August. So, no regular meals, no water, and no energy to exercise. In previous years I have always gained weight during this month of fasting.
I just wanted to know what you would suggest during this period? What foods should I eat to curb hunger so that I don't overeat once the fasting time ends? Also, how do I keep my body nourished during such long fasting days?
Also, what should I eat to keep my metabolism going even though it will be in "starvation mode" so that I can minimize weight gain?
Thanks for your help!

[afeed10]

12:00 AM on 07/19/2011

Another option would be ending your fasting period with with lower calorie foods that fill you up quickly, like home made or powder soups (not canned), and a juice smoothie diluted with carbonated (mineral) water/ plain mineral water to drink. It worked for my old roommate anyway. And make sure you take a break (like 30 minutes) after eating a bit right when the fast ends, so your food can fill your stomach before you continue. You probably want to ask your doc or a nutritionist to examine your diet if you think you are missing something from your diet. Fortified cereals (esp. Total) fill many of your daily Nutrient requirements in just one bowl.

[moonflowerjewelry]

08:44 PM on 07/18/2011

A friend of mine put as her facebook status the other day "if you can't find time to take care of your body now, be prepared to spend a lot of your time later being sick" (something like that, hers was more elegantly phrased!).

[LDubman]

08:42 PM on 07/18/2011

I thought the article is weak. I mean those biggest loser contestants post 10 or 15 pounds of weight loss every week. Let's do the math. The average person burns, say 2000 calories a day, if working out like they probably do on this show, maybe they burn 5000 a day. One pound of fat equals 5000 calories...so...at most you should be able to lose 5 or 7 pounds a week. Thats at the absolute most anyone should be able to lose per week. So how do they consistently lose 10 or 15. I would love an explanation including the numbers.

[Pat Tepner]

10:49 PM on 07/18/2011

Actually there are only 3500 calories in a pound, not 5000 so that may be why they lose weight more fast.

[LDubman]

11:09 PM on 07/18/2011

Thanks. I stand corrected. Seems like their was a time when they said 5000, but I could be wrong. I still think it is a good question. How do they lose so much so fast?