How I lost almost 6 stone - No gym, No diet, just common sense

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Hello, I decided to post in both the health forum and weight loss forum as I could not decide which would be best. I posted some of this information over a year ago on here but thought I would give people who missed my post a chance to read. I have tweaked what I wrote last time plus I also added new information. I am not a doctor, I do not have any relevant qualifications and some of my information could be wrong but the tips below allowed me to lose almost 6 stone in weight. It wasn't that difficult compared to say a diet (which I do not class this as). I lost my weight comfortably and easily by not changing the foods I eat, but to lower the portion sizes. I ate pizza, chips, burger and sausages fairly often but still managed to lose weight. You don't have to eat healthy food all the time, just eat less. Exercise ======== It is possible to lose weight by just changing the way that you eat but if you do regular exercise, you will lose weight faster and the weight you lose will be greater. 30 minutes of exercise a day, 5 days a week is all you need but of course, the more you do the better. Exercise doesn't have to be running or gym workout, walking will more than suffice. If you do exercise, be sure to do it BEFORE you eat and not after. Why? if you eat and then exercise, you will be burning off the food you just ate and therefore you would be hungry soon after. If however you exercise before you eat, what will you be burning? Yes, that's right ... fat. Don't Skip Meals And Don't Starve Yourself! =========================================== Eat breakfast, dinner/lunch and tea, and never skip these, with a few snacks in between if you really must. If you repeatedly skip meals, your body goes into panic mode as it thinks you are starving yourself. When this happens, your body bulks up on fat, producing more of it, which contributes to weight gain. If you're hungry then eat. If you know however that a meal is due soon, then wait it out and go hungry for a short while. Eating because you are hungry, then eating a meal half an hour later is just wrong. Skipping meals and starving yourself tends to produce a yo-yo effect (ever heard of yo-yo dieting? this is why) Don't Eat Before Bedtime ========================= Why? When you eat food, it is inside your body being digested. Your body digests food while you're getting on with your day but if you eat and then go to bed, your digestive system will be resting too and most of that food will be stored away as fat. It's best to eat 2-3 hours before bed and give your body time to digest that food. Calorie Limitations =================== The more you weigh, the more calories you need to maintain your current body weight. An average male needs 2500 calories a day, and an average female needs just 2000. It may sound obvious but if you consume more calories than you need, you will eventually gain weight so limit your daily calorie intake. I limited myself to 1900 calories a day (600 less than the average male needs) and every time I ate, I would make a note in my head of how many calories I've consumed. If I walked before I ate that day, I would start my day in negative calories. When To Stop Eating =================== A lot of people do this but you should eat to satisfy your hunger and NOT to become full up. Becoming full up is your body's way of telling you that you've ate too much food, so you should have stopped eating earlier in the meal. If you are eating something and you start to feel full, STOP, store away the food and eat the remaining later! After all, why eat when you've already reached the level where you're no longer hungry? Split Up Your Meals ==================== Whether you prepared the meal or not, try and break it up into two. For example, if you had 2 jacket potato with cheese, and 2 pieces of chicken you can make two meals from this. Put one jacket potato and 1 chicken breast on a plate and eat it later. This food that you will eat later is free calories, because you would have had it earlier in the day but you did the smart thing and saved it for later. Water ====== Sometimes you may feel hungry not because you need food, but because your body needs liquid so drink plenty of water. Drink water before, during and after a meal or snack. Water is good for you and will help fill you up and keep your hunger at bay for longer. Eat slower ========== I'm not sure on the exact figure but it takes around 15 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you are getting full, so eat slower. You could be into a meal and still be eating even when you're stomach has had enough food but you wouldn't know it right away. If you just ate a meal or snack but still feel hungry, wait 10 minutes and see how you feel. Bored? ====== If you're bored, don't use this as an excuse to eat. You aren't eating because you're hungry, you're eating because you're bored. Chew some sugar-free gum if you really must eat something. Daily Recommended Allowance ============================ It varies on your gender but generally if you want to lose weight, you best not go beyond the figures below: Energy = 2000 Calories Protein = 50g Fat = 70g Saturated Fat = 20g Carbohydrate = 310g Total Sugars = 90g Fibre = 30g Sodium = 2300mg There are two types of fat?! Yes, Saturated (Bad) and Unsaturated (Good). When I was losing weight, if food had more than 10-12g of total fat per 100g, I would avoid it. There are approximately 3400 calories in 1lb of weight. If you need 2500 calories to maintain your body weight and you reduce this by 500 calories daily, you would consume 3500 calories LESS than you would have in one week, therefore losing 1lb of weight. If you put in exercise as well, that's even more calories saved. Substitute Food =============== Go through your cupboard and exchange your food for low fat or lower calorie alternatives. Want to eat butter? Sure, just eat a little less of it and switch from normal butter to low fat. Want to eat bread, pasta and rice? Sure but try and eat wholemeal brown varieties as these are much better than refined whites with no goodness in it. As a rule for my weight loss, I avoided all cake, sweets, chocolate and other foods high in calorie with large amounts of sugar and fat. As I said, some of my information could be incorrect, but I am pretty sure it's all accurate because I educated myself before losing weight. Hope this helps at least 1 person. Feel free to post here if you have any questions.