Welcome to Phase 1 of The Lose Weight Diet. For anyone just starting here, let me quickly mention that this weight loss diet plan is completely free. Yes, really. There will be nothing to pay for or sign up for at any time. It's all free. I swear. Now, on to Phase 1.
The purpose of Phase 1 is going to make a ton of sense. You see, in order to successfully reach your weight loss goals, you're going to first need to understand how to lose weight. (I told you it would make sense.) That's what Phase 1 is. A complete, yet easy to understand explanation of exactly what is required for weight loss to take place. How it happens, why it happens, and most important of all... what you need to do in order to make it happen. You can not skip ahead. You will need to know this in order to create your weight loss diet plan in Phase 2.
So, to sum up, by the end of this page you're going to know how to lose weight. Sound good? Great. Let's get to it...
Calories
You know when you eat food and drink drinks? Well, every one of those foods and every one of those drinks contain calories. Say it with me... calories. The reason I'm mentioning calories to you as though you are 5 years old is because the answer to the almighty "how to lose weight" question all revolves around calories. Not only does everything you eat and drink contain calories, but everything you do burns calories. Literally every step you take and every move you make burns calories. In fact, your body actually burns hundreds and even thousands of calories each day on its own just functioning. You could sit still all day and your body would still burn calories.
So now you may be wondering, if everything you eat contains calories, and everything you do burns calories, shouldn't they just cancel each other out? Yes, they should... and they do. If you consume the exact same number of calories that your body burns each day, your weight would stay exactly the same. If your body naturally burns 3000 calories a day, and you happen to eat 3000 calories a day, your weight would not change. In this example, 3000 calories is what's known as a calorie maintenance level. It's the number of calories required for the body to maintain it's current weight.
I should probably have you repeat "calorie maintenance level" with me, because if there's one thing more important than calories when it comes to losing weight... it's your calorie maintenance level.
Calorie Deficit (Giving your body less calories than it needs)
You just learned the one simple fact that The Lose Weight Diet is based on. Pretty cool huh? I told you, weight loss is all about calories. More specifically, it's about creating a calorie deficit. You need to end up burning more calories than you consume. If your daily calorie maintenance level is 3000 calories, you will lose weight if you started eating 2500 calories a day. You would gain weight if you ate 3500 calories a day. I realize I was only supposed to explain how to lose weight, but you've also just learned how to gain weight.
Did you ever wonder how you gained weight? Now you know. You ate more than your maintenance level. To lose weight, you just need to reverse that. Simple, isn't it? You may have noticed that in the example above I subtracted 500 calories from the maintenance level. Subtracting 500 calories from your maintenance level is the magic weight loss number here. The reason for that is because there are about 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. So, if you ate 500 less calories each day for 7 days, it would equal the 3500 less calories required to lose 1 pound. (500 x 7 = 3500)
Coincidentally, there are 7 days in a week. So, by eating 500 calories below your daily maintenance level, you would lose about 1 pound per week. Now would be a good time to mention that the healthy, safe, good, smart, and all around right amount of weight to lose for most people is 1 or 2 pounds a week. That is the widely agreed upon correct weight loss speed. I am bringing this up now because some people may be thinking, "If my maintenance level was 3000 calories, why shouldn't I just go straight to eating 1000 calories a day instead of only 2500?" Here's why...
Reducing your calorie intake by so much so fast is wrong, unsafe, unhealthy, bad, unsafe, bad, wrong, unhealthy, stupid, unsafe, wrong, unhealthy, stupid, bad and wrong. Got that? You'd end up losing muscle instead of fat. Your body would go into a state where it actually KEEPS fat. Blah blah blah, blah blah. It would just be the complete opposite of the right thing to do. Remove this idea from your mind.
What about working out?
Here's another thing you may have been thinking. "I know how to lose weight... burn more calories than I consume. I got that. I know I can do this by eating about 500 calories less than my maintenance level. But, instead of eating below my maintenance level, couldn't I just workout more and therefore burn more calories?" The answer is yes. If your maintenance level is 3000 calories a day, and you are eating the full 3000 calories a day, you could lose weight by working out and burning those 500 calories each day. You'd still end up in the same calorie deficit this way just as you would by eating less.
Weight loss is all about being in that calorie deficit. While you can technically accomplish this either way (through diet or workout), for best results and for best all around health, the trick is to do it using a combination of both. A proper diet plan combined with a proper workout is the ideal weight loss scenario. But, I'll talk more about that later. First I need to cover one final Phase 1 question some of you may have.
"While explaining how to lose weight, you have only really mentioned calories. What about protein, carbs and fat? Don't they matter?" The answer is yes.
Protein, Carbs, and Fat
While your total calorie intake is the most important aspect of weight loss, where those calories come from is a close second. As far as calorie choices go, there's really only three; protein, carbs and fat. Despite what the many fad diets and commercial diet plans have scared you into thinking, your weight loss diet NEEDS to contain a good amount of all three. (Exactly how much of each is coming up next.)
So, while you would very likely lose weight just by being below your maintenance level, how much and what types of protein, carbs and fat you eat will indeed play an important role. Don't worry, that will all be explained next.
The end of Phase 1 of The Lose Weight Diet
