The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide Part 1

My suggestion to you, copy this, open Word and paste it to read or print off later. This is the most complete and comprehensive guide to HEALTHY weightloss and fitness that I have ever seen. I just had to share.


The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide

1.How To Lose Weight
2.Making Weight Loss Happen
3.Figuring Out Your Calorie Maintenance Level
4.Figuring Out How Many Calories To Consume Per Day To Lose Weight
5.The Ideal Weight Loss Rate
6.1 Pound Of Fat = 3500 Calories
7.Intermission #1
8.Selecting Foods
9.What NOT To Eat
10.What TO Eat
11.Protein
12.Fat
13.Carbs
14.Drinks
15.Putting The Entire Weight Loss Diet Together
16.Intermission #2
17.Exercise
18.Aerobic Exercise
19.Anaerobic Exercise
20.Myths, Lies, And Other Stuff To Ignore
21.Products
22.The Mental Aspect Of Weight Loss
23.Sticking To Your Diet
24.Cheat Meals & "Everything In Moderation"
25.Tracking Weight Loss Progress
26.Keeping The Weight Off Permanently
27.Successful Weight Loss Guaranteed
28.The End

How To Lose Weight

It would only make sense to start this off with the one fact that is the basis for nearly all weight loss related information. All the tips, all the articles, all the methods... they all revolve around making this "one fact" take place. Here now, is that fact:

The One Fact
•
Your body requires a certain number of calories per day in order to maintain your current weight. This is known as your calorie maintenance level. It's the number of calories required by your body to do everything it needs to do (intense exercise, brushing your teeth, pumping blood, keeping organs functioning properly, etc.). Calories are what our bodies use for energy, so in order to do what needs to be done, a certain number of calories are needed.

As you already know, we supply our bodies with these calories through eating and drinking. If we end up consuming exactly the same number of calories that our bodies need each day, our weight would remain exactly the same. For example, if your calorie maintenance level was 2500 calories, and you consumed 2500 calories per day, your weight would not change. All of the calories you take in would end up getting used (or "burned"). This is how you maintain your weight, by giving your body only the calories that it needs. No more, no less.

However, if you do consume more calories than this maintenance level, your body will store the excess calories as fat. So, for example, if your maintenance level was 2500 calories, and you consumed 3000 calories per day, you would gain weight. You are giving your body more calories than it would end up burning. This is what causes weight gain.

On the other hand, if you do the opposite and give your body less calories than it needs, your body will convert your stored body fat into energy and use that instead. This is what causes weight loss. Sticking with the same example as before, if your daily maintenance level is 2500 calories, and you consume 2000 calories per day, you will lose weight.
Basically, consume the same number of calories that your body needs/burns each day and you maintain your weight. Consume more calories than your body needs/burns and you gain weight. And last but not least... consume less calories than your body needs/burns and you lose weight.
The One Fact: A caloric deficit is what causes weight loss.

Read that again if you need to. It is the one fact that practically all tips, hacks, methods and diets are based on... getting THAT to happen. This "one fact" is, in a nutshell, all there is to weight loss. Knowing and understanding it is the key. (From this point on I will refer to it quite simply as the "One Fact.")

A more detailed description of this One Fact (including my own poorly drawn diagrams) can be found in my Guide To Calories and Weight Control. Just in case any of above was confusing, this article will most likely clear it all up.

Making Weight Loss Happen

Now that you understand the One Fact that causes weight loss, it's now time to learn the 3 ways to actually make the One Fact happen.
1. Consume Less Calories (Diet)
The first and most obvious way to make the One Fact happen is by consuming less total calories. If your body needs 2500 calories per day (just an example), and you give it 2000 calories per day, you are officially in a caloric deficit, meaning you are supplying your body with less calories than it needs to maintain your current weight. Doing this consistently will cause weight loss.
2. Burn More Calories (Exercise)
The second way to make the One Fact happen is by burning more calories. As I mentioned before, your daily calorie maintenance level is the number of calories that your body burns per day. So, for example, if your daily maintenance level is 2500 calories (again, just an example), and you consume 2500 calories per day, you will maintain your weight. Why? Because all 2500 calories consumed get burned by your body. There is no surplus and there is no deficit. It's even.
However, if you make your body burn additional calories each day through some form of exercise, there would then be a caloric deficit. A caloric deficit = weight loss.

Staying with the same example, if you consume 2500 calories per day, and you naturally burn 2500 calories per day, you maintain your current weight. If you then burn an additional 500 calories through exercise, a caloric deficit is created. Just like the deficit created if you consumed 500 less calories, the same deficit is created by burning 500 additional calories.

Either way, a caloric deficit then exists... which means the One Fact is happening... which means weight loss will happen.

3. Consume Less Calories AND Burn More Calories (Diet & Exercise)
In my personal opinion (and the opinion of practically every qualified expert), the best way of making the One Fact happen is a combination of both consuming less calories AND burning more calories. Studies have shown that people who utilize both diet and exercise were more often able to maintain their weight loss long term than those who did one or the other. Doing both is also more beneficial from a general health standpoint as well. If you're the type of person who just wants a clear-cut answer, here it comes... do both.


Figuring Out Your Calorie Maintenance Level
2500

At this point you know that weight loss is just a matter of consistently being below your calorie maintenance level. This can be done through diet, exercise, or for best results, both. The next thing you'll need to know is what your daily calorie maintenance level actually is.

Figuring Out How Many Calories To Consume Per Day To Lose Weight
Ready to make weight loss happen? Good, because that's what we're about to do. Now that you have a good estimate of your daily calorie maintenance level, it's time for the fun part. Let's call this first part "The One Fact Experiment" and the second part "The One Fact Adjustment." Remember, your goal here is making the One Fact happen, which means being below your maintenance level. To do this, it's going to require a fairly simple 3 step experiment...

The One Fact Experiment
1. Start eating your estimated calorie maintenance level amount each day, every day. Be as consistent as you can. If your maintenance level was 2500 calories, and you eat 2459 or 2527, don't worry. Just get as close to 2500 (or whatever your estimated number was) as you can, and eat this same number of calories every single day. (Obviously, you can use a Calorie Counter to look up how many calories are in your food. Of course, if a food lists the calorie content right there on the package, you can just use that instead.)
2. Do this for a week or two (or three).
3. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning (on an empty stomach) about once per week.
Once you do the above 3 steps, it's just a matter of evaluating your results from the experiment and then adjusting until the One Fact happens. Here's how:
The One Fact Adjustment
• Did you end up maintaining your weight?
If so, it means you are indeed at your maintenance level. To lose weight, start consuming 500 less calories per day.
For example, if your estimated maintenance level was 2500 calories, and the experiment showed that you did indeed maintain your weight consuming this amount, you should now start consuming 2000 calories per day instead. If your maintenance level was 3500, start eating 3000 calories each day. Whatever it was, subtract about 500 and start consistently eating that number of calories per day. Doing so will put you in a caloric deficit (you'll be 500 calories below maintenance) which means the One Fact is happening. Translation: Weight loss will now happen.

• Did you end up gaining weight?
If so, it either means your estimated calorie maintenance level was too high or you may have just miscalculated how many calories you were consuming and ended up accidentally consuming more than the estimated maintenance level. It's alright, relax. Weight loss will still happen.
What you need to do now is start consuming 500 less calories per day and then repeat The One Fact Experiment with this new number of calories. Whether the estimated maintenance level was too high or you just miscalculated the number of calories you consumed, it doesn't really matter. Just start consuming 500 less calories per day than you were just consuming, and repeat The One Fact Experiment all over again with this new amount.

Then, just come right back here and, depending on what your weight did this time, follow the necessary One Fact Adjustment instructions. (If you still gained weight, you'd follow these instructions all over again. If you maintained weight, you would follow the above instructions. If you lost weight, you would follow the instructions below.)

• Did you end up losing weight at the rate of about 1-2 pounds per week?
If so, congrats. The One Fact is happening, and weight loss is happening at the ideal expert-recommended rate. A pound or two lost per week is perfect. Continue consuming this number of calories every day from this point on.
If you ever reach a point where you stop losing weight and start only maintaining weight (small chance, but still possible), and you have confirmed for sure that you have had no weight loss at all for at least 3 weeks in a row, come right back here and follow The One Fact Adjustment instructions for what to do when you end up only maintaining your weight.

• Did you end up losing weight at the rate of 3 or more pounds per week?
This is probably going to be pretty rare as long as all of the above information was followed correctly, but if you are losing 3 or more pounds per week for more than a couple of weeks in a row, you may be losing weight too quickly. I say "may be" because these results could be normal for the above-averagely obese person, especially in the beginning. If you fit into that category and are losing weight at this speed, you can probably ignore this. However, to play it safe, you can definitely still follow the instructions below anyway.
If you do NOT fit into the "above-averagely obese" category and were still losing weight at this rate for more than a couple of weeks in a row, chances are the maintenance level estimate was a bit too low or you just miscalculated how many calories you were consuming and ended up accidentally consuming less than you should have been. Either way, relax. There is a simple solution.

That solution is to add about 250-300 calories to your daily calorie intake, and then just repeat The One Fact Experiment again with this new calorie amount. Depending on what your weight does this time, follow the necessary One Fact Adjustment instructions.

Now is probably a good time to remind you about the 3 ways to make the One Fact happen. The above method uses just diet to get it done. This is a perfectly fine way to do it. However, it could get done just the same with exercise (albeit, a bit tougher). To do that, you'd just have to burn 500 more calories through exercise when the above instructions call for you to reduce your calorie intake by 500.

Of course, the best way to do it would be a combination of both. For example, you could consume 250 less calories AND burn 250 more calories per day. A 500 calorie deficit is still made.

What should you do?

Well, I'd recommend following all of the above instructions as is, meaning you'll be making the One Fact happen through diet alone. This method will cause weight loss at the rate of about 1 pound per week (more on that below). Then, I'd recommend adding in a few days of exercise per week on top of that. This will most likely result in close to a second pound lost per week. This means the combination of the two will result in 2 pounds lost per week, which is absolutely perfect from both a weight loss stand point and an overall health stand point. It is in my opinion and the opinion of most qualified experts the ideal way to lose weight.

The Ideal Weight Loss Rate

All of the recommendations I've ever heard/read regarding how fast the average person should lose weight are all the same...

The Ideal Weight Loss Rate: 1-2 Pounds Lost Per Week

In the eyes of practically every doctor and nutrition expert, this should be your weight loss goal.

I know. You want to lose weight faster than that. Everyone does. We all wish we could drop 20 pounds by next week, but we can't. Not only that, but attempting to lose weight faster than the above recommendation can actually be quite harmful to your health. The human body was just not designed for "fast weight loss." If anything, the human body was designed with a safety system that kicks in if it senses you are losing weight too fast. At this point it will actually start to KEEP body fat as a precaution.

All your body really cares about is keeping you alive. If you go on some stupid unsafe starvation diet, your body's only real instinct is survival, and one of the first things your body may do in this situation is keep your body fat and burn muscle for energy instead. As you can imagine, this would not be a good thing. Health risks aside, studies have also shown that people who lose weight too quickly were MUCH more likely to regain it all back.

It is for these reasons that 1-2 pounds lost per week is the ideal weight loss rate. That may not sound like much, but if you really think about it, it is. Do it consistently for a year, and you could lose 50-100 pounds. Do it for a month and you could lose 4-8 pounds. It may not be as fast as you wish it could, but long term... it's really not that bad at all.


1 Pound Of Fat = 3500 Calories

At some point when you were reading about the One Fact, you may have started to wonder why "500" was the magic number of calories I kept using in all of the examples. What makes being 500 calories below your daily maintenance level so special? Why not 100? Why not 1000? Well, now that you understand what the ideal weight loss rate is, this is going to make a ton of sense.

There is approximately 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. What that means is, for every 3500 extra calories that you consume that your body doesn't burn, you will GAIN 1 pound of fat. At the same time, it also means that for every 3500 extra calories that your body does burn, you will LOSE 1 pound of fat.

Here's what this means to you. If you consume 500 less calories per day and thus create a daily 500 calorie deficit (the One Fact), you will end up creating a 3500 calorie deficit by the end of the week (500 calorie deficit per day x 7 days in a week = 3500 total calorie deficit).

And, since there is about 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat, doing this will result in 1 pound of fat being lost per week. And, since the ideal weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds per week, this would put you right within range. Add some exercise in as well, and it will bring you closer to the higher end of that range.

This is also why you should NEVER reduce you calorie intake too much, too soon. Making small, gradual adjustments to your calorie intake is the safest way to do it and the way it should always be done. This is another reason why the One Fact Adjustments call for 500 calorie changes rather than a much higher number. This is all for one purpose and one purpose only... making safe, healthy and productive weight loss happen. Not too slow, not too fast. Goldie Locks would be proud.

Intermission #1

Break time. Take a breath, stretch your legs, whatever. You just learned everything you need to know about weight loss. What follows from this point on is information you'll most likely either want to know, or definitely should know.

While the combination of understanding the One Fact, doing the One Fact Experiment, and then making the necessary One Fact Adjustment is really all that is needed for weight loss to happen, as you'll soon see there is still a bunch of additional information that will make your quest for weight loss go as perfectly as can be. Let's start with what foods you should and should not be eating...

Selecting Foods

Now that you've figured out how many calories you need to consume per day in order to lose weight, the next thing you probably want to know is where you should and should not get those calories from. This information isn't as much beneficial for weight loss as it is for general health purposes. See, technically, as long as the One Fact is happening (a caloric deficit), most people will lose weight no matter where their calories are coming from. That's just how it works.

The only problem with this technicality is that while weight loss might be your main goal, being healthy is definitely of the utmost importance. And, there is a lot more to your health than just your body weight. You can reach your goal weight and still be unhealthy because of the things you are and are not eating.

It is for this reason that attention must be paid to the foods and drinks you consume. Let's start off with what you should NOT be eating.

What NOT To Eat

Below is a list of some of the foods/drinks that you should either avoid completely or, at the very least, greatly limit. Unless you've been living under a rock, you're really not going to be too surprised by what shows up...
•Soda (And sports drinks.)
•Candy
•Fast Food (The majority of it, at least.)
•Cookies/Crackers
•Chips/Pretzels and other similar snack foods.
•Cakes, Pies and other pastries.

In addition to the specific items listed above, there are also certain types of foods that should also be avoided completely, greatly limited, or somewhat limited. They are:
•Foods containing any trans fat.
•Foods high in saturated fat.
•Foods high in sodium.
•Foods high in sugar.

While you know that too many total calories is the cause of weight gain, the above specific foods and specific types of foods are the most common sources of those excess calories. The thing they all have in common (besides tasting yummy) is that they are all quick and convenient. As if being the most common sources of the extra calories people consume wasn't enough reason to avoid them, there is a ton of scientific and medical research clearly showing a variety of health risks associated with diets high in these types of foods.

So from both a weight loss and overall health perspective, this is the worst of the worst.

Now, if you're the type of person with the phrase "everything in moderation" ingrained in your head and are wondering if you should be the type of person who avoids these kinds of foods altogether or just has them once in a while, all that can be offered in an opinion. So, here's mine. Avoid it all as completely as possible. I personally never touch this stuff, and it is my opinion that most people would be better off (both for health and weight loss purposes) if they did the same.

I'll explain my reasoning for this and go into a lot more detail a bit later. For now though, just know that this is the stuff NOT to eat.

What TO Eat

One word... balance. If weight loss has been your goal for longer than 5 seconds, chances are you have heard of a variety of different diets that allow or restrict certain types of foods and just entire food groups all together. Low carb, no carb. Low fat, no fat... even high fat. Diets where you can only eat grapefruit or cabbage soup (I'm not making this up). Name a food, a food group or a nutrient, and there is most likely a diet out there that allows a lot of it or none of it at all.

You'll also find that in most cases the one similarity these types of diets have is... money. A book is for sale, a membership is offered, products are sold. In some way, money is being made off your use of that diet.

On the other hand, doctors and nutrition experts with absolutely nothing to sell all recommend a balanced diet. Of course, they also recommend avoiding/limiting the types of foods I mentioned on the "not to eat" list, but, after that... balance. Avoid only the bad stuff, and get plenty of the good stuff.

That means your weight loss diet (and your overall diet from this point on) should consist of significant amounts of the 3 nutrients you'll be getting all of your calories from... protein, fat and carbs. Despite all of the fads, gimmicks and bad information around, your body actually needs a significant amount of all 3.

Now it's time to learn how much of each and what foods to get them from.

Protein

For the average healthy adult, the USDA recommends a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per day for every kilogram of body weight. To figure this out in pounds, just divide your weight by 2.2 and then multiply your answer by 0.8. (For example, a 200lb person would divide 200 by 2.2 and get about 91. They'd then multiply 91 by 0.8 and get about 73. So, this example 200lb person would require a minimum of 73 grams of protein per day.) 97.8 g 7-30-12

When putting together your weight loss diet, you should also keep in mind that the above protein recommendation is just a MINIMUM. It's also for the "average" adult. If you plan on exercising (which you should), you are no longer "average." For both of these reasons, I'd personally recommend a daily MINIMUM protein intake of one half of your body weight in pounds (a 200lb person would consume 100 grams of protein per day). 135 g 7-30-12

But again, that's still just a minimum. For most healthy adults who are doing some form of exercise and are looking to improve their body in some way, the typical recommendation for protein intake (which I also recommend) is between 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (for a 200lb person, this would be 160-200 grams of protein per day). 215 – 269 g 7-30-12

People who are VERY overweight should use their target body weight rather than their current body weight (so a 350lb person trying to get down to 250lbs would use 250 as their weight). Everyone else with a more average amount of weight to lose should still use their current weight when calculating protein intake. 180 g 7-30-12

Here now are some of the best foods to get your protein from:

Good Sources Of Protein
•Chicken
•Turkey
•Fish
•Meat (The leaner the better.)
•Eggs/Egg Whites
•Beans
•Nuts

Just like calories, you can find out how much protein is in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on a Calorie Counter.

Other Facts About Protein
•1 gram of protein contains 4 calories.
•Protein is the "building block" of muscle. A certain amount of protein is required in order for the body to build muscle. However, once this amount is reached, consuming additional protein does NOT lead to additional muscle being built.

Fat

For the average healthy adult, the USDA recommends that a maximum of 30% of your total daily calorie intake comes from fat. Most other sources/experts recommend something in a similar range, typically somewhere between 20%-30%. In order to figure this one out, you will first need to know that 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories. So, if an example person eats 2000 calories per day, 20%-30% of that would be 400-600 calories. And, since 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, this works out to be about 44-66 grams of fat per day for this example person.

The next thing you're going to want to hear before putting together the "fat" portion of your weight loss diet is a quick bit of information about 4 different types of fat.

As I mentioned in the "what not to eat" section of this guide, trans fat and saturated fat are the types of fat that you want to try to limit somewhat (saturated) or avoid (trans). More specifically, you want to keep saturated fat to about 1/3 of your total fat intake, and you want to avoid trans fat completely. While the American Heart Association recommends no more than 2 grams of trans fat per day, I'd personally go a bit further and recommend 0. Some of the foods high in these types of fat include cookies, cakes and other pastries, fast food, chips and other snack foods, and really most of the typical junk food you already know you shouldn't eat.

On the other hand, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the two types that you'll want the majority of your diet's fat intake to come from. Sources of these healthy fats include:

Good Sources Of Fat
•Fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, etc.)
•Fish Oil & Flax Seed Oil Supplements
•Nuts & Seeds
•Avocados
•Olive Oil
•Canola Oil

Just like calories and protein, you can find out how much fat is in your food (along with which type of fat) by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on a Calorie Counter.

Other Facts About Fat
•1 gram of fat contains 9 calories.
•Many studies have shown that diets high in the so-called "bad" fats (trans/saturated) can cause heart disease and a variety of other health problems. Studies have also shown that the so-called "good" fats (polyunsaturated/monounsaturated) do the opposite and may actually help PREVENT these same health problems. One specific polyunsaturated fat, the Omega-3 fatty acid, is the most beneficial of all. Its best and most abundant source is fish and fish oil supplements. (More on supplements later.)
•Fat does NOT make you fat, and eating the above recommended amount of fat daily will NOT at all hinder your weight loss. In fact, as long as your fat intake is coming mostly from the healthy sources, it will only aid your weight loss and improve your overall health. Getting back to the "fat makes you fat" idea, as you learned right at the beginning of this guide, weight loss (and weight gain for that matter) is all about calories. Eat more than you need and you gain weight (THAT is what makes you fat). Eat less than you need and you lose weight.

Carbs

For the average healthy adult, the USDA recommends that about 50% of your total daily calorie intake come from carbs. To figure this out according to this recommendation, you will need to know that 1 gram of carbs contains 4 calories. So, if an example person is eating 2000 calories per day, 50% of of 2000 is 1000 calories. And, since 1 gram of carbs contains 4 calories, you'd divide 1000 by 4 and get 250 grams of carbs per day.

Although the above recommendation is perfectly fine, I'd personally give it a wider range of between 40%-50% of your total calorie intake. Anywhere in there should be perfect for most people.

Another thing you'll want to know about carbs before factoring them into your weight loss diet is that, similar to fat, there are certain types you want to eat, and certain types you want to avoid.

The type you want to avoid are known as simple carbs. What makes simple carbs so "bad" is the speed at which they are digested by the body. These types of carbs are digested quickly, and this leads to a not-so-good effect on our blood insulin levels. With the exception of the meal immediately following an intense workout, there is really no time that is a good time for these foods. While they don't need to be completely eliminated from your diet (like trans fat should), they should most definitely be kept to a minimum. Some examples of simple carbs are soda, candy, white bread, white rice, and really any other sugary or highly processed food.

The opposite of these foods are known as complex carbs (slower digestion), and they are the type of carb that you want most, if not all of your daily carb intake to come from. Some sources of these carbs are:

Good Sources Of Carbs
•Vegetables
•Fruits
•Oatmeal
•Brown Rice
•Sweet Potatoes
•Beans
•Other Whole Wheat/Whole Grain Products

Just like calories, protein and fat, you can find out how many carbs are in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on a Calorie Counter.

Other Facts About Carbs
•1 gram of carbs contains 4 calories.
•In case it needs to be mentioned, "carbs" is short for "carbohydrates." The less typing I have to do, the better, so I'll be using "carbs" throughout this weight loss guide (and really the entire site).
•You know how carbs have replaced fat as the new nutrient everyone is afraid of? Well, let's set it straight. All of those negative things you've heard about carbs always refer to the "bad" kind (simple carbs), which you now know you should avoid. The "good" kind, (complex carbs) however, still remain recommended by every doctor and nutrition expert as being an important part of a healthy, balanced diet.
•Just like I mentioned before about fat, carbs also do not make you fat. Once again, it's all about calories. More calories than you need = weight gain. Less calories than you need = weight loss. Carbs may be one of the more common sources of the excess calories people consume, but they alone are not the culprit. It's all about calories.


Drinks

With food out of the way, the next subject you'll want to know about before putting together your weight loss diet is drinks. It is the opinion of many people (myself included) that calories should not be consumed in liquid form. By that I mean, without question the fastest and easiest way to consume calories is by drinking them. Combine that with the fact that drinks aren't very filling, and you get a recipe for disaster when your goal is weight loss or even just preventing weight gain.

Not to mention, nearly all calorie filled drinks contain these calories due to their high sugar content. Sugar, as previously mentioned, is a simple carb. A simple carb, as previously mention, is the type of carb you DON'T want to consume.

So, by avoiding liquid calories, not only would you be eliminating one of the most common weight loss pitfalls (not to mention weight gain causes), but you'd also be eliminating one of the most common sources of sugar. Some examples of these types of drinks are:

Drinks To Avoid
•Soda
•Sports Drinks & Energy Drinks
•Fruit Juices (Yes, fruit is healthy. If you want the healthy things that are in fruit, eat the actual fruit. If you want a junky, sugary, calorie filled drink with a fruit's name on it, drink fruit juice. Most of the time, that's what it ends up being. Not to mention, eating the fruit is more filling than drinking the juice, which is another benefit often neglected.)
Two other drinks that need to be mentioned are milk and alcohol. While you don't need to completely avoid milk like you should the above drinks, it would definitely be a good idea to keep it to a minimum (calcium is nice, but milk is still just liquid calories) and/or go with skim or 2% over whole. Alcohol of course is just useless liquid calories. Avoiding it completely would be nice, but just keeping it to a minimum and/or going with the lower calorie versions when you can is still better than nothing.
As for what you should drink... it's going to be a pretty short list. Brace yourselves:

Drinks To Drink
•Water
•Green Tea

Water, water, water. It's what your body needs, it's practically free, and it contains 0 calories. What more can you look for from both a weight loss and an overall health perspective? As for how much water you should drink per day, there really is no widely agreed upon amount. We've all heard the 8 glasses a day guideline, but there is a bunch of research around showing that this is just a silly number pulled out of nowhere. If anything, 8 glasses should be the bare minimum for most adults.

How much you sweat also plays a role in how much water you should drink. If you live somewhere hot, you will probably sweat more than someone who lives somewhere cold. And if you exercise, which you should, that also plays a large role. If I had to throw a general recommendation out there, I'd say that the average healthy adult exercising regularly should shoot for between 0.5 and 1 full gallon of water per day.

Really though, unless you're going completely insane on water intake (at least 2 or more gallons per day) or are drinking large amounts in a very short period of time, you have very little to worry about. So... drink.

Putting The Entire Weight Loss Diet Together

Alright. At this point you know how many calories you need to consume per day. You also know that there are 3 places you will get these calories from... protein, fat and carbs. You know what specific foods you should (and should not) be getting each of those nutrients from, and you know that, for the most part, water will be your drink of choice. All that's left to do now is put it all together and form one pretty weight loss diet.

An Example Diet For An Example Person

To make this all as simple as possible, I'm now going to put together a weight loss diet for an imaginary person (let's call them PersonX) using all of the above information. For the sake of using an easy to understand example, PersonX will weigh 200 pounds and have a daily calorie maintenance level of 2500 calories. Again, these are just completely made up numbers being used for the sole purpose of showing an example. The diet you end up having should be tailored specifically to you/your body. Here we go...
1.First and foremost, you need to get your calorie intake figured out. As you've learned, this is, above all, the key to weight loss. Once you do the One Fact Experiment and make the necessary One Fact Adjustment, you will have the number of calories you'll need to consume per day in order for your body to lose weight. Got it figured out? Good. PersonX found out that they have a maintenance level of 2500 calories and that in order to lose weight at a safe, healthy, productive rate, they should consume 2000 calories per day (500 below maintenance).
2.The next step is deciding on the sources of these calories. First up should be protein. PersonX has decided to use my recommendation of half their body weight (in pounds). Since PersonX weighs 200 pounds, they will consume about 100 grams of protein per day.
PersonX then remembered that 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories. So, if PersonX eats 100 grams of protein per day, that would account for 400 calories worth of protein (100 grams of protein x 4 calories per gram = 400 calories). Then, if PersonX's daily total calorie intake is 2000 calories, and 400 will come from protein, that leaves them with 1600 calories still to fill (2000 - 400 = 1600).

3.Next up after protein should be fat. Since most sources recommend that about 20%-30% of your total calorie intake should come from fat, PersonX has decided to go with an even 25%. With a total calorie intake of 2000, PersonX would figure out that 25% of 2000 calories is 500 calories. And, since there are 9 calories in each gram of fat, this works out to be about 55 grams of fat per day (500 ÷ 9 = 55).
4.The last nutrient to figure out is carbs. This will be pretty easy. PersonX knows that 400 calories out of their 2000 calorie total will come from protein, and that 500 calories of the 2000 total will come from fat. That leaves PersonX with 1100 calories to fill (2000 - (500+400) = 1100). All of these left over calories can come from carbs. Since there are 4 calories in 1 gram of carbs, this would work out to be 275 grams of carbs per day for PersonX (1100 ÷ 4 = 275).

PersonX has now put together the following daily weight loss diet:

Total Calories: 2000 (500 below maintenance level)
Total Protein: 100 grams (half their weight)
Total Fat: 55 grams (25% of their 2000 calorie total)
Total Carbs: 275 grams (all of the remaining calories once protein and fat totals were factored in)

Adjusting To Your Personal Preferences

PersonX is now all set with a balanced diet containing the number of calories that will cause them to lose weight, and amounts of protein, fat and carbs that are all within the recommended ranges. They are all ready to go... except for one thing. PersonX couldn't help but notice that while the 3 nutrients are within the recommended ranges, carbs ended up near the top of its range while protein and fat ended up at the bottom/middle of their ranges.

This of course is not a problem, it's just that PersonX really loves almonds (a food on the "Good Sources Of Fat" list) and grilled chicken (a food on the "Good Sources Of Protein List") and was wondering if they could trade a little bit of their carb intake for some extra protein and fat intake. The answer is yes. As long as their total calorie intake remains exactly what it needs to be in order for weight loss to happen (most important) and all 3 nutrients (protein, fat and carbs) still remain somewhere inside or fairly close to their daily recommended ranges, it is perfectly fine to make some adjustments like this to fit your personal preferences.

The Important Reminder

Remember, as far as weight loss goes, the key is total calorie intake. As long as that is what it should be, you will lose weight. The protein, fat and carb recommendations along with the recommendations for which foods to get these nutrients from is all to make sure your diet is as healthy and balanced as can be. It restricts nothing but the bad, and allows plenty of the good. Weight loss + health = the ultimate goal. And, all of the information explained above ensures that this ultimate goal is going to be reached.

Intermission #2

Get up, walk around, take a bathroom break or just give yourself a pat on the back. You just learned everything you need to know/should know about losing weight. Hell, you just learned more than enough to write your own best selling weight loss book. Congrats.

I would describe everything in this guide from the very beginning up until "Intermission #1" as the stuff required for weight loss. All the stuff from that point until right now (Intermission #2) can be described as everything required for making sure your weight loss is done in the most healthy, balanced and overall best way possible.

What follows from this point on is a ton of useful information aimed at making sure all of the above goes exactly as planned. You'll learn more about exercise and burning calories. You'll learn about the supplements and products you should buy, as well as the supplements and products you should avoid like the plague. You'll learn about weight loss myths, lies, fads and gimmicks. You'll learn about sticking to your diet, cheat meals, and how to track your progress. You'll learn how to keep the weight off permanently after you lose it. You'll learn pretty much every useful thing there is to learn to ensure that your weight gets and stays lost.