Oh boy, where to start.
To lose weight you need to burn more calories a day than you consume. It is a delicate balance though because you want a small calorie deficit each day. Too large of a deficit and your body will start to store fat. Our bodies evolve at a much slower rate than society. Our bodies are still programed, for lack of a better word, the same way they were when we were cavemen. We used to have to chase down our food and could go days between substantial meals. To deal with that our bodies started to store fat as a source of fuel when it perceived a famine or multi-day hunt and that is what an extremely low calorie count does.
If you want to make a real, lifelong change to become healthier and lose weight it has to be looked at as a permanent lifestyle change, not a diet. It isn't easy and requires hard work. It means finding a way to fit in exercise, reading labels, educating yourself on the way your body works, and an awful lot of willpower. There is no magic pill and no magic exercise that will burn the same amount of calories in a marathon in 10 minutes without breaking a sweat.
I'm going to kind of go through the thread and address some specific statements and/or questions. Most will be simplifications because there are entire books written about some of these individual topics. This might still be long so feel free to bail out now.
Skipping breakfast- As cliche as it sounds it is the most important meal of the day. When you sleep (hopefully close to 8 hours because that is important to losing weight) you are basically fasting and you want to break that fast (hence the name). You will want some protein for breakfast along with some carbs. A meal replacement shake is quick and easy.
Frequent, small meals- I am in the camp that thinks you want to eat multiple small
er meals throughout the day as opposed to 3 big meals. You want to keep your metabolism working throughout the day and the best way to do that is to keep it fueled. Less frequent, larger meals cause greater fluctuations in your blood sugar levels which, in turn, cause cause greater fluctuations in your insulin levels. You don't want that. Going with smaller snacks throughout the day that contain healthy fats, proteins, and complex carbs are best. Don't aim for too low of a calorie count for these smacks.
Concentrating on diet or exercise and not both- It is much harder to lose weight by concentrating on only half of the picture. Aim for about a 100 calorie deficit each day, at least 45 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity 6 days a week (and that means you should be sweating), and a good balance of fats, carbs, and protein. I highly recommend keeping a food and exercise journal. It is the single best one thing you can do. It forces you to read labels and know portion sizes. What most people consider a single serving is off by almost double.
Contrary to popular belief a calorie is not a calorie- We do not consume calories, we consume food that contains calories and that is one part of why the quality of the food is just as important as the number of calories in it. Different compounds (soluble fiber vs. simple sugars for example) cause our bodies to do different things. 300 calories in vitamin water is not the same as 300 calories of broccoli or chicken breast. It just isn't.
There is a great
article in the Nutrition Journal named "A calorie is a calorie" violates the second law of thermodynamics. When I mentioned educating yourself earlier this is exactly the kind of information I mean.
And now I'm getting confused. All I'm trying to do is lose the weight safely, not perfect my eating habits.
The way to do the former is to do the later. While perfection is a pretty hard goal improving you eating habits is the only way (along with adding exercise) to safely lose weight.
Multivitamins- A good multivitamin can be part of a healthy diet but it should be used to fill in some gaps that will occur in our diets, not to completely replace getting our vitamins and minerals from natural food sources (produce, not processed foods). It isn't just the IUs of the vitamins and minerals but an as of yet mostly not understood natural mix of them. The natural mix of nutrients in fruits and vegetables just can't yet be replicated in a lab.
Fat is not evil- The vilification of fat was a huge misstep. It vilified the natural fats we need (even saturated fat) and was part of the what lead to the creating of one of the things no human should eat...hydrogenated fats. The natural fat in avocados and nuts is not only not bad but is very good for health and weight loss. A perfect snack is a hand full of almonds and yogurt for example. Get natural peanut or almond butter (if the word hydrogenated is in the ingredient list put it back) and you are good.
You're a guy, right? I'd subscribe to Men's Health. It is a great publication for people starting out and once you have a base of knowledge you can look for more scientific sources. It takes a little time but it really is simple, not easy but simple. Those are two terms that are often mistaken for each other.
Good luck.
