Tips to losing weight

Am I the right person to provide tips on losing weight? You bet. I can lose weight as easily as I can gain it. This time decided to lose some flab before heading homewards. Joined Lifetime Fitness by paying a whopping 150 bucks since my current gym was relatively further away from home than LFF.

Started controlling my diet - went off burgers and Pizza for a few days. There was obviously the occassional day at lunch when I got tired of eating a Veggie Sub everyday and had to go for variety. But mostly went off Pizza n Burgers n MacD's. Totally off Soda - I hate it anyway - so this one wasn't tough.

Coming to the main topic - had a few sessions with a personal trainer - a 50$ value ;) according to the Sales Guy @ LFF. Since I had 3 sessions that I could take, I was supposed to get my money's worth in those 3 sessions anyway. :)

Here are a few tips that he gave - most of these I'd read online just the day before I went there. So it was a kind of deja'vu feeling I felt when he said what he said.

*** Don't lose weight too fast. You gain it back sooner than you lost it ... :o
*** Approx weight loss should be around 1-2 lbs per week
*** To lose 1lb, you need to burn 3500 more calories than you consume.
*** To do this, reduce daily intake by 500 cals and burn 500cals more.
*** How to reduce 500 cals? In US, this is easy. Almost every canned item - be it milk/cereal/canned soup/etc has calorific value mentioned on it. So just have to jot down how much you consume in a normal day and reduce it by making small sacrifices like 1 less cookie and smaller portions of dinner.
*** How to burn more cals? Just put on your running shoes and RUN like HELL!!! Nothing like running on the road. This really made him sound like an ANTI-GYM person. Why would he say that?
*** Do weight training before CARDIO to get the full benefit of the cardio. Doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach helps burn fat. Evening work outs take energy out of food in body.
*** Free weights > Machines

... and many more to come!!!

Coming up ... Tips to gain weight!!! which I'm surely going to once this cycle of weight loss is over. :)