hello, I was here for another topic, but might be able help you with this topic. <br>I am a guy (hope that's ok), but hold a degree in sports science, and have trained people successfully for some 20 years.<br> I am afraid we (the industry) have lied to everyone for so many years.<br> I tell my clients not to lose weight. <br>But do lose body fat. <br>There is a difference.<br>We need to keep muscle, water, and bone. but lose body fat.<br>To be lean for life is quite simple, but can feel tough mentally.<br>Women have been told to do cardio and aerobics for so long.<br>They actually need to do resistance training (weights) more than the cardio thing. <br>We need to make women's muscles more "efficient".<br>Generally women produce too much oestrogen so they will never get "big" muscles.<br>So they can lift, or push, or pull nice heavy weights that will make their muscles more efficient, in a manner that cardio never will.<br>The more efficient we make your muscles the more body fat they will use as an energy source to keep you alive and keep functioning.<br>Body fat is actually a very clever energy storage device, so if you find yourself dropped into the middle of the sahara desert you will survive longer the more body fat you have, as long as you have water too!<br>But in our real lives we do not need this "energy reserve"<br>If you can see that as an honest way forward then you are half way there.<br><br>Then there is the food thing!<br><br>Yikes, how much confusion and controversy!<br>Basically I would humbly propose that the calorie is a lie.<br>It is the wrong unit to ascribe to us and our link to food.<br>Why? Because it measures the energy of a food by burning it in something called a bomb calorimeter, and from this the experts tell us how much energy a food contains. But that is as a flame, as heat. <br>When was the last time you dropped some food in your stomach and set fire to it?<br>We use our food chemically.<br>So chemically you need to look at the timing of your foods.<br>To make this easy and brief:<br>Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen (those two combined can never be stored as body fat), so can be consumed 24 hours a day,<br>and since you are over 70% water as an organism you need plenty.<br><br>Other foods you can consume 24 hours a day include all the vegetables and salad items, since they are mostly water anyway. Again these are mainly hydrogen and oxygen, again these 2 together cannot be stored as body fat.<br>The obvious exceptions are the potato family which should not be consumed after 4pm or so. Potato's are made up of carbon hydrogen and oxygen, the same three elements that make up body fat, so if not used as an energy will be stored as fat.<br>The other 24 hour food group is meat, all meat, any meat, fish, red meat white meat, etc. (for health reasons one might limit processed meat, but I think most people know that by now)<br>Meat is made up from carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.<br>It is this nitrogen that is important it binds the other 3 together so that they cannot be turned into body fat by the body if it already has excess energy.<br>Finally you can consume dairy (preferably unsweetened) at any time with these. Dairy again has this nitrogen binder so these foods are not stored as body fat.<br>The foods to avoid after lunch include all the silly foods, the sweets, sugars and unfortunately alcohol, fizzy drinks, biscuits, anything that is sugar in essence, even by another name! <br>These foods are all simple forms of carbon hydrogen and oxygen, so can all be used as energy immediately, otherwise to stop them poisoning the body they have to be stored as body fat.<br>These foods are not digested by the body but raise the osmotic differential between the stomach and the blood, and so flood across the stomach lining, and into the blood, here they have to be used or stored so the only end result is more body fat.<br>The other food groups to avoid after say 4pm, are the famous complex carbs: breads, potato's, pastas, rice's, cereals.<br>It doesn't matter what colour they are. <br>They are made from carbon hydrogen and oxygen, so can be used as energy or stored as body fat, and since we have an excess of energy, they will be stored as body fat.<br>Finally fat is the odd one out, in terms of what we have been told. <br>Against all wisdom fat does not make us look fat, yes it will clog our arteries, and kill us if we are not careful with it, but it is not the fat you see on everyone.<br>The body produces bile in the stomach, we have all probably unfortunately tasted that when being sick, its only job is to emulsify fat, that is to break it down so it is passed through the body and expelled down the toilet.<br>So fat in meat is not the enemy, don't go looking for it to consume it, but be aware of it without avoiding it like the plague.<br>And of course the majority of fat free foods have sugar added which are far worse for your waistline then fat will ever be. <br><br>3 grams of fat on your body occupies the same space as only 1 gram of muscle. Fat is light but takes up room, muscle is dense, because it is full of water.<br>So I regularly reduced my female clients by one or more dress sizes, according to what is reasonable, but sometimes they do not lose that much weight, but were twice or three times as lean, so were toned and dress sizes less...they lose body fat, but their more efficient muscle stores more water, so they are denser, and leaner.<br>Weight should never be the issue. <br>Focus on dropping dress sizes, not weight, a far more healthy way to do it all.<br>we should be smaller, but denser!<br><br>I hope that might be of interest, and might help people along, please feel free to post any questions or queries...<br><br>good luck with it all this year...