Here's my $0.02:
1) I'd like to get a couple of myths/misunderstanding out of the way. You can't lose weight and put muscle on at the same time, nor can you target a specific area for fat-loss. It's IMPOSSIBLE, it just doesn't biochemically work. Your body will not store proteins as muscle mass when your body is experiencing an overall caloric deficit. When you provide your body with less energy than it needs to run, it will attack stored resources for energy, these resources are stored fat and muscle mass. And when you exercise a specific area, the burn you feel is the work your doing on the muscle, it has nothing to do with burning fat in that specific area, the body doesn't work like that, you gradually lose fat from all over. Men will tend to lose their love handles and belly fat last, so don't be discouraged, the first time I lost weight, I was disappointed to not see the love handles change that much, but my arms and forearms got super lean and muscular-looking.
2) You're either eating at a caloric deficit or surplus (or breaking even). People who tell you that you just need to 'eat' regular don't know what they're talking about. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less than your body burns for energy.
3) Drink lots of water! This is key! Up to 1.5 gallons per day while dieting. Drink water before a meal to fill you up! It keeps you hydrated and will cut back your cravings. As you drink more water, your body will drop a lot of stored water, which'll be the quickest and easiest weight you'll lose. But don't drink more than 500ml at a time, otherwise you'll be stretching your stomach which ain't good. Also, avoid going over your 100% daily limit of sodium, this means cutting back on chips and the likes. It bloats you like mad. Alcohol does this too. Alcohol is not compatible with weight loss!
4) Exercise! Do HIIT training to save time and burn fat more efficiently. Basically bring your heart-rate up like mad (sprinting) for a short period, followed by a longer cool down (walking/light-jog), then you go back to high-intensity and then back to slowing down in continuous intervals. Look it up on Google to get more info. And don't forget to weight-train! You won't be building muscles because you're in a caloric deficit, but this is important in order to prevent your body from cannibalizing your muscle tissue for energy! You want it to concentrate on stored fat! You want to keep that muscle mass for sure, so use it by weight training, your body will understand this as a signal that the muscle tissue needs to be kept and it will avoid using it for energy.
5) Don't go all-out Atkin's, but definitely reduce carbohydrates. Traditionally, our diets have consisted of anywhere between 65-85% of carbohydrates! And for some reason we think the 15-20% of calories we ingest from fat are the reason we are overweight... not true! Calories from fat are not the reason that people are overweight! Most stored fat comes from carbohydrates! Make your calorie intake about 50-60% from proteins and about 30% carbs and 10-20% fat. Proteins are much more satisfying. 200 grams of protein will always be more satisfying than 200 grams of carbohydrates. Break up your meals into at least 3 meals a day, but 5 smaller meals stretched throughout the day is best.
6) SLEEP WELL! Sleep early and long. Lack of sleep usually results in worsened mood > lack of motivation > a need to make up for lack of energy (eating sugary, high-carb foods) and a weakened metabolism! Also, logically speaking, you are in fact 'fasting' when you sleep, so the longer you sleep, the more calories you burn by not eating (yeah).
7) Keep yourself motivated! Watch those weight-loss TV programs or just imagine the future-you, just do anything, keep a journal, get a training buddy, whatever! Also, the scale can either be your worst enemy or your best friend; wait at least 3 days before you weigh yourself, and make sure it's at the same time of day and make sure you've 'depleted' your body of anything that might add on to the weight, and of course, weigh yourself nude (duh)! And if you crash and binge one day, don't give up the next day! Just start up again on the dieting road, maybe revise your diet to avoid these crashes (maybe you're eating too little?) the difference between 90% compliance and 100% compliance is negligible, so don't be too hard on yourself. If anything, the odd high-calorie 'cheat' day will help your body maintain a better metabolism during your dieting period
8) COUNT as much stuff as possible. Get a kitchen balance to weigh out servings! You think you're eating a healthy bowl of cereal, but you've mounded 4-5 servings in that bowl! You think your eating 250 calories because it says so on the box, but that bowl you served yourself might be easily 1000 calories! Get measuring spoons and cups for liquids and semi-liquid foods! Count your calories! Count the amount of carbs, proteins and fats your are eating make sure you've got a good protein-sided ratio! Calculate your max heart rate for your cardiovascular training (important for HIIT!) calculate your basal metabolic rate and your daily caloric expenditure! (there are many calculators available on the Internet that give you a good estimate!) Go get your body fat percentage checked at a fitness club through water submersion. Go for an initial measurement and go back from time to time to see how you've done! Remember, weight means NOTHING only your body fat percentage matters as far as keeping in shape is concerned - you can be 6 foot and 350 pounds, but only have like 8% body fat. For rough estimates, also check out your BMI (google) but again, not accurate, does not take body-frame into mind so take your results with a grain of salt. Of course, use your scale just to know that you are losing weight in some shape or form, but you won't be certain where that weight lost is coming from (muscles or stored fat?)
9) I know this sounds strange, but your body's 'output' generally gives you a good idea about your diet! If your pee is orange/florescent-yellow it means you are dehydrated - reduce your intake of sugar, coffee, etc etc.. if you're taking a multi-vitamin, then its normal for your pee to be florescent-yellow. If your dumps are, uhm... clumpy, thick and large, you're probably eating too much food in general and you're not getting enough fibre in your diet or water for that matter, so eat fibre rich foods, mainly fruits (peaches, apricots, apples, prunes, etc) and whole grains. yogurt also helps quite a bit.
hehe
