Changes

* '''Count the Cost.''' Losing weight is hard and keeping the weight off can be even harder in the long run. It's important to understand the emotional costs involved in losing weight, as it requires self-deprivation. For most people, losing weight means going hungry and fighting the craving for some foods. It means long term changes in lifestyle, which takes commitment and tenacity.

* '''Check your goals. ''' Excess body fat will impair performance, but too little body fat can be worse than too much. Too little body fat will impair performance. The guidelines are a minimum of 5% for men and 16% for women, but accurate measurement reduces the usefulness of these numbers. A rule of thumb is that if you are plenty of energy and are free from infection you probably have enough body fat.

* '''Measure and record.''' Measuring your progress is a valuable motivator, and a way of checking if your approach is working. It is better to [[Body Fat Measures|Measure Body Fat]] as well as body weight, as the goal is to lose fat, not muscle. There is advice to only weigh yourself once a week, as the day to day changes are small and they can be disheartening. However, my experience as a runner my weight will vary due to hydration and [[Glycogen]] storage, especially when running longer distances or in the summer. I therefore weigh myself each day, but I look at the trend over a longer period of time. Losing or gaining a couple of pounds from one day to the next does not mean anything; what matters is this week’s average compared with last week’s average.

* '''Food Diary. ''' Keeping a diary of what you eat is a lot of hassle. There are web sites that make it easier to track your intake, but it's still a significant effort. You still have to read packages and for home cooked food, you have to do a lot of measuring and you have to record it all. However, the benefits of a food diary justify the effort, even if you only do it for a few days. Unless you know where your calories are coming from, it’s incredibly hard to adjust your intake. A food diary can also reveal any hidden 'calorie bombs', like that luxury coffee with 700 Calories.

==Food Types==

===Carbohydrates===

* '''Limit Artificial Sweeteners.''' Given a choice between a regular soda and a diet soda, the diet soda is generally less bad. However, there is evidence<ref name="sweetener"/> that artificial sweeteners can confuse the body’s internal gauge of calories consumed. This can lead to increased hunger and overeating. They can also damage the good bacteria in your gut and may cause cancer.

* '''Cut out high GI foods.''' The [[Glycemic Index]] (GI) is a measure of how fast a food raises your blood sugar. Obviously sugar has a high GI, but so do most bread and many other carbohydrate rich foods. Whole grain breads do not have much lower GI than white bread, as the flour is grown so fine that the [[Fiber]] does not slow digestion. See [[Carbohydrates and Glycemic Index]] for more details. Also check out http://www.montignac.com/en/ig_tableau.php and http://nutritiondata.self.com/

<ref name="mag">http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/magnesium/ Magnesium</ref>

<ref name="Dirty12">http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214 The dirty dozen</ref>

</references>