Self Improvement help: I weigh about 205 pounds and want to burn off all the loose fat - Help.com

hi olivarezice - I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I was a truly fat kid, and it wasn’t until college that I started burning all of the fat off. Since then, I’ve generally been able to keep my weight under control. Here are things that I have learned, and that have worked for me:

1. Exercise regularly — my thing has been to get on the treadmill and run at least every other day, for at least twenty minutes at a stretch. The key is to get your heart rate up and keep it up. To do this you have got to be in-motion the whole time. What I’ve found was that this kind of exercise helped me to get my metabolism up, and it was not only up for the days that I ran, but even my off-days. If running is too much you could try speed walking too, there are surely other activities as well. With tennis, from my experience, I was too often stationary, and then sprinting in short bursts, and it never truly helped with weight control (though I love tennis, and it’s a lot of fun).

2. Watch the carbs — I tried the south beach diet, and it in fact helped, but I haven’t been self-disciplined enough to stay with it. I’ve cut back on my intake of pasta (which I LOVE, unfortunately), and try only to eat whole-wheat bread. And yes, beer and full-sugar sodas — I have found that nothing caused me to put weight on faster full-sugar soda drinks (as a kid) or beer.

Hope this helped. Please be sure to fill in your ‘About Me’ post by the way. There are lots of other people on Help.com who will be able to benefit from your experience.