What's the best diet to go on?!

[neelym2011]

Ive been trying to lose a little bit of weight that I gained over the holidays before summer got here. So, I went to talk to my doctor about it and she told me I should do a low sodium diet to help me lose water weight and I should work out 30 minutes a day. She said not to have more than 2,000mg of sodium a day. It is really hard to find low sodium stuff, everything has sodium in it. Even stuff you wouldnt think of. What are some other good diets to go on or tips lose weight faster?! What are some good recipies for low sodium diets?!

[vashti]

Low sodium diets aren't used for weight loss (although you may lose some water). They are used for blood pressure issues. If you want to lose fat, you should go to Weight Watchers. It's the healthiest and easiest to maintain.

[neelym2011]

Oh really, I didnt know that. Thanks for letting me know hun. I appreciate it. I dont have blood pressure issues..well that I know of.

[AirbenderAang]

Eat less calories and substitute healthier things for unhealthy things. Exercise more. Do weight training to try to gain a little muscle mass.

[neelym2011]

Thanks for your advice Airbender (:
Ive already substituted my unhealthy eating habits for healthy ones.
Im trying to exercise anywhere from 30 to 45 mins a day, yesterday I walked 40 mins on the treadmill and burned 132 calories.
What size weights should I start out doing?!

[AirbenderAang]

For women generally the easiest way to lose weight is usually through the diet. For men generally the easiest way to lose weight is to up the activity. In either case the key is to burn more calories than you consume.

Although weight training is great for body composition, many people find weight training not the easiest way to burn calories. For that reason, I recommend you keep weight training a small component of your exercise program. Even doing a little weight training can help you tone up different areas of your body. To keep things simple, you could easily do 10-15 minutes of weight training and then immediately move on to cardio afterward. With weight training, in order to get the most bang for your buck, you target the largest muscle groups. Also to keep things simple, you could do a basic full body work for newbies in as little as 3 exercises.

A basic full body work out includes:
1)lunges, (works your entire legs, plus core) Note a full rep is doing a lunge on each leg
I would recommend just doing your body weight.

2)push-ups/ girlie push-ups (works chests, arms (triceps), core, and shoulders)
I would recommend just doing your body weight

3)lat pulldown (works back and arms(biceps)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3kAMDNjtt4]YouTube - The Lat Machine Pulldown by www.building-muscle101.com[/url]
or
dumbbell bent over row (works back and biceps and this one also works your core a little too)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYcpY20QaE8]YouTube - How To: Dumbbell Bent-Over Row (Home & Gym)[/url]
Note a full rep is doing a "row" with each arm

For each exercise shoot for 12-15 repetitions. If you are using your body weight and can't do 12-15 repetitions, then do what you can and work up to it. If you can do more than 15, then make the exercise harder or find a harder exercise that targets similar muscle group.

Do 3 sets of each exercise. Rest about 60-90 seconds after each set. If you want you can even give yourself a couple minutes of rest, but just know that doing so makes your work outs take considerably longer. If you want you can combine exercises into what they call a super set. A super set is two or more exercises in a row, followed by a rest break.Then in your rest break you rest the normal amount of time. Then you repeat the process until you do 3 sets of each exercise. Super sets speed things up and they give you a higher intensity work out.

Also, if you scutinize your diet even more you can probably come up with even more ways substitute healthier foods for unhealthy foods. When you are eating less calories, you want each calorie to be even more nutrient dense. Also the most nutrient dense foods happen to usually be among the most filling foods. And lastly, never try to lose weight too fast.