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"How much weight can I lose in a healthy way in six weeks?&amp;amp;#8212;alaineann, on glamour.com &amp;amp;#8220;I love that you say &amp;amp;#8216;in a healthy way&amp;amp;#8217;&amp;amp;#8212;because that&amp;amp;#8217;s key,&amp;amp;#8221; says Donald Hensrud, M.D., associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. &amp;amp;#8220;You could eat just jelly beans and drop weight, but it wouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t be good for you.&amp;amp;#8221; Generally, the recommendation is to lose no more than an average of about two pounds per week, or 12 pounds in six weeks. To drop more than that, you&amp;amp;#8217;d probably have to resort to the kind of extreme&amp;amp;#8212;and unsustainable&amp;amp;#8212;diet changes that can slow your metabolism. The only exception: If you&amp;amp;#8217;re very overweight, it is possible to lose more and still do it healthfully. No matter what your size, weight rarely comes off the same way for everyone. Some weeks, the scale might not change&amp;amp;#8212;then suddenly you might be four pounds down. &amp;amp;#8220;That&amp;amp;#8217;s the way weight loss works,&amp;amp;#8221; says Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center, &amp;amp;#8220;and it&amp;amp;#8217;s completely normal.&amp;amp;#8221; How do I know how much I need to eat to maintain or lose weight? &amp;amp;#8212;fitnessfille &amp;amp;#8220;An easy rule is to take your current body weight and multiply it by 13 if you&amp;amp;#8217;re moderately active&amp;amp;#8212;that&amp;amp;#8217;s about how many calories a day you need to stay where you are,&amp;amp;#8221; says Fernstrom. To lose weight, shave off a few hundred calories from what you eat every day, or burn it off with exercise. (But this will work only if you need to lose weight; check your BMI here to see whether you&amp;amp;#8217;re in a healthy range.) To gain weight, simply add a few hundred daily calories with healthy foods like an apple with peanut butter or a whole-grain pita with hummus. Is it possible to eat healthy without a lot of vegetables? I&amp;amp;#8217;m just not a fan. &amp;amp;#8212;rockstarH Alas, no&amp;amp;#8212;they&amp;amp;#8217;re crucial. Vegetables contain antioxidants and other good-for-you compounds that you simply can&amp;amp;#8217;t get from other foods, even fruits&amp;amp;#8212;or a multivitamin, says David Heber, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of What Color Is Your Diet? Variety is important too. &amp;amp;#8220;One study found that, of women who ate the same amount of vegetables, those who consumed 18 different kinds had far better disease and anti-aging protection than those who only had six types,&amp;amp;#8221; says Cynthia Sass, R.D., a New York City nutritionist and author of Cinch! Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches. But there is hope for you. &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;ve seen so many people develop a genuine taste for veggies,&amp;amp;#8221; says Sass. Start by topping your pizza with broccoli. Add carrots and spinach to chicken noodle soup. Gradually increase your veg horizons from there to hit at least three servings a day. And choose the most nutritious fruits possible, says Dr. Heber. &amp;amp;#8220;Generally, the darker they are&amp;amp;#8212;think blueberries, purple grapes, pomegranates, cranberries&amp;amp;#8212;the better.&amp;amp;#8221; MORE OF YOUR DIET QUESTIONS ANSWERED&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; I struggled with an eating disorder for years&amp;amp;#8212;is it possible I may have done permanent damage to my metabolism? &amp;amp;#8212;nicoleashley Women recovering from bulimia or anorexia do tend to have slower metabolisms than normal eaters. But once you adopt healthier habits and your body gets the message that it no longer has to cling to every calorie for dear life, says Fernstrom, your metabolism should return to normal, even if you&amp;amp;#8217;ve struggled with an eating disorder for years. &amp;amp;#8220;When your body trusts that you&amp;amp;#8217;re not going to starve it anymore, your metabolism will bounce back,&amp;amp;#8221; she says. What&amp;amp;#8217;s the difference between a carb and a calorie? &amp;amp;#8212;rawrr7 &amp;amp;#8220;The low-carb craze has led to a lot of confusion,&amp;amp;#8221; admits Sass. Here&amp;amp;#8217;s the deal: All foods are made up of carbohydrates, fat, protein or alcohol. All have calories, and how many calories you eat determines if your weight will go up or down. Fat and alcohol have more calories per gram than carbs or protein. &amp;amp;#8220;A low-calorie diet can be high in carbs, and a low-carb diet can be very high-calorie&amp;amp;#8212;so you could gain weight on one,&amp;amp;#8221; notes Sass. &amp;amp;#8220;Strive to keep calories under control&amp;amp;#8212;with carbs making up half your daily caloric intake.&amp;amp;#8221; I&amp;amp;#8217;m confused by fat. What&amp;amp;#8217;s good? What&amp;amp;#8217;s bad? &amp;amp;#8212;wln001 Remember the plant-animal-man rule. Fats that come from plants, such as olive oil, are healthful&amp;amp;#8212;they&amp;amp;#8217;re called monoun saturated fats and can lower heart disease risk, says Sass. Animal fats are the saturated kind and can harm your heart. &amp;amp;#8220;These tend to be hard at room temperature,&amp;amp;#8221; she explains. &amp;amp;#8220;Imagine your arteries as straws&amp;amp;#8212;now think about olive oil passing through them compared to butter or bacon grease. You can see how the latter leads to clogging.&amp;amp;#8221; One exception to the animal rule: Omega-3 fats found in fish such as salmon are excellent for you. And then there are man-made fats&amp;amp;#8212;most commonly, trans fats. They&amp;amp;#8217;re the worst. If you see hydrogenated on an ingredients list, the food contains trans fat. Steer clear. I&amp;amp;#8217;ve read you shouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t go below 1,200 calories a day, but if I eat more, I gain weight. Is it because of the fat content? &amp;amp;#8212;ulani132 Actually, no. &amp;amp;#8220;There&amp;amp;#8217;s little correlation between dietary fat content and weight,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Hensrud. &amp;amp;#8220;It all comes down to calories.&amp;amp;#8221; That said, you&amp;amp;#8217;re right that you shouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t eat less than 1,200 calories a day. If you find you&amp;amp;#8217;re gaining at that level or just above, don&amp;amp;#8217;t respond by starving yourself; just add a little exercise."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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