Making Weight Loss Easy And Permanent
Think about setting goals.
If you do set goals, set reasonable goals. Be prepared for the goal to change sometime down the line. If you set a goal for yourself, it should be attainable. But don’t say: I’m going to work out an hour a day, 7 days a week, eat 3 meals at 1000 calories and lose 15 pounds in a month. Do you really have time to put in an hour a day, 7 days a week for exercise? Can you really maintain 1000 calories a day? Do you want to? It’s tough for busy people to put in that kind of time.
I’m not big on goal setting, primarily because I rarely reach my intended goal. I tend to shoot too high, and when I don’t make it, I get discouraged. Using weight loss as an example, most of us, when starting a diet, will pick a number, so to speak: I need to lose 14,000 pounds. We have an idea in our minds of what we want the finished product to look like, and have at it; really giving no thought to what the reasonable weight loss might be for our particular situation, or what our ideal body weight is.
For instance: years ago, when I lost 80 pounds by following a low fat diet; I got to a point where I felt I still needed to lose 25 or 30 pounds. According to the height and weight charts, I was still 25 – 30 pounds overweight.
But I looked great. I was in the best shape of my life, I looked excellent in my clothes (if I do say so myself) but I was just determined to get the last 30 pounds off.
My body had different ideas, however.
No matter what I did: increase exercise intensity, change the workout, change my eating (and I was forever analyzing my diet), those last pounds refused to budge.
This was an endless source of frustration for me, because I just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t lose that last bit of weight. Drove me right up the wall. I couldn’t even lose another 5 pounds!
One of the men I worked with heard me whining about this issue with a friend. He summed it up rather neatly, I thought. He said, “Well, maybe you’re at the right weight for you, that’s why you’re not losing any more.”
Food for thought. It was eye opening, and I gave up trying to lose those last pounds. I stayed at that weight for years.
You can be flexible about it. Even if you don’t put in a whole hour everyday, simply try doing what you can. And don’t stress over it.
Watch Your Calories
It’s pure fallacy that if you eat below 1200 calories a day is the way to lose weight. Eating is important, and you need to eat enough to sustain yourself and lose weight. The key is what you eat. Find the happy medium for you. Throw in exercise, and this will help you to lose the weight faster and you’ll be able to keep it off. If you want to maintain weight loss for life: slow is the way to go.
Diet should be nutrient dense
I watch what I’m putting into my system. I don’t want to get malnourished, so I try to get in the nutrients I need.
Sugar – On my diet, I keep a sharp eye on sugar intake. I’m convinced that keeping my sugar down has helped me more than any diet ever has.
Next is fat – While I was very successful with low fat dieting, my gall bladder no longer likes it if I go too low. So I do eat fat by sticking to olive oil mainly, and I use Promise spread as well – but no more than a tablespoon a day, sometimes not at all. It depends. On those days we have a whole chicken, I no longer deprive myself of my favorite part: the skin!
Carbs – I only eat 100% whole wheat bread, pasta and cereal, although I do eat oats, bran, any of the healthy carbs. I try to keep it at 3 a day, but I don’t beat myself up if I need more. Sometimes I just do.
Protein – I used to be hugely careful of how much protein I ate. I don’t any longer. I seem to need more protein than I used to, and I consume it.
Vegetables – I eat at least 5 servings of vegetables a day. It’s not as hard as everybody seems to think it is. I can easily get my vegetable servings for the day in one of my snacks – and not go over 200 calories.
Fruit – At least 3 a day. Sometimes more. I’m not a big fruit freak, so I’m kind of limited here. And since I can’t eat the canned stuff anymore, I’m really limited.
When you can settle on a healthy and nutritious eating plan, that you are comfortable with, weight loss will be easier, and it will be easier to maintain that weight loss, You’ll be able to take whatever life decides to throw at you, and resist temptations.