Healthy Weight Loss: The individualized plan is the best plan (Part I)
Jul 21 '00
Healthy Weight Loss is perfectly balanced and achieved by a variety of different factors. Eating right, exercise, & your attitude will all come into play; but most importantly the best form of weight loss will be attained by choosing the right diet plan for you!
Of course there are numerous health & diet programs you could decide to try, or you could get advice from your physician, or you could merely come up with your own individualized plan to best meet your needs and one that will guarantee your weight loss success!
There is never a "quick fix plan" for loosing weight and keeping the weight off. Although a variety of different programs may help you loose weight, the key is will they help you keep it off; and is the plan you have chosen, one you are willing to commit to long term. Regardless of what you choose to help you loose the weight, you must always think about what behavioral patterns in your eating or exercise you will have to change to keep it off.
Healthy Weight Loss is achieved by those who have realistic goals & know the road may be long and hard, but are committed to making the necessary changes in their lifestyle in regards to their eating habits & exercise. Those who think they can use a diet program or products on a short term basis and then return to their former patterns; will never be successful in achieving their long term goals of a healthier you.
Dieting is serious business and should not be taken on lightly. For if you succeed in loosing the unwanted lbs., if you are not committed to change; the outcome is often a bigger set back. If change is not on your mind, when you decide you want to loose weight; you are not ready, "yet". Without change, the lbs. will come back, and more often then not; you will be heavier then before you ever went on that diet.
This can turn into a vicious cycle and leaves persons often depressed, even more so then they were before; because of a feeling of not only failure, but having to deal with the fact they weigh more then they ever did. This is where the term yo-yo dieting comes into place. Don't set yourself up for failure, set your mind on success; and loosing weight the healthy way, your way!
But change need not be such a chore, you would be surprised how the most minor of changes will bring about noticeable differences in your overall health & wellness. I would like to discuss the factors you should consider and the things that should be evaluated to help ensure your success in reaching your goals.
Evaluating your personal eating habits
This is one of the areas you need to look at and evaluate before undertaking any weight loss plan. A good idea is to make a list of the food you consume for a week, writing down every morsel that passes your lips. Write down the times the food is consumed, and during what activities; be it sitting watching TV, talking on the phone, etc.
Actually seeing what you are consuming & when, will give you an awareness that you may have not noticed previously. Quite possibly you may have not realized all the snacks you have throughout the day, that you tend to eat the most while on the phone, that you are eating most of your food at night. Once you have this in front of you, you now have the tools to begin deciding not only what diet plan would be best for you; but what type of changes you need to make in order to loose the weight you desire.
Now how about exercise, do you exercise? How much, what types, how long? Exercise can be anything from house cleaning, to playing outside with your kids, to good old jumping jacks in your living room while watching the T.V. There are plenty of things that you can do, that you may not be doing, to give yourself a kick start in the right direction.
Exercise need not be a dirty word, and it can be anything you choose. Most important, is it must something you enjoy and you are motivated to do. Don't like sit-ups, How about swimming? Don't like to run, How about playing a little tennis? All of us can find something we can do to stay healthy. Without exercise of some sort, dieting is almost fruitless. You must make the decision for yourself, that you have to incorporate some sort of exercise in your daily routine; that previously has not been there. Even so much as 30 minutes extra a day, can mean the difference between your success & failure.
Healthy Weight Loss is coming to terms with what you are really capable of limiting in terms of food. How much food, and/or what types of food can you learn to limit on a long term basis? Notice I did not say give up! You never have to give up, anything you love to eat; you just have to learn to control the portions of what you eat.
Realize that you can never loose too little weight! If you have cut back your food intake, implemented some sort of exercise into your daily routine, and after 2 weeks have gotten on the scale only to see you have dropped a total of 2-3 pounds; is not the reason to give up or get discouraged. On the contrary, you are succeeding!!! At that rate you could be loosing 6 lbs. a month, so in 3 months you will have dropped 18 lbs.! In 6 months 36 lbs! How many of you would love to drop an extra 20-30 lbs. You can! On your own terms, in your own time.
Remember Healthy Weight Loss takes time! There are no weekly or monthly success weight loss programs. The best program is the one that is done at a steady, small, yet consistent rate; with as much or as little change as the individual can remain committed to. These are the diet plans that have the greatest chance of long term success.
Healthy Weight Loss can begin any way you feel most comfortable with. Cutting back your food intake as little as 500 calories per day, can make a difference! This can come from giving up one snack a day (like a hostess cupcake) and decreasing your dinner meal alone by about 20%! Maybe you are motivated to cut back 1000 calories a day to begin with. Whatever you choose, have a plan & stick with it! A plan that is reasonable, flexible, and easy for you.
I suggest taking it on a weekly basis. At the beginning of the week, decide on your course of action and stick with it, even if it kills you. At the end of that week, you can re-evaluate your dietary needs and change your mind; and still loose weight and still be successful.
Maybe week #1, you decide to supplement breakfast and dinner with products such as Slim Fast shakes, and eat a normal dinner with little or no snacks. By the end of the week, maybe you don't feel as motivated anymore due to sheer hunger. That is okay, you have not failed, no far from it; you just need to take a closer look at what will work better for you.
So week #2, you decide you can only handle replacing one meal a day, and you need a least one nightly snack. At the end of the week, you feel better then the week before; because it was much easier for you. This is success! You still have made changes in your diet, you have given up one meal and are still limiting your snacks, and of course you have are doing your 30 minutes of daily exercise that you weren't before. Maybe, you are feeling good about yourself, even great- you should!
Week #3, you might continue as in week #2 or maybe you feel like you want to try again as in the first week. Again think realisticly, about what plan you are willing to make another week's commitment to. Then do it!
If you take your goals week by week, you are less likely to be disappointed. It is only one week, and at the end of that time; you always have the choice to change your mind and feel no guilt. Because Healthy Weight Loss is loosing weight on your own terms, and knowing you have the control to change your course at anytime and still be a success.
Healthy Weight Loss means rewarding yourself for a job well done! At the end of each week, plan to have something special on the first day of the new week. Whether it be, a good large portion of dinner & a great big sundae for dessert; or just being able to eat 3 meals that day, do it! It is only one day, and will not divert you from your loosing weight. Tell yourself you deserve it, and you do, enjoy whatever it is you choose to splurge on and enjoy it. Then go right back to your program the following day.
No, you don't want to work all week and then gorge yourself for a day (not at all) rather eat a little something extra and on top of what your diet regime calls for during the week. Do not give up your exercise on this day, continue with it as normal.
Healthy Weight Loss goes hand in hand with being emotionally healthy. If you are cutting back your food intake to the point where you are miserable; this is not healthy for your mind or your body. Make sure you are consuming enough food & enough of the types of food you enjoy to stay mentally happy & fit. Your state of mind is #1, above all else, and without the right attitude you cannot succeed. So keep yourself happy so you will be motivated to stick with your diet plan.
You should not think about dieting if you are depressed, or have had any recent major life changes such as moving, giving up something else such as smoking, have had a recent death in your family. This is not the time to take on such a serious commitment as weight loss. You should first give yourself time to deal with your other issues and until you are of a healthy mind, so you may be successful in having a healthy body.
What if your depression stems from the fact that you are unhappy with your physical appearance & your weight? Take a deep breath, put on a smile, and tell yourself you refuse to be a prisoner of your depression any longer. Yes, easier said then done. But you must convince yourself that you deserve to be happy at any weight. You are beautiful, no matter how much you weight or what you think.
But yes, most important is what "you" think. So if you must tell yourself you are unhappy with the fat image before you in the mirror, that is okay; but then tell yourself, you do not have to be a prisoner in that body and don't have to wallow in depression and think you can do nothing about it.
You have the power, you can change what you see, you are strong enough to do it for yourself and make yourself happy! Sit down with your paper & pen, & start today. Start on the road to making yourself healthier physically & most importantly mentally! Taking that first step is the hardest, but once you have done so; you will be surprised at how quickly you will start to feel better.
Because you have acknowledged that the image that currently stares back at you in the mirror, is one that makes you unhappy; you can now make up your mind: that you will no longer accept that fact without doing something, anything to try to change it! You will feel the power! Just making this one small, yet important decision, will start you on the road; the road to your success in your plan towards Healthy Weight Loss!
Healthy Weight Loss Part II, will discuss some of the tools that will come in handy to increase your awareness of the types of foods you eat, but will also discuss some of the foods you may want to avoid or decrease your consumption of, (to help lower your daily caloric intake), how you can make small changes to your food preparation and/or serving to lower calories, & healthy eating. Also provided are some online resources for different health & wellness calculators.
As well, I will be introducing a friend of mine who is currently at the end of his first week on his own individualized diet plan. As I write about different diet products in the coming weeks, you will be able to follow along with my friend and see how effective these really are as used with his diet.
So you will have a he said/she said look into how these products taste, how fulfilling they are, how effective they are in helping replace those meals and reduce calories. Please join me & my friend as we are so excited about his decision to be committed to finally loosing some weight and loosing it the healthy way; his way!
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
plaything
|
|
Member: Cassandra
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 74 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.