7 TIPS TO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF
If dieting seems easy at first and slowly becomes more and more difficult, you may have reached the “dieting doldrums”. Learn how to stay on your weight loss track and avoid the common dieting pitfalls.
Each year millions of Americans begin some sort of weight loss program in an attempt to lose weight. While some may prove to be successful, a mere 20% will be able to maintain their loss. And to make matters worse, some will have regained all the weight they’ve lost plus additional weight leaving them fatter.
Losing weight is a tough battle in and of itself but keeping it off is even tougher. Here are 7 tips and tricks to combat the known pitfalls that can sabatoge your weight loss goal and help you successfully lose the weight and keep it off.
1) Scrap Your Scale: If you must weigh yourself, limit it to once a month or once a week if necessary. There may be meals that contain more salt than others and you may be carrying more water weight that day. Your body may be in a neutral mode and not be showing a loss that day. Whatever the case may be, weighing yourself every day can wreak havoc with your mind. You may become so depressed and angry that you immediately run to the kitchen and start consuming the first thing you get your hands on and it will almost always be the seven-layer chocolate cake you’ve hidden in the freezer for a special occasion. I’ve had clients who have weighed themselves every day, one girl weighed herself every hour! While that may be an obsessive person with a borderline eating disorder, we all need to be careful not to obsess about the numbers on the scale. Add to the fact that if you’re weight training as part of a weight loss program, muscle weighs more than fat and so the scale may be deceiving you.
2) Progress Past a Plateau: If you’ve reached a plateau and you find that you’ve stopped losing weight after weeks of dieting, don’t get discouraged and give up, you may just need a change in your routine. I like to refer to this as “shock training”. If you’re just dieting and not exercising, add some form of aerobic and/or weight training to your regime. If you have been exercising try changing your exercise routine, add more aerobic training or change the type of aerobic training you are currently doing. You may also need to make a change in what you’re eating. The idea is to shock your body by doing something out of your normal routine and then it will get back on the weight loss track.
3) Don’t Bail for a Binge: It may be a bad day, it may be a temporary loss of control, maybe it’s a special occasion, whatever the case may be, if you’ve gone off track don’t just give up for the rest of the day just because you’ve eaten something you shouldn’t have. You can still do a lot more damage during the remaining hours of the day if you continue eating whatever you want. A temporary slip is not going to sabatoge your entire dieting goal so don’t beat yourself up over it just get back on track the minute it’s over.
4) Help for Hunger Pains: When you’re between meals and you feel the urge to snack, try drinking an entire glass of water. It may sound funny but often times our bodies are just thirsty when we feel we are hungry. If you still feel hungry after drinking the water, choose your snacks wisely. Go for something with a lot of fiber, that way you’ll feel fuller faster. I always keep a bag of baby carrots or carrot chips in the refrigerator. They’re already washed, cut, and ready to eat. They’re even easy to grab a handful and take with you. Other vegetables and fruits work just as well, just wash and cut them up and have them ready to grab when you need a snack.
5) Seek Support: It isn’t always feasible to put the whole family on a diet and unless you live alone, the other people in the house may not want to live on carrot sticks and rice cakes. By all means try to enlist their help. Let them know you’re beginning a new weight loss regime and meals from now on will be healthier. The more people that know your goal, the more that can assist you. When it comes to snacks, try to only buy what your family likes and you could pass up.
6) Purge the Pantry: Before beginning a new healthy eating plan it’s important to get out with the old and make room for the new. If it’s not in the house, chances are you won’t eat it. Just be sure to fill it with wise food choices so you’ll always have healthy things to eat when you’re hungry.
7) Solicit the Chef: When eating out at a restaurant, don’t assume that everything on the menu is healthy for you. Ask about ingredients and preparation. If nothing presented seems healthy enough, ask if something on the menu could be prepared without the sauce or steamed instead of fried, etc.
These are just a few tips and tricks but there are many more. Find what works for you and stick with it. Once you lose the weight, do whatever you have to do to stay focused and determined to keep it off. Try not to make excuses for why you are not succeeding in your weight loss endeavors. Evaluate your daily life and routine and find out where your weak areas are so you can make changes. Even a situation like carrying excess weight from a pregnancy or pregnancies can be helped. Whatever your situation, learn how to make the proper changes to improve your body, mind, and health.