If you are like every other yo-yo dieter out there, chances are you have
started and stopped several diet plans with no success. The first week
is easy. You’re full of excitement. You tell yourself “this time will be
different.” The second week is ok, a little harder than the first but
you’re still sticking to it. And then what happens? You bend the rules a
bit and start falling back into your old habits. Why does this happen?
Why do we go through this vicious cycle? I’ll tell you why. We are
focusing on the wrong goal. For whatever reason, we must not perceive
our weight loss as being “important enough” to achieve. So what would be
“important enough” to stick to our new healthy eating habits? Your
HEALTH! Nothing in this world is more important than the state of your
health. Think about it, your health affects everything else in your
life. Once our health is compromised we automatically change our lifestyle habits. Just look at President Clinton.
Not until he had the ultimate health scare did he really change his
eating and exercise habits. Let’s not wait until our bodies completely
have a break down before we decide to take care of ourselves. If you
feel lousy, everything you do that day is lousy. Likewise, if you feel
great, everything you do that day is great. So this year, let’s not
focus on just losing a few pounds, let’s focus on Health, the #1 thing
in our lives.
Ask yourself, “How important is my health to me? How do I want to
live the rest of my life? Sick and feeling horrible or healthy and
feeling vibrant? Do I want to play golf and tennis in my retirement or
do I want to spend it in the hospital?” The answer to these questions
will ultimately dictate your weight and your health for the future. Any
lifestyle habit that affects your health in a positive way will
automatically cause you to lose weight or maintain a good healthy
weight.
Follow this checklist towards health and you will see weight come off automatically.
1. Make the time to focus on health.
The number one reason people do not eat healthy or exercise is
because they “don’t have the time”. But why is it that once we get sick,
have a heart attack, are diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes or
cancer, we all of a sudden have the time? This doesn’t make any sense.
We wait until our bodies have become so ill to finally take measures
towards taking care of it. This is the equivalent to never getting an
oil change or servicing your car and letting it completely break down
before doing anything about it. Prioritize your day. What could possibly
be more important than your health? Your children, yes, I agree. But
guess what? If something happens to you, who will be there for your
children? I know that sounds terrible but it’s true. How many times have
we heard stories of young children losing parents to heart attacks and
strokes? Choose health not only for yourself but for your children as
well. Prioritize your day so that making healthy meal choices and
exercising are right at the top.
2. Take a long hard look at what you are putting into your body.
For one week, read every ingredient of every food you eat. This could
potentially be a scary experience. Some ingredient labels on packaged
foods sound more like a college chemistry class than anything we should
be eating. As a golden rule, if you can’t pronounce it, chances are you
shouldn’t be eating it. The majority of the foods you should be eating
shouldn’t even have an ingredients label. They should be vegetables,
fruits, raw nuts, chicken, fish, eggs, meat. If you make 90% of your
diet, fresh food, I guarantee you will significantly change your weight
and your health. No time to make fresh food? (please refer back to #1).
Cook more than one portion at a time when you do cook so that there are
always healthy leftovers in the fridge. You can always have for lunch
leftovers from the night before. Cook several portions of one meal and
freeze some. A good example of this is healthy soup or turkey chili. Put
a portion of chili in a small Tupperware and freeze. You can grab this
when in a hurry for lunch or dinner.
3. How much are you eating?
In the United States, our perception of one portion is extremely
distorted. Restaurant portions are about 3 times more than what we
should be eating in one sitting. If we become accustomed to seeing this
much food on our plate at a restaurant we tend to do the same when we
are at home and serve ourselves. According to a study by the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, women are eating 300 more calories a day
and men 168 more calories than 20 years ago. All it takes is 100 extra
calories a day to gain 10 pounds a year.
For one week, reduce your portions at lunch and dinner by half. There
is no need to “clean your plate”. Most times what’s on your plate is
double what you should be eating anyway. If you feel some hunger in the
afternoon, add one small apple with a handful of raw nuts as a snack.
Your body will quickly become accustomed to the smaller portions and you
will eventually not be able to eat as much in one sitting as you did
before. Remember, you have access to an abundance of food every day. You
don’t need to eat it all at once.
4. Drink WATER!
Dehydration has directly been linked to several forms of diseases
including colon cancer, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol
levels. Many people also mistake thirst for hunger. So it may not be
that you’re hungry all day, you may just be thirsty and dehydrated. In
due time, dehydration will cause a gradual gain in weight from
overeating as a direct result of confusion of thirst and hunger
sensations.
Take a look at what you are drinking each day.
Coffee or Soda (Diet Coke included)? The caffeine in both will dehydrate you even more and will cause you to feel hungrier during the day.
Diet drinks and sodas? The artificial sweetener actually enhances your appetite and increases food intake.
Orange Juice and other Fruit Juices? The sugar and calories
can add up to 10 teaspoons of sugar per drink, which can be anywhere
from 150-200 calories. Not to mention the fact that sugar eventually
makes you crave more sugar.
Every person should be drinking half of their body weight in ounces
of water each day. So if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be drinking 75
ounces of water each day. If you drink coffee or any other caffeinated
beverage during the day, the ounces of water needed increases.
5. How much do you move each day?
Your body was designed to move! Your heart is a muscle and must be
worked just like every other muscle in your body. You don’t have to join
a gym to move, you just have to challenge your body and your muscles
each and every day. The two best time saving exercise options I always
suggest to clients are:
1.Go for a walk. You can go for a walk anywhere and anytime. No time you say? Please refer back to rule #1.
2. Set up your home with some free weights and an exercise ball. You
will be amazed at the number of exercises you can do with just your
body, some free weights and a stability ball. If you don’t know how,
hire a trainer to show you or get a good book. Get into the routine of
scheduling your exercise time each and every day. No ifs, ands or buts.
Make your exercise time more important than phone calls, laundry,
errands or lunch dates.
Make a promise to yourself that this time will be about health, not
about short term weight loss. Really evaluate how you are treating your
body on an everyday basis. Is that the same way you would treat a highly
valuable, expensive piece of equipment? Because that’s what your body
is. There is no amount of money in the world that will buy you another
one, so you might as well take really good care of the one you got!
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