Long Term Weight Loss
It is so exciting to be able to say you've lost weight, to look in the mirror and actually see the results of your hard earned efforts. Even better is when friends, family and coworkers comment that “something is different” about you. Is it that there is less of you? Or is it your new found self confidence? Either way, it is certainly worth it to keep it off.
Many of the diet plans and programs on the market these days are very good but are hard to choose between, they tend to be expensive and are not always tailor made to suit our individual needs. Pills are expensive as well and some have undesirable side effects. One other thing to consider is, what happens when we lose the weight and stop using them?
If healthy, permanent weight loss is your goal, then you must make changes to your lifestyle in order to make it work. Admittedly, it is not the fastest way to lose weight, but the extra pounds you are carrying around didn't get there overnight. Trying and failing at methods that don't work for you, takes much longer, wastes more time than taking a few unhealthy habits and trading them in for healthy weight loss.
While some behaviours may be easy to give up, others you will find are not too difficult, it all depends on your level of commitment to your weight loss goal.
Get Rid of The Junk Food
Keep it out of the house. This not only requires strength on your part, but everyone in your household as well. A good way to do this is to substitute an unhealthy snack for a healthy one; potato chips for fruit such as grapes or cherries, corn chips for unsalted almonds, you get the idea. It also helps to curb that mindless snacking in front of the television. Encouraging this change will benefit all members of your family as well as help you lose the weight.
Stop Drinking Soft Drinks
Whether it is diet or not, soda just isn't a healthy choice of drink. The non-diet are the worst of the lot with all that sugar and empty calories, it just seems to make you thirsty for more. The diet soda's are not much better, the gas makes you feel full for a time but when that wears off, makes you feel twice as hungry. Substitute pop for water (eight glasses/ 64oz/ two litres), if you really don't like plain water, add a low calorie flavouring to it such as crystal lite. It will be worth the sacrifice in the end.
Eat Breakfast
Get your day started right. Not a morning eater? A good way to get your morning nutrition might then be, a meal replacement shake such as slim fast optima, ensure or boost. This will help to regulate your blood sugar first thing, give you energy, and deter extra snacking and overeating for the rest of the day.
Quit When You Are Full
That is to say, when you no longer feel hungry, push the plate away rather than eating until you are "stuffed, this leaves room in your tummy for the food to digest properly and thoroughly. Get rid of the leftovers on the plate to prevent "picking'. Eating smaller more frequent meals helps to keep you from overeating in one sitting as well.
If we make a few small changes to our daily habits that can alter the way look and feel, then isn't the sacrifice worth it in the long run? These small changes to your diet may not be visible right away, but will help over time. You can never go wrong when you foster healthy habits.
