Do you believe it's simple to lose weight? If you listen to the weight loss industry, you've been told over and over how easy it is--just take this pill, follow that diet or buy this piece of equipment and everything will melt away in a flash. In fact, we spend over $30 billion each year on weight loss products and yet we're still overweight. Is weight loss really that simple?
Complex Problems, Simple Solutions
The idea behind weight loss is simple--burn more calories than you eat. This can be accomplished by replacing a couple of sodas with water and adding 20 minutes of walking each day. Sounds simple...and it is. If it's that simple, why can't we seem to do it?
There are a number of factors that contribute to our
weight gain that you already know. But it's not
just about finding time to exercise or choosing
the salad over the burger--it's about genuine
commitment to make healthy decisions every day....REGARDLESS
of what's happening in your life. If you're not
ready to make some changes, losing weight will be
hard. Below are 10 things you'll need to look at in
order to get yourself on a healthy track.
1. Your Attitude. If you're only on a health
kick to lose weight or look a certain way, it will
be hard to lose weight permanently. Why? Because,
what happens if you don't see results quickly
enough? You give up. Weight loss is a great goal,
but unless you have something else to motivate you,
what's to keep you going if the scale doesn't budge?
It takes time to lose weight--how will you motivate
yourself in the meantime? Find more reasons to be
healthy--having more energy, dealing with health
problems or wanting to live longer to be around for
your kids. Those are some darned good reasons, if
you ask me.
2. Your Workouts. If you don't workout
consistently enough, it's hard to lose weight. Yes,
it's possible to lose weight through diet alone, but
you'll likely hit a plateau. You don't need to spend
hours in the gym, you only need to set up a
reasonable workout schedule that you can follow each
week. It's not about killing yourself with
workouts--it's about finding something you like and
that you'll continue with for the rest of your life.
You have to be willing to be more active on a
regular basis--not just for a week here and there.
3. Your Eating. Changing the way you eat is
another thing you're going to have to do for
long-lasting weight loss. You need to be willing to
replace unhealthy foods with healthier choices--every
single day. This might mean:
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Keeping a food journal
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Spending more time in the grocery store reading food labels
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Spending more time preparing meals
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Saying no to extra portions
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Making conscious choices about what you put in your mouth.
For
permanent weight loss, you need to pay attention to
what you eat and make good choices more often than
not. Maybe a structured diet eventually ends, but
healthy eating never stops...there will never be a
time when you're done eating healthy. You might feel
you're sacrificing the good stuff (pizza, fast food,
etc.) and your life won't be fun if you can't have
those foods. Guess what? You can still have
them...just not whenever you want. Are you ready to
make these changes? Are you ready to stop giving
your body the most convenient thing available (and
often the most fatty) and, instead, spend time
planning what and when you'll eat? Because that's
what it takes to get healthy...permanently.
4. Your Lifestyle. If you want a healthy
life, you have to be willing to change how you live.
It doesn't mean changing everything overnight, but
simply being open to new ways of doing things. Some
things you might need to change for a healthy life
are:
-
Daily Routines. You may need to get up earlier to prepare your lunch or squeeze in a workout, use your lunch hour for exercise or go for a walk after work instead of watching TV. Are you willing to do this?
-
Limits. You might need to set new rules for yourself limiting how much TV you watch or how long you sit at the computer. You'll need to pay attention to how you spend your time and where you're out of balance so you can add more movement.
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Your Pantry. I'm the kind of person who will eat an entire bag of Potato Chips if they're in the house. That means I don't keep them in the house. If you want to be healthy, you may need to get rid of those foods you just can't resist.
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Your Schedule. If you're not willing to sit down and change the way you live each day to include exercise, time to prepare meals and time to nurture yourself with sleep, it's hard to lose weight. People use busy schedules as an excuse not to be healthy...are you one of them? If you're not ready to take responsibility for the schedule you've created, it will be hard to lose weight.
5.
Your Surroundings. Sometimes, you can't
control the things around you. At work, you may be
surrounded by temptations--donuts, vending machines
and the like. That's just one thing you have to deal
with...but what about your home? Surround yourself
with things that will support you in your efforts to
get healthy. That might mean spending some money on
home workout equipment, setting up a corner of the
house for your gear. Set up an environment that
encourages those healthy choices and reminds you of
them--just walking into my kitchen and seeing that
bowl of fresh fruit is often enough to remind me of
all the healthy choices I'll need to make that day.
6. Your Support System. While getting healthy
may be something you're doing on your own, it's a
big help to have a support system. At the very
least, family members who understand what you're
doing and are either willing to participate or help.
If you have a spouse who wants to continue eating
the kinds of foods that tempt you, you need a plan
to deal with that so you can still reach your goals
and keep your relationship together. Try to surround
yourself with people who support what you're doing
and avoid those people (like that co-worker who
always offers you a donut even though you refuse on
a daily basis) who don't. A workout buddy is also an
excellent idea for support.
7. Your Spiritual and Mental Health. If you
have other reasons for being overweight--past hurts
that you've used food to deal with, depression or
other problems, it's hard to lose weight. For many
of us, food is a comfort and something we've relied
on all of our lives to help us deal with emotional
problems. If that's the case for you, pinpointing
those behaviors and what drives them is important
for becoming aware of what you're doing and why. A
counselor can help you with this or take some time
to read about emotional eating. Be willing to learn
why you make the choices you make and to confront
them.
8. Your Goals. If you've set impossible
goals, you are guaranteed to fail. Weight loss
becomes hard to achieve if you feel like a constant
failure...who wants to feel like that? If that's how
your weight loss experience is, it's no wonder you
keep quitting. The key is to set reasonable goals.
So what is reasonable? That's going to be different
for each person depending on your genetics, eating
habits, exercise, and metabolism to name a
few. You're better off setting a long-term goal
(whether it's to lose weight or compete in a race)
and then focusing your attention on daily or weekly
goals. Your weekly goal might be to get in 3 cardio
workouts, minimum. Pick things you KNOW you'll
achieve so you're always successful. It can be as
small as you like, as long as it's reachable.
9. Your Flexibility. You hear a lot about
lifestyle changes, but it's daily choices that
really test you. What happens if you have to work
late and you can't get to the gym? Or what if you
get stuck in traffic and miss your fitness class?
Any number of things can happen in a day that may
throw you off track. The trick is to be flexible. It
helps if you're always prepared--keep some
workout shoes in the car so you can stop off at the
park for a quick walk. Keep some food handy
so if you get stuck in traffic, you get a snack in
before your workout. Often people skip workouts
because something comes up and they simply aren't
ready for it or they aren't willing to give
themselves other options--can't do 45 minutes?
Why not just do 10? Something is always better than
nothing.
10. Your Willingness to Fail. You will not be
perfect every day. As a perfectionist, I have to say
that is a frustrating concept for me but, the truth
is, everyone (even perfectionists) has good days and
bad days. On the good days, you'll eat all your
fruits and veggies, say no to that pizza and do your
workout even though you're tired. On the bad days,
you'll wake up late, forget to bring your lunch,
have an extra piece of cake at your friend's
birthday party and skip your workout. The bad days
will happen if you're a human being.
The trick is to never give up, even when you
mess up. You're not a loser just because you make
some mistakes...you're simply a person trying his or
her best to make good decisions.
