Weight Loss – Getting Started Tips:
Achieve Your Ideal Weight and Size
Losing weight and keeping it off is not easy. Before you get started on a weight loss program, consider the following tips. They should help you reach your goal of obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight.
Set the Right Goals
Setting realistic goals is an important first step. Most people focus on just that one goal: weight loss. However, the most productive areas to focus on are the dietary and exercise changes that will lead to long-term weight control. Successful weight managers are those who select two or three goals at a time that they are willing to take on.
Keep in mind that effective goals are specific, attainable, and forgiving. For example, “exercise more” is a wonderful goal, but it’s not specific. “Walk five miles everyday” is specific and measurable, but is it attainable if you’re just starting out? “Walk 30 minutes every day” is more attainable, but what happens if you’re held up at work one day and there’s a thunderstorm during your walking time another day? “Walk 30 minutes, five days each week” is specific, attainable, and forgiving.
Reward Your Incremental Success
Rewards that you can control can be used to encourage you to attain your weight control goals, especially those that have been difficult for you to reach. An effective reward is something that is desirable, timely, and contingent on meeting your goal. Rewards may include treating yourself to a movie or music CD or taking an afternoon off from work or just an hour of quiet time away from family. Keep in mind that numerous small rewards, delivered for meeting smaller goals, are more effective than bigger rewards, requiring a long, difficult effort. It is best not to reward yourself with food.
Balance Your (Food) Checkbook
This means monitoring your eating behavior by observing and recording some aspect of your eating behavior, such as how many calories you eat in a day, how many servings of fruits and vegetables you eat per day, how often and for how long you exercise, etc., or an outcome of these behaviors, such as weight.
By balancing your food checkbook it really helps you determine how you are doing and what you need to do to meet your weight loss goals.
Avoid a Chain Reaction
If you know that being around certain people or social environments will cause you to potentially give into the moment and encourage you to undesirable behavior and take you off your path towards achieving your weight loss goal … avoidance is the best remedy. If you know that you are more likely to overeat while watching television or at a business meeting where they may have snacks readily available, learn to use a “stopper” to overcome these urges. An example of a stopper would be drinking a glass of water which often time assist the urge to pass quickly.
Another stopper could be pausing to take a long deep breath, gathering and balancing yourself, then a moment of silent self praise that you made it pass the test.
Get the (Fullness) Message
Changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less without feeling deprived. It takes 15 or more minutes for your brain to get the message you’ve been fed. So slow down the rate that you eat food. That will allow the “full” signal to begin to develop by the end of the meal. Eating lots of vegetables or fruit can also make you feel fuller. Another trick is to use smaller plates so that moderate portions do not appear meager. In addition, changing your eating schedule, or setting one, can help you reach your goal, especially if you tend to skip, or delay, meals and overeat later. Try your absolute best not to eat after 7:00 P.M.
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