I am on a diet. Have you ever told someone this? Did your diet work, a month later, a year later, a decade later? Maybe you are one of the few fortunate ones who went on a diet and keep the weight off. Studies continue to show that sometimes upwards of 90% of diets fail, yet advertisers continue to profit from this very lucrative growing industry.
Unfortunately we often associate having to give something up that we want to lose the weight so it is a constant yo-yo battle with dealing with the pain of giving something up and the pleasure of indulging in what we enjoy.
We gain the weight over years or decades and then we all of the sudden think it will work to go on a diet and lose it immediately. We live in an instant society expecting instant results, especially when it comes to weight lose.
If you fit into the above scenario then maybe you need to look at a different approach to weight lose. Most people who are over weight are also not in their best of health. Being overweight often is what leads to other long term diseases that do not show up until you are later on in years.
Rather than focusing on losing weight what if you focused on making small lifestyle changes that in the end will give you better health, making you feel better and weight lose will be, shall we say a side effect or benefit.
Listed below are several lifestyle changes you can work towards making. Do not try and do them all at once. The goal is to create new lifestyle habits. A new habit takes different amounts of time for different people. You know you have mastered a new habit when you no longer have to think about it but it becomes apart of your everyday life without even being aware of it.
Find a support partner (spouse, friend,etc) who will hold you accountable to the new lifestyle habit you are working towards. If you can do it together with someone you live with, all the better.
Do not beat yourself up by weighing yourself constantly. Weigh yourself maximum once a month first thing in the morning. Even if you only lost 2 pounds a month that would be 24 pounds a year. I do not know anyone who would not look and feel better if they lost 24 ponds in one year and kept if off by making lifestyle changes. A lifestyle is not what you do everyday, all the time but is the norm rather than the exception. There will be days when you do not get accomplished what you want. Its ok. Tomorrow is a new day, life is a journey not a destination. Enjoy the changes you are working towards that will give you better health, make you feel better and last but not least look better.
- 1. Drink more pure, clean water. Dietitians for years have been promoting this but most of us are still behind. Drink reverse osmosis or distilled water if possible. Our bodies are like camels. If we do not drink enough water, often enough our bodies will conserve what water we do give it. In other words, water retention. We are mostly water. Toxins build up in the body when we do not get enough water. Shoot for that average of 8 glasses per day. You will need significantly more if you perspire from exercise or being out on a hot day.
- 2. Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning preferably with a half squeezed fresh lemon.
- 3. Drink a glass of water before you go to bed at night. The average person loses between a pint and a quart of water every night just through evaporation.
- 4. Do not eat 3 hours prior to going to bed. Give your digestive tract a chance to catch up and clean out.
- 5. Try to get more sleep. Every hour of sleep prior to midnight greatly improves the quality of sleep you receive. The average person today gets about 7 hours of sleep. 100 years ago the average person had 9 hours of sleep. Are you getting enough?
- 6. Eliminate empty calories from your diet.
- 7. White Flour
- 8. White Sugar
- 9. Table Salt
- 10. Do not snack between meals.
- 11. Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
- 12. Avoid refined foods. That’s all that stuff in the middle of the grocery store. The fresher more wholesome food is usually sold on the outside perimeter of the store.
- 13. Eat 2 apples a day. Eat fruit at the beginning of a meal not at the end especially of you are eating meat. Your gut will love you for it. Fruit digests very quickly (as little as 15 minutes) whereas meat can take days to digest.
- 14. Eat more fiber. Fiber fills you up, satisfies your hunger, helps eliminate toxins out of the body,etc. Try oatmeal sweetened with raisins or other fruit. Do not use the packaged sweetened kinds of oatmeal.
- 15. Eliminate junk food. Pop, chips, candy bars etc. If you must drink pop drink the real stuff with real sugar. Avoid artificial sweeteners when they advertise one calorie soda pops. You will gain more weight drinking the fake pops than the real pop. One order of New York Fries is about 800 calories. Avoid all deep fried foods.
- 16. I cannot remember how many of my friends say when we go out to dinner that they are just going to order a salad as they are trying to lose weight. Then they order a caesar salad. It is one of the most calorie laden foods you can eat because of the dressing. If you must eat a salad try eating it undressed or order your dressing on the side and use it sparingly.
- 17. Do not drink fluid with your meal. Have fluids an hour before your meal or an hour after your meal. Do not burden your digestive tract more than you have to by diluting your digestive juices in your mouth and your digestive tract.
- 18. Once again by drinking a glass or two of water an hour before a meal will help fill you up so you eat less.
- 19. Start reading food labels. You will be surprised at what you thought was healthy may not be so healthy after all. If the first few ingredients is some for of sugar or oil stay away.
- 20. Last but not least. Exercise. I know you are busy. You hate exercise and this is your biggest hurdle. You will have all the time in the world though when you are 6 feet under pushing up daisies. And if you are fortunate enough to live to a ripe old age how will the quality of your life be? Will you be in a wheel chair or in the hospital due to some lifestyle disease? Again you will have all sorts of time.
What do you enjoy that is active? Exercise does not have to mean you are a marathon runner or a competitive bodybuilder. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise. Start off walking around the block. Start doing something that you enjoy and slowly increase it.
It is hard to be healthy when you are a couch potato. Exercise burns calories, speeds up metabolism and just plain makes you feel better.
Try to do some form of exercise first thing in the morning prior to doing anything else (except for that glass of water with lemon juice). By doing this you will benefit from an increased metabolism during the day and more energy.
Don’t take the elevator, take the stairs, at least part way.
Park a few blocks from work and walk.
Get a dog so you have to take him for a walk.
Ride a bike even if you can only squeeze it in on an exercise bike during the news or your favorite tv program.
Eliminate a red meat meal and replace it with a vegetarian meal once a week or more if you are up to it.
21. Make it a point to start learning about being healthy. It can be fun educational and your body will love you for it.
Here are a few recommendations to get you started.