Millions of Americans are fighting with weight issues, and for each person fighting their weight there is a diet or program out there promising to help shed the pounds. Many people want to go on a diet today, and wake up tomorrow skinny. To be successful in weight loss one must remember you didn't put it on over night , it won't come off overnight. If you think about it, those extra pounds that you put on, were acquired over a period of time. The healthy way to lose the weight and keep it off is a slow process. I'm going to show you some secrets to help you lose weight and keep it off for good.
The first thing you need to do is change your eating patterns. Don't go on a diet, but instead change your habits. Your successful weight loss , will result with some lifestyle changes. Look at your eating habits, and ask yourself a couple of questions: Am I eating enough? Am I eating too much? Yes if you do not eat enough throughout your day, you slow your metabolism down and your body stores all the fat you put into it. It is a good idea to try to eat 5-6 small meals throughout your day. Start your day off with a healthy breakfast. Including a protein, and a carbohydrate, a good breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal and a serving of fruit. Try eating something every 2-3 hours. I eat my breakfast, and mid morning snack, lunch, and mid afternoon snack, dinner, and then an evening snack.
If you keep track of the food you put in your mouth, you tend to eat more responsibly. You can get a spiral notebook, write down every bite you put into your mouth, include the number of calories, total fat grams, number of protein, and number of carbohydrates. Try to balance your food intake, there are several websites where you can find you ideal caloric, protein, carbohydrate and fat intake requirements. Find out your daily caloric needs for maintaining weight, and subtract by 500-700 calories per day. You eat healthier foods, you lose weight and you become healthier. Make sure to get a minimum of eight 8 ounce glasses of water daily, and at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. In your food journal keep track of the water you drink. Do not deny yourself the foods you enjoy in life, just try to eat smaller portions. Choose one day a week as your cheat day; this is the day that you increase your caloric intake by 20-30%. This keeps your body's metabolism from becoming complacent and slowing down. This is a good day to have that extra handful of M&Ms.
Exercise is a word, you didn't want to hear me use. You do need to increase your daily activity level to help you lose weight and keep it off. Don't think of this activity as exercise, instead find an activity you enjoy, walking, riding your bike, wrestling with your children. Be sure to get at least 30 minutes of this activity daily. Make it a habit, and make it fun that way it can be something you look forward to, not dread. While you are participating in your activity, be sure to challenge yourself and get your heart rate up a bit. This is good for heart health, and it helps to increase your metabolism. You must burn 3500 more calories than you consume to lose one pound. Try incorporating some weight training into your routine at least 3 days a week. Weight training builds muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat. Loss in muscle mass as you age results in weight gain. Counter act this weight gain, by muscle growth. If you keep track of your activities you will be sure to incorporate them into your daily routine.
I found that having a good support group is essential to weight loss. The support group you have could be from a variety of support groups. You can go to your local weight watchers group, or other weight loss support groups in your area, or you can gather your family and friends together to create your own support group. Use your support group to share your successes, failures, recipe ideas, exercise ideas and other inventive ways to help you succeed in losing your weight. Sharing in others successes helps to motivate you to reach your goals.
When you begin your new healthy lifestyle it is important to keep track of your successes. You should set short term goals and long term goals. Your goals could be weight-oriented, inches lost-oriented, or I want to fit into that little black dress-oriented. Be sure to take some body measurements, to do this you should measure your biceps, waist, hips and thighs. In 3-4 weeks take new measurements to see your progress and total inches lost. Also measure your progress by using the scale. Some find it helpful to step on the scale on a daily basis, others like to check their weight once a week or less often. Find the increments that work for you. Remember to weigh yourself at the same time of the day everytime you weigh yourself. Your body weight fluctuates 5 pounds throughout the day.
Weight loss is something that takes time and patience. You will have many bumps along the way. Do not get discouraged when you step on the scale and don't see the results you wanted. Just reassess the situation and see what you need to do to make sure you meet your goal for the next time. You are going to have parties and holidays that come up when you overeat, just pick yourself up and get back on the right track the next day. One party or holiday is not going to sabotage your weight loss if you get back on track right away. If you find one week you don't fare as well as other weeks go to your journal and see what you did different that helped you succeed for the week. Remember weight loss is a long journey. But you will make it to the end if you follow my advice and believe in yourself.