by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: August 18, 2010

Weight loss is something many people are struggling with and so it is worth remembering that you’re not the only one desperately trying to shed those extra pounds.  It can be difficult to find the motivation you need to stick to a calorie-controlled diet and to exercise regularly, especially if you are only losing one or two pounds a week. This is the most sensible approach to weight loss, though, and is better than deciding to go on a crash diet where you will probably lose weight quickly but gain it all back within a short period of time. You therefore have to think about long-term weight management if you want to avoid piling on the pounds again.

This is where many people who successfully lose weight seem to fail. They can lose the weight easily enough, but then cannot keep the weight off. Clearly, following a fad diet where you have to cut out all kinds of foodstuffs to ensure you stick to as low calorie a diet as possible isn’t going to help you in the long run. You might be able to stick to this kind of restrictive diet for a couple of weeks or months, but will soon find yourself craving all those foods you’re not allowed. Once you give into temptation it can be hard to stop yourself and usually you will go back to your old diet, which makes it impossible to remain slim.

Consequently, you would be better off making adjustments to your diet that you don’t actually mind, since they are not so unusual that you want to just give up on your diet plans. You have to make an effort to find healthier alternatives to the junk food that you usually cram down your throat so that instead of eating chocolate as a snack you could opt to eat a pot of yoghurt instead, for instance.

Indeed, it is important that you make room in your diet plan for snacks if you’re going to be able to stick to it, as if you let yourself get very hungry you are more likely to lose control over your calorie consumption as you simply grab anything to fill yourself up. At meal times you need to be aware of portion sizes so that you don’t consume too many calories without realising it and so you may have to start measuring out your food until you are able to recognise what an acceptable quantity of food for you is.

As well as focusing on your eating habits you also have to make an effort to do more exercise, as this is the most effective way to speed up your metabolism, burn more calories and tone up.

If you learn to get the balance right when it comes to your eating and exercise habits you should increase your chances of weight-loss success so that you never find yourself needing to lose weight again.

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