by Fiona Mather

Created on: August 05, 2011

Good habits are what are needed to maintain a healthy weight. It is all too easy to fall into bad habits, but good ones, some would say are not as easy to develop.

However do not despair, with practice and commitment it may be easier than you think to acquire more good habits than bad ones, which will help maintain a healthy weight.

Good habits are-

1) Healthy eating

2) Exercise

3) Enough sleep

4) Sensible alcohol intake

5) No smoking

6) Reduced stress

7) Address any health problems and try to prevent future ones.

1) Healthy eating. It is important to address your eating habits. Eating too much fast food and drinking fizzy drinks including so called diet ones, will not make it easy to maintain a healthy weight. Ditch the calorie laden non-nutritious junk food and stop guzzling the sugar filled or artificially sweetened drinks. Instead make a plan of what you will eat throughout the day. Always start the day with breakfast, even if it's only a banana. Eating breakfast is important and helps regulate your metabolism. It is a good idea to eat fruit on an empty stomach as it does not get the chance to ferment in the gut if preceded by other food,which will likely cause gas and abdominal bloating. Introduce beans, lentils,legumes and vegetables into your diet. You don't have to make changes all in one go, take it at your own pace this will then make adjusting your diet easier to manage. Cut out the cookies and cakes or at least reduce the amount of these high calorific foods. Do not make yourself miserable by withdrawing all the foods that you love completely or you will most likely want to binge on them at a later date. Try to eat at regular intervals and not in between meals. Grain foods are nutritious and keep you feeling fuller for longer. Find ways of making your favorite cookies and cakes healthier by baking them yourself with better ingredients. Herbal teas are refreshing and many contain vitamins and minerals that are good for you unlike any so called energy drink.

2) Exercise is important to burn off calories, therefore balancing out the calories you take in. Get medical advice before beginning strenuous exercise. It is wiser to start off slowly and build up an exercise plan to suit your age, fitness level and lifestyle. Walking is a good way to exercise and slowly build up stamina, exercising does not mean you have to go to a gym.

3) Sleep is important to maintaining

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