Archive for September, 2008

Realistic Goals

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

No matter what you do in life you will always get better results if you set some goals and the same applies with losing weight.

By setting goals you have something to aim for and by giving your weight-loss program purpose you will be more likely to realize your desired weight.

One thing you do have to be careful of however is to set goals that are realistic otherwise you be setting yourself up for disappointment and in doing so you won’t maintain your weight loss program.

You can set a long-term goal but you will also need to set more short term goals where you are only looking to lose smaller amounts of weight within a certain time span.

As you achieve these intermediate goals along the way that will drive you more towards your long-term goal and as you see the small amounts of weight coming off and the improvements that it will bring with it you will not only visualize yourself being at an optimum weight but you will also begin to believe that it is something that you can finally achieve.

When we talk about these intermediate goals you need to understand that you shouldn’t be weighing yourself every day as there can be fluctuations from one day to the next so a short-term goal should probably be no less than about two weeks as this will give you an opportunity to make changes on a relatively easy basis and give your body time to become adjusted and to actually see some results.

By weighing yourself every day the daily fluctuations could show that your weight hasn’t changed from one day to the next or in fact you could even weigh slightly more than the day prior if you weigh yourself at a different time during the day or after you have had a meal.

This can be quite disheartening whereas if you don’t weigh yourself for a two-week period and you have been sticking to some form of weight-loss program no matter how small that might be you will generally see some results that will be encouraging.

Don’t Make Dieting Difficult

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

The more difficult you make your diet the less likely you are to stick to it and succeed.

If you are constantly having to think about your diet throughout the day and keeping account of all the foods that you eat and the calories that you are counting then it becomes very difficult to maintain for the long-term and eventually those types of diets result in failure for most people.

By keeping your weight loss program simple you are going to achieve a lot better results because it allow you to get on with enjoying everyday life without having to think about food and cutting back on your food for all of your waking hours.

Even mention of the word diet has negative effects for many people because it immediately places restrictions on their lifestyle.

There are enough things to contend with in modern day life without having to constantly keep a track of what you’re eating although you do need to be aware of the types of food and the portions that you are consuming because this is what determines whether you gain or lose weight.

Healthy weight loss can be achieved quite simply by just reducing by small amounts the portions that you have at each meal even if you don’t change the types of foods you are eating.

This is generally the best way for people to start dieting as it doesn’t require anything that is too difficult and too hard to maintain for enough time to see results.

Once people see results from the weight-loss program then there is an incentive to carry on and do better and particularly if these results have come about by using simple techniques that haven’t burdened the enjoyment of life.

Before you start on any diets consider the consequences and how it will impose on your life and whether you have the type of personality that will allow you to maintain what is required for that particular program.

The Problem With Yo-Yo Dieting

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Is very common for people who yo-yo diet, where they are constantly taking off weight and putting it back on again, in an endless emotional roller coaster to end up weighing more than if they had never dieted in the first place.

The reason for this is the body begins to change in an effort to maintain energy levels and by doing so stores more fat.

This also causes the body to use less energy for all activities even when exercising and as a result it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight and even when you go on a similar diet to one you might have previously achieved some weight loss from it is likely that you won’t be able to lose the same amount of weight the next time around.

People who are constantly on yo-yo diets cause their metabolism to change to an extent where they require a bigger reduction in their calories than a normal person would to maintain their new weight due to the body’s new and reduced demand on energy.

This is linked to our evolution where food would often be scarce and the body adjusts accordingly to conserve and maintain its fat reserves when there is a shortage of food.

The downside of this happening is that after people go off these particular diets they tend to put on more weight than they were before they started and in doing so it becomes all the more difficult the next time to try and lose their additional weight so if you are the type of person who can’t stick to a particular program for any length of time then you are better not starting at all and just making small steps by reducing portions of food will have better results long-term and will be a lot easier to maintain.