What to Add to Lose Weight |
||
|
By |
||
|
|
||
| It’s after the holidays. The eating frenzy is over for a while. The parties with the cookies, candies, fattening dips and alcoholic ice cream beverages have taken their “tollhouse” on our bodies to tip the scales towards higher numbers for many of us. Yikes! Your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. Good. You have now resolved to do what the majority of people wish to do in the New Year. | ||
| As a friend of mine reminded me, “the first three letters of diet spell die!” Dieting means deprivation, loss, giving up some things. None of us like to give up anything that we already have except for fat. In order to lose weight, it is best to think about what to add into your life. This eliminates the feeling of being deprived that leads so many of us to rebound into binge eating. | ||
| Let’s start with exercising more. Make a date for starting your exercise and stick to it. It is great to make plans with a friend, your partner, or kids to get out to a spa, or do an aerobic activity. Set the date and start with a small increase of exercise. For example, walk around the block once or twice, get on the treadmill for 10 minutes. Don’t start out by overdoing it. If you do too much, you will get sore, feel it takes too long and you will likely sabotage all your good intentions. | ||
| Add small amounts of weights and start with one set of 10 with even 2 or 5 pounds if you are a beginner. It is proven that strengthening and toning small muscle fibers will increase your metabolism. Not only does weight training help strengthen bones and reduce osteoporosis, it also aids in keeping weight off because muscle burns more calories than fat. | ||
| Add to the frequency of times you eat a day, not to the total amount. Adding fruits, vegetables, and non-fat yogurt between meals for snacks in addition to having them at meals will help keep you stay filled up all day. You should never get physically hungry. Not only do fruits have sugar for a sweet taste, they are often good antioxidants especially if you are eating oranges, clementines, tangerines, and star fruit. | ||
| Add water to your day. If you insist on having colas, which have lots of sugar, caffeine, or sodium (if they are sugar-free), make yourself drink a full glass of cold water first. Make the drink you want to have a reward for drinking water. Eight glasses of water a day is good to flush out the fat keep you full and make your whole waste system more efficient. | ||
| Add observation and recording to your day. It is proven that when people write down everything they eat, they tend to eat less and better foods. Of course, you can cheat, but who are you fooling! Pay attention to emotional eating out of boredom, anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Eat when hungry, make phone calls or do activities when feeling down and out. | ||
| Finally, if you crave something, go get it. Go out of your way to have what you want. Buy one candy bar, for example, not a bag full of them. Don’t make it easy to have what you pig out on around the house. Get a small amount of it and enjoy! You need not suffer by never having the things you love. It is often better to satisfy a craving. Otherwise, you will resent your whole plan to lose weight. Eat what you are dying to have, rather then deprive yourself. Otherwise, you may obsess about it all day until you end up eating everything else in sight instead! Just try to eat this prized food in moderation and cut out other things to make up for the craving you wish to satisfy. | ||
| The more you do these things, the more you will want to eat right and exercise more. As you start adding healthy habits to your day, you will likely begin to notice changes slowly. Losing 2 pounds, a week is optimal for keeping weight off. Add to healthy lifestyles instead of dieting. This will help motivate a positive cycle of change. Good luck! | ||
|
This article was written by Dr. Laurel A. Sills, a Fully Licensed Clinical Psychologist (since 1987) and Life Coach. She provides direct, down-to-earth, short-term therapy with long-term results. She is passionate in her work and will help you stay motivated to change your life with regular commitment to changing habits in thinking and behaving. See her website at: www.DrLSills.com or www.BuildAStrongerYou.com |
||
|
Copyright 2006© Laurel A. Sills, Psy.D. All rights reserved Back to Articles |