Is Weight Loss Really about Losing Weight?
Most so called "diets" on the market work, at least, to some extent. There is a commonality between most good eating programs, which is, the amount of calories you take in versus the amount of calories you "use" or burn.
Going on a "one type of food diets" will not be effective, and such a restricted diet defeats you mentally. Most diets are just too unrealistic for a person's lifestyle. Plus they don't supply enough basic nutritional needs for people to stay with them. Balance is the key and attitude is the key to keeping balance!! I'll say it again, "Balance is the key and attitude is the key to keeping balance!"
How do you look at food? Focus on what's important.
Ask yourself, "Why do I eat?" Most will say, "I eat because I have to." Well, think about it. Do you? If you eat just because you have to, then your choices will be more for taste.
If you ate with the attitude that food was fuel, then how would you eat? You may be more likely to make a quality choice. Your attitude toward food is very important! As far as weight loss goes, it's really more about how you feel and look to yourself. Not about the number of pounds lost, per se. A person can lose 100lbs. and still be unhealthy if proper exercise is lacking, or the weight loss was too rapid, etc. So its not all about "how much" weight a person loses. We have to stop thinking about dieting and focus more on overrall health, which may encompass losing some weight to get to a healthy state.
Pattern of eating
Do you drive the same way to work every day? Do you go to the same grocery store? Do you hang out with the same people most of the time? The same thing is true with your food.
Chances are you eat at the same time, gobble up the same food types and in most cases, you take in roughly the same amount of food on a weekly basis? Your body gets used to eating the same types and same amounts. As in exercise, it is really important to incorporate a variety of foods in our daily eating to keep it off guard, so to speak.
Is the TV your enemy?
Why do you think advertisements are so powerful? They spark something inside of you and immediately you find yourself on autopilot going to the refrigerator or the next fast food joint to get something you don't need. Recognize this so you can make better choices.
How much is enough? Control your portions.
Being aware of how much you eat at one time is very important. Even if you are eating the healthiest of foods constantly, keep in mind that balance is the key. Remember the saying "Too much of a good thing, can be bad". Even though some food may be considered a good food type, an extra hundred or two calories a few times a week adds up. Learn to push away from the table.
Plan Ahead
This may sound like common sense, but with our busy lifestyles, planning meals in advance is far from simple. However, planning is essential.
For most of us all we can do to just keep up with the day's activities, much less cook in advance. It really boils down to time management. If you have good choices in the refrigerator, you will be more likely to eat that food. When healthy foods are unavailable, you will go out of your way to the pantry, pizza parlor, or fast food restaurant for immediate gratification.
In a nut shell:
In some instances what we eat, when we eat it and how much we eat is due to a physiological reaction. However, it could be both emotional and physiological.
Diabetes is at an all-time high in adults and in teenagers. Often, when you wait too long in-between meals, blood sugar levels drop. This is when you may crave foods you normally don't eat.
One very easy practice to take is to try to control your blood sugar levels daily by watching the types, the amounts, and the times that you eat. Eating right has a lot to do with how you look at food, how much you eat and what you eat. Recognize if you have eating patterns. The patterns may be lifestyle, emotional, physically related or all the above. Planning meals and shopping ahead solves a lot of the poor decision making. Learn to push yourself away from the table. YOU WILL EAT TOMORROW!
If you have excessive eating habits, they may be emotionally related. Figure out your bad habits and counteract them.
Plan the week, if possible. You'll make better choices if you have better choices from which to choose.
Keep up with your progress. Make journal entries regarding your eating twice a month with times, types and amounts of food eaten.
Snacking throughout the day on healthy fruits and snacks helps overeating.
This isn't the nature channel where you have to eat until you burst. Eat until "comfortably" full.
Here's a trick: Try eating with your opposite hand. This will help control your portions.
As always, be sensible when it comes to food and your health. Most of weight loss is common sense, unfortunately, we live in a fast food society that doesn't use the common sense that often, especially, in relation to our eating habits.
Jeff Warner is a health and wellness researcher who is committed to finding the best solutions to weight loss problems to maintain overrall health. LOSE WEIGHT NOW! Discover a new way to shed those pounds and increase energy using the power of apples. Check out http://www.yourapplediet.com/
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