1. Diet is a lifestyle-not an event
Most people enter into a diet thinking it is going to be a short-term change to lose weight and they can go back to their old lifestyles after they finish losing weight, Wrong! To make a diet successful, people must understand that it is a lifestyle change-not an event. They need to realize that their old lifestyle is what made them gain weight in the first place and that is what needs to be the ultimate change.
2. Food Deprivation and Failure
People also choose to start diets suddenly removing various foods from their diets all at once. This causes a trigger in the mind to want the food more because it knows that it can’t have it anymore. Suddenly the mind only concentrates on the food it can’t have and the cravings start. If at first a person can resist, eventually they may give in and ‘cheat’ which can lead to feelings of failure causing the person to give up altogether.
3. Crash Diets and Metabolism
Another problem is crash diets, or diets where a person stop consuming enough calories to sustain them in the daily activities. This causes the body to ‘freak out’ and lower its metabolic rate and hold on to fat cells incase it needs more energy later. In some cases, a person can gain weight or lose their muscle tissue and not fat cells.
4. Loss of Nutrients
Diets that are limiting remove important nutrients from the body. No one-food group should be limited, especially a basic food group such as fruit or bread, which are popular to not eat during diets. By labeling these foods ‘bad’, people have categorized them into their mind and believe that eating them ever again will cause them to gain weight and fail.
5. Diets Equal Failure
Some people also feel that having to go on a diet means that they failed at life but that a diet will fix the problem. However, they have labeled a diet as a failure meaning they see themselves as a failure just for having to go on one.
6. Eating Disorders
Diets can also lead to eating disorders, which are lead to very serious health problems. A person may start limiting the calories they intake to dangerously low levels. When sustained for more that a short time such as a day of fasting, it can be deemed anorexia nervosa and leads to serious complications. A person may also focus mentally on the food they can’t have and eventually give in and binge on ‘bad’ foods. Feelings of guiltiness can follow with the desire not to fail so they then purge, known as Bulimia Nervosa. In some cases the person does not purge but feels guilty and eats even more. This leads to weight gain and is called ‘compulsive eating’.
Recommendations for Losing Weight
***Start small
Don’t expect to plan on losing 20 pounds in two weeks. Set small weight loss goals. Start by just losing 5 pounds and when that is done, try to lose 5 more.
***Get Active
Move around. It is recommended to get 30-60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week. Don’t expect to run a marathon after the first week but try to start walking quickly for 30 minutes and work up to a harder work out.
Habits of People who Have Successfully Lost Weight and Kept it Off
1. They establish reasonable goals for themselves such as 5 pounds first not 30
2. They plan
3. They get adequate sleep. Recommended 7-8 hours a night
4. They participate in regular physical activity. It is recommended to get as least 30-60 minutes .most days of the week
5. They eat a well balanced diet but calorie controlled
6. They eat 5-6 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and 2-3 snacks in-between
7. They self monitor- by keeping a journal and weighing themselves frequently
8. They participate in some sort of stress management such as yoga, tai chi, etc
9. The don’t let a ‘lapse’ become a ‘relapse’. If they mess up they recover from it and keep moving forward
10. They have a clear motivation and strong personal reasons for wanting to change
11. Persistence- they keep working at it even when it didn’t work the first time
12. They watched less TV. On average, they watch only t10 hours of sleep a night. The average US citizen watches 28 hours a week
13. They also eat plenty of fiber and calcium and drink lots of water
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