Weight loss is a billion dollar industry as millions of Americans search for the miracle pill or diet plan that will help them shed pounds of excess weight in under a week. The names of products perpetuate the myth by using words like; slim fast and mega-thin, and offer a panacea to rid a few extra pounds, but very few of them actually work, and when they do, the results are usually temporary.
If losing weight were only a matter of reduced food intake and increased exercise, everyone could do it easily, but I’m going to reveal the secret that all these weight loss experts will never tell you.
To maintain your ideal, healthy weight, you need only eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.
This works wonders for people who do not have an eating problem. The majority of individuals who eat for all other reasons execpt when they are hungry and continue eating long after they are full.
The real secret to successful, healthy and permanent weight loss is to change your relationship with food.
I use the term “relationship”, because people who are on diets use emotional relationship words to describe their eating habits. I love chocolate. I love ice cream. I was so good this week because I stayed on my diet. I cheated yesterday and feel so guilty because I ate dessert.
You need to permanently erase words like good and bad from your vocabulary when you’re talking about what you’re communing. Food relationships are all about choices. Like feelings, choices are not good or bad, they simply are. The more you deny yourself what you want to eat, the more you’re going to crave it. So, have it. You will be able to eat what you want as much as you want and still not only lose weight, but keep it off because you’ll be changing your choices of what you want and you’ll be satisfied with the amount you need.
Become aware of how you associate feelings with food. Replace “I feel sad, I’m going to have an ice cream cone” with “I feel sad, I’m going to buy a new pair of shoes.” “It’s my birthday, let’s all go out for a special dinner”, with “It’s my birthday, I’m going out to buy a new pair of shoes.” You won’t ever feel guilty about what you put in your mouth if you have something really great to put on your feet. And unlike food, shoes do not end up in the toilet at the end of the day.
Every meal, including breakfast, should be a culinary experience. With our very busy lives, most of us eat while we are doing other things; driving, watching TV, talking on the phone, sitting at the computer. While we are able to multi-task, the brain itself can only fully concentrate on one thing at a time. How many times have you sat at your desk at work eating your lunch and then have no recollection of where the food went when the plate was empty? If your brain doesn’t remember what you’ve eaten, neither will your stomach or your mouth and you will feel “hungry”.
Since it takes an average of 20 minutes before the message of being full is sent to the brain, during that 20 minutes you may actually feel “hungry” because the brain never recieved the message that you were eating. You’ll feel a lot fuller, a lot faster and never feel hungry if you allow yourself time to concentrate on your meal and truly enjoy eating.
Here area a few simple techniques to lose weight and keep it off
Listen to your body. Cravings are the bodies’s way to send a message to the brain that the body needs. A craving for a banana may mean the body needs potassium.
Don’t just eat; dine. Every meal, including breakfast, should be a culinary experience. Use the “good” china and silverware. Even if your program is one that supplies food, add your own color and design. You will be amazed at how much better a simple meat loaf will taste when you treat yourself like royalty.
Eat noisy foods. In order to help the brain “get the message” you need to eat “noisy” foods. Yogurt, in all its delicious low calorie flavors won’t satisfy you at all unless you add some “crunch” to munch. Add a pickle to a tuna sandwich. “Soft” foods such as pasta and ice cream may satisfy the craving for the taste, but not the mouth’s craving for the crunch! Chewing is exercise for the jaw and sound for the brain.
Set reasonable goals. Forget about losing 20 or 30 or more pounds by a certain time. Healthy weight loss is an average of 1 or 2 pounds a week. Anything more than that is not only unhealthy, but the faster you lose the weight, the easier your body will fight to put it back on. Forget about numbers and put in your mind that you want to weigh less by the end of the week, or month. Even if it’s only a quarter of a pound, you will feel successful.
Do not restrict your calorie intake below 1,200 a day. Your body has a built-in instinct for survival. If your calorie intake is below 1,200 for women and 1,400 for men, your body will think it is starving and will hold on to every ounce of fat for its very life. Your metabolism will slow to a crawl and not only will you have a difficult time losing weight, but the weight you do lose will come back, plus more, to protect your body from starvation.
Do not cut out any food type. A body is like a car. A car does not run on gas alone. It needs oil and water in order to operate at peak efficiently Your body needs carbs and fats as much as it does protein. Eliminating any one food, or eating only one type of food may result in rapid weight loss, but it will not last.
Don’t live in a dieter’s cage. Many dieters put themselves in a “cage” where they can restrict their eating until that glory day when their goal weight is reached. Once the door is open, they return to all those foods which put them on a diet in the first place. The goal is to change your relationship with food so you are making correct choices for the rest of your life.
Don’t let others pressure you. Food consumption is also about attitude. If you look depressed, or deprived because you’re “on a diet”, your friends are going to feel sorry for you and give you excuses to eat what you don’t really want.
At a party, when the hostess offers you some of her delicious dessert, don’t say “I can’t have that, I’m on a diet.” Instead say, “That looks great, I’ll have some later.” She doesn’t have to know that “later” could be in six months. Instead of saying “I’m on a diet and can’t eat the whatever” say “I lost (put any number here, even if it’s two) pounds and I feel fantastic!”
And never EVER say "I'm on a diet." which really means, you're on it, until you're off it. Instead, say, "I'm changing my relationship with food. For good.
At a party, when the hostess offers you some of her delicious dessert, don’t say “I can’t have that, I’m on a diet.” Instead say, “That looks great, I’ll have some later.” She doesn’t have to know that “later” could be in six months. Instead of saying “I’m on a diet and can’t eat the whatever” say “I lost (put any number here, even if it’s two) pounds and I feel fantastic!”
And never EVER say "I'm on a diet." which really means, you're on it, until you're off it. Instead, say, "I'm changing my relationship with food. For good.
Successful weight loss products not found in a book, or in pills, or in some new miracle dietary supplement.
The only product you’ll ever need is found in your own mind.
The only product you’ll ever need is found in your own mind.
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Christine McKellar
Bob Eckstein
King Kaufman
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
Of course, nothing is so rare as common sense.