Tuesday, September 10, 2013

healthy living



Long-term weight loss is not an easy goal to achieve, for one very important reason: it’s hard to change old habits. You might do well sticking to a diet for the short-term, but for the long-term, habits will rule. You want to start a new diet, but the old eating habits don’t die easily. I’ll show you how to change your habits, but first let’s take a brief look at what habits to form.

The Habits


The specific habits you form to lose weight are very personal, but here’s an idea to get you started:



  • Eat whole foods — whole grains, nuts, seeds, veggies, fruits, non-fried protein — instead of sweets, fried foods, processed carbs.

  • Exercise each day — walk, do some bodyweight exercises, run, do a short intense workout, etc.


How to Form the Habits


Habits are formed by tying a habit to a trigger, and repeating it a bunch of times until it becomes automatic. We’ll solve that in this habit plan:



  • Replace an old habit with the new habit. Start with just one habit for now, to make it more likely that it’ll stick. Let’s say you want to eat more veggies. Instead of snacking on chips or sweets in the afternoon, snack on carrots/broccoli and hummus.

  • Keep the habit small. We tend to be ambitious and do a lot at first. Then we crash and do nothing. But in the beginning, keep it small if you want it to stick.

  • Focus on the enjoyment. Instead of thinking, “I have to do this” think, “I get to do this.” And enjoy the crap out of it. Then the habit itself becomes the reward.

  • Have some accountability. Commit to doing something really embarrassing if you don’t stick to the habit each week.


So what are we to do? Before you get started on a weight loss program, consider the following tips. They should help you reach the goal of obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight.


Set the Right Weight Loss Goals


Setting effective weight loss goals is an important first step. Keep in mind that effective weight loss goals are specific, attainable, and forgiving. For example, "exercise more" is a wonderful goal, but it's not specific. Walk 30 minutes, five days each week" is specific, attainable, and forgiving.


Reward Weight Loss Success, But Not With Food!


An effective reward is something that is desirable, timely, and contingent on meeting your goal. Rewards may include treating yourself to a movie or massage, taking an afternoon off from work, or just an hour of time to yourself. Keep in mind that numerous small rewards, delivered for meeting smaller goals, are more effective than bigger rewards, requiring a long, difficult effort.


Balance Your Food Checkbook


This means that you should monitor your lifestyle by observing and recording some aspect of your eating and exercising behaviors, such as how many calories you eat in a day, how many servings of fruits and vegetables you eat per day, or how often and for how long you exercise. Doing this can really help you determine how you are doing and what you need to do to meet your weight loss goals.

Avoid Eating and Food Triggers


Identify those social and environmental cues that tend to encourage undesired eating, and then work to change those cues. For example, you may learn that you're more likely to overeat while watching television, or whenever treats are on display by the office coffee pot.


Get the (Fullness) Message


Changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less and lose weight without feeling deprived. It takes 15 or more minutes for your brain to get the message you've been fed. So slow down the speed that you eat. Eating lots of vegetables or high fiber fruit can also make you feel fuller. Another trick is to use smaller plates so that moderate portions do not appear smaller.


exercises to lose weight

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