Tips to boost your chances of dieting success.
Successful dieting is like the story of the tortoise and the hare. Just like the plodding turtle in the children’s story, slow and steady is the formula for successful weight loss. However, there are things that any dieter can do to make dieting more successful. In fact, a recent study reported in Health.com suggests that the type of diet you follow is less important than choosing one that you can stay with. As we all know, most diets will help you lose weight, at least in the beginning. The struggle is in sticking with the diet program.
The study found that there were things that any dieter can do to increase the chance of success. There are things you can do to help improve the results of any weight loss program you follow. They are:
• Set realistic goals. Many people expect to lose much more weight than is realistic. See questions to think about when setting weight management goals to help you define clear, healthy goals.
• Find what works best for you. If you do not have time to cook and hate to prepare meals, a program that offers meal replacement bars or shakes may be better for you. Or if you like to prepare meals, finding a plan that includes daily menus and recipes may be best.
• Get family and friends involved to provide support. Talk to them about why you are changing your diet and physical activity and how important losing weight is to you. Ask them to help by doing exercises and having meals with you, even if they may be eating something different.
• Identify obstacles to losing weight. Look at your food journal and try to find things that cause you to overeat, such as stress or depression.
• Remove food temptations such as high-calorie snacks, and replace them with healthier foods such as fruit and low-fat yogurt.
• Get enough physical activity to burn calories and maintain your weight. To find out how many calories are burned during various activities, see the Interactive Tool: Calories Burned calculator.
The long term challenge is to change how you eat. These are subtle changes you can make that will have a big impact on your diet. • Find sources of added calories, such as snacking, drinking alcohol, or having soft drinks, and reduce your intake of them.
• Cut unhealthy fat from your diet.
• Use lean meats and meat alternatives.
• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. This provides a road map for how you will make changes and helps you set goals, track your progress, and reward yourself.
• Make healthy fast-food, restaurant, and convenience-food choices to maintain your diet when eating out.
• Keep unhealthy food out of the house.
• Eat before you go grocery shopping. This can lower your tendency to buy foods that aren't good for you and can help you avoid impulse shopping (buying things you do not need, just because you see them).
If you need outside assistance, you can choose from the many commercial weight-loss programs, such as Weight Watchers or Lifesteps. Sharing your struggles with others at support groups like Overeaters Anonymous can also help. There are also medically supervised obesity clinics and diet programs. When considering a commercial weight-loss program, ask questions about the staff's qualifications and whether counseling is offered. You may be bombarded with before and after success stories. Don’t let these examples give you unrealistic expectations.
Successful dieting is like the story of the tortoise and the hare. Just like the plodding turtle in the children’s story, slow and steady is the formula for successful weight loss. However, there are things that any dieter can do to make dieting more successful. In fact, a recent study reported in Health.com suggests that the type of diet you follow is less important than choosing one that you can stay with. As we all know, most diets will help you lose weight, at least in the beginning. The struggle is in sticking with the diet program.
The study found that there were things that any dieter can do to increase the chance of success. There are things you can do to help improve the results of any weight loss program you follow. They are:
• Set realistic goals. Many people expect to lose much more weight than is realistic. See questions to think about when setting weight management goals to help you define clear, healthy goals.
• Find what works best for you. If you do not have time to cook and hate to prepare meals, a program that offers meal replacement bars or shakes may be better for you. Or if you like to prepare meals, finding a plan that includes daily menus and recipes may be best.
• Get family and friends involved to provide support. Talk to them about why you are changing your diet and physical activity and how important losing weight is to you. Ask them to help by doing exercises and having meals with you, even if they may be eating something different.
• Identify obstacles to losing weight. Look at your food journal and try to find things that cause you to overeat, such as stress or depression.
• Remove food temptations such as high-calorie snacks, and replace them with healthier foods such as fruit and low-fat yogurt.
• Get enough physical activity to burn calories and maintain your weight. To find out how many calories are burned during various activities, see the Interactive Tool: Calories Burned calculator.
The long term challenge is to change how you eat. These are subtle changes you can make that will have a big impact on your diet. • Find sources of added calories, such as snacking, drinking alcohol, or having soft drinks, and reduce your intake of them.
• Cut unhealthy fat from your diet.
• Use lean meats and meat alternatives.
• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. This provides a road map for how you will make changes and helps you set goals, track your progress, and reward yourself.
• Make healthy fast-food, restaurant, and convenience-food choices to maintain your diet when eating out.
• Keep unhealthy food out of the house.
• Eat before you go grocery shopping. This can lower your tendency to buy foods that aren't good for you and can help you avoid impulse shopping (buying things you do not need, just because you see them).
If you need outside assistance, you can choose from the many commercial weight-loss programs, such as Weight Watchers or Lifesteps. Sharing your struggles with others at support groups like Overeaters Anonymous can also help. There are also medically supervised obesity clinics and diet programs. When considering a commercial weight-loss program, ask questions about the staff's qualifications and whether counseling is offered. You may be bombarded with before and after success stories. Don’t let these examples give you unrealistic expectations.
