Thin Blog

Long term weight loss is something that does not just happen by luck.  Long-term weight loss is the result of a decision to lose weight and then having the sustained motivation to stick with a diet for the duration of the plan.  The problem that most weight loss seeking people encounter is that they choose a diet plan only when considering how  to lose weight.  The person seeking weight loss all too often makes solid plans to lose weight and does not have a plan to actually enjoy life once the weight loss has been achieved.  To be able to lose weight for the long term a person needs to be able to plan on creating a method that will carry them through all of the weight loss stages and throughout the rest of their life. 

If you are planning to lose weight then you more than likely are trying to decide what “diet” plan to use.  That is and will always be a fundamental error in your planning and here is why.  If you choose a “diet” you will have two goals with one being a number of pounds to lose and the other will be in the time frame you desire to lose the weight.  Let us just say you want to lose 50 pounds using The South Beach Diet and you actually lose the weight.  Are you then ready to stay on that diet plan for the rest of your life?  This is where all “diets” fail which results in your lack of self confidence and thoughts that you are nothing but a diet failure.  What you need to do is stop looking for a diet and start thinking about changing the lifestyle habits that were the direct reason for you becoming obese.  You need to realize that losing weight on a diet is actually not typical.  That is why ALL diets have the disclaimer “Results Not Typical”

The interesting thing about weight loss is that so many people are clueless as to how to lose weight.  The one simple aspect of losing weight is that you need to “burn” more calories than you eat in your life.  If you were to be able to do this on a constant and daily basis you will lose weight.  What a person needs to concentrate on is being healthy and making healthy choices.  The culmination of a series of healthy choices will result in your body becoming healthier.  As you get healthier you will lose weight as a matter of fact.  All too often people who want to lose weight equate a diet with depriving themselves of what they enjoy.  This is backwards from what a person trying to achieve longterm weight loss should do.

I have been overweight for years, twenty years to be fairly exact.  I tried so many diets that I could write a book.  It was not until I learned that you need to stop dieting and start a “live-it” to be a success in losing weight.  Since I have started to exercise and choose healthier options like smaller portions, fruit and less fat that I really began to understand true weight loss.  Today my sixteen year old daughter did a High School fundraiser and sold cartons of cookie dough.  I did not deprive myself of a taste.  What I did not do is I did not have to eat a bowl of the stuff.  I took a couple a small teaspoons and was done.  I did not deprive myself and set myself up for failure.  I tasted the stuff and moved on.  I have learned that I do not need to live to eat; I only need to eat to live. 

What I have learned is that one of the most important things to choose in weight loss is the method you will be able to live with for the rest of your life.  Commit yourself to more exercise of at least four to five days a week.  Commit yourself to smaller portions of food.  Do not give up anything you love.  I love pizza and I eat some every now and then and do not fret over the extra weight I may or may not gain.  That is because I am not trying to lose weight, I am trying to be healthy.  I know that for me to obtain long term weight loss I need to be able to do it for the rest of my life.  In the grand scheme of losing 100 pounds having a cheeseburger is not a show stopper.  I have learned that I just need to make more good choices than bad choices because wherever I go I will sometimes make a “bad” food choice.  As long as I try to limit those bad choices and make more good choices, I know the end result will be a healthier and thinner me.

As of today, using the above concept, I have lost 46 pounds in about one year.  That may not seem fast enough for some and again there may be your problem.  There should be no rush in weight loss.  If you want to go on a cruise and that is your motivation, then you are dieting for the wrong reason.  If you want to lose weight then do it for the right reasons.  Lose the weight for yourself and your health.  Lose the weight for the long term because that is the only weight loss that really matters.  Only worry about today because that is all the time you really have.  Do not waste it, use it well. Skip the diet and start a “live-it” 

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