We don't mean to sound warlike, but when it comes to dieting you have to have a plan of attack, and stick with it, and by the end of it you will be quoting the A Team's Colonel with a big smile on your face - "I love it when a plan comes together" - and old George Peppard will be giving you a hearty slap on the back for tackling that most toughest of enemies - fat! - and winning.
But you will have won not because you chose a fad diet or went on some bonkers fast weight loss program, but because you had a plan...a long-term plan. Rome wasn't built in a day, so they say, and neither was the Hollywood set of the movie Ben Hur. Rome was real, and lasted for hundreds of years. The set of Ben Hur may have been torn down after its use - but the movie lives on, and has been a film favorite for over 50 years.
The point is, there is reality, and there is fantasy - yet both can have long lasting life. If you are looking to lose weight because the reality is you need to, then it doesn't have to be a fantasy that you will slim down to your dream size. It is achievable if you adopt a sensible mindset about it. The best way to lose weight? Think long term, not short term, and you won't be disappointed. Some diet experts call it the False Hope Syndrome, when people have unrealistic expectations about how long it will take to shift that extra poundage. That's why they are lured by the quick-fix diet fads that proliferate the universe with the promise of instantaneous results. But that is all they are, shallow, instant fixes devoid of meaning. In fact, the only thing that will go for good if you fall for these whims is the money in your purse. Certainly it won't be the weight that disappears forever.
That's where the title of this piece comes in: "Lose It Slowly, Keep It Off."
And that's why we have adopted it as the title, because it is the only truly proven method to attain permanent, long lasting control of your weight. It truly is the best way to lose weight! And it works because thinking long term prevents the dieter from becoming depressed, and despondent about their lack of success if they have followed a short-term fad, realized it's hopeless, and then decided that they are never going to bother ever again.
What every dieter needs to do is look at the bigger picture of a thinner you that is achieved over a few months rather than a couple of weeks, and the wait, and work, will be even more worth it. This is true, meaningful dieting.
Health experts are generally of the opinion that a realistic weight loss target is 5 to 10 percent of your start weight. So, for instance, if you weigh 200 pounds, then you should be aiming to lose between 10 to 20 pounds (which is no mean feat when you think about it). But you should be happy to lose all that gradually. Aim for 1 to 2 pounds a week, and within 10 weeks you will have reached your target. Doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
The main point to remember is that we are talking about reaching a desired weight, and then being able to keep it there, and maintaining that level. When you have reached a set weight you are now in control of it. And you will have gained control of your weight because you have worked to reach that level with a good, sustainable diet that has still given you all the vital benefits of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and all the myriad other nutrients that the body needs, and can only properly get from food.
But before you start to hesitate, and sigh heavily that 10 weeks still sounds like a long time, think about this - there is nothing to say that you can't set yourself short-term goals within the long-term plan. In fact this is a great motivational thing to do, and will inspire you to continue your journey to a happier you. Being happy to shed the 1 to 2 pounds a week should be encouraging enough, or even managing to just not eat as much as you once were is to be applauded. After all they are 'mini milestones,' and are achievements worth celebrating (but we don't mean with a Mars Bar!) Logging your successes in a journal is also another way of marking the achievements you are making. And of course, what is really happening here, is that you are beginning to adopt a new way of thinking about yourself and the way you look after your body. You are making a huge lifestyle change, and that is worth celebrating too because changing ones ways is not at all easy. It takes courage, determination, commitment, desire, and will power.
Let's be frank - crushing bad habits takes guts!
Okay, that's settled then, you are going to diet, and you are going to adopt the long-term mindset, with short-term goals because you now know this is the best way to lose weight and diet.
So what's next?
Top Diet Foods & Dieting Basics
Well, it leads us nicely to the lovely subject of food, and what the best foods are for the determined dieter in for the long haul. But that's the beauty of going for the long-term doable target - your choice of foods will probably differ only very slightly from your normal choice. At least it won't be cabbage soup every day for the next seven days, or a two week regime of nothing but lemonade. With the aid of a bit of thought, and the help of a good nutritionist, you can be enjoying proper food without the addition of drastic measures of shakes, and pills, and other oddities that are just foreign, and unnatural for our bodies.
Quite simply, the basic in dieting to lose weight - and keeping the weight off - involves eating a healthy balanced diet comprising plenty of fruit, fresh vegetables, starchy foods, and eliminating as much sugar, and fat as possible, as well as endeavoring to become more physically active. Hold on, you are thinking, starchy foods? Aren't they fattening? Well, no actually they are not. Gram for gram, starchy foods contain less than half the calories of fat...it's the things you use during the cooking or serving of these starchy foods that needs to be watched because it's these extra 'others' that cause the trouble (like cooking with lots of butter).
For some dieting might seem like it takes super human strength of mind, but there are some foods that can help to make the journey less lonely - and that is the foods called, appropriately enough, super foods. These foods are given super status because they are packed with more antioxidants, vitamin C, and fiber than other foods. Apples, broccoli, nuts, berries (particularly cranberries, blueberries, acai berries), oats, and most fish are seen by as experts as being super-packed with valuable nutrients, thus making them super healthy for us, and some of them certainly should be featured more highly when planning our diet. But on the whole, everyone should be aiming to eat 5 portions of vegetables and fruit every day as part of their healthy eating way of life. These are most important of all, as all plant-based foods are naturally rich in fiber. And why is fiber so important? Because fibrous foods take longer to digest, which means we remain fuller, which in turn helps suppress hunger.
Whichever way you look at it - dieting is all about eating less, as well as eating more healthily and exercising more regularly.
Other sources of food high in fiber will be those that are made from wholegrain, so certain bread, pasta, rice, cereals, that you decide to eat should be wholegrain, and not the refined 'white' variety. As for fish, it is the 'oily' type such as mackerel, sardine, tuna, salmon, pilchards, and eel that are good for us as they have Omega 3 fatty acids. Again, these types of fish are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and protein. But if you are worried about the environmental impact of eating fish, and then ease your conscience by varying the type you eat. It might help.
Now, crunch time. What does eating healthier foods entail? Eating less of the bad foods that have made us want to start losing weight. Weight is caused by eating foods that contain too many calories and fat. We need to cut that out. Now! And that means saying 'bye-bye' to fast food junk, pies, cakes, pastries, processed meats, and fatty meats. The best way to check how much saturated fat you might be eating is to check food labels. Most will tell you, and if you remember that high saturated fat content is anything with 5 grams of fat per 100 grams. The number 5 may not seem a significant number, but it can be highly harmful in this case. On a more general level, you can also check how much total fat you will be eating by checking food labels, and anything that has more than 20g per 100g is considered high and should be avoided. It is also important to remember that a bit of fat is okay. There are good fats, as in the fatty fish oil, so it is not wise to avoid them altogether. Your body needs them!
Eating less salt is also a basic requirement of any diet. In fact adults should not consume more than 6g per day. Again, checking labels will help you cut down on salt, as you will be surprised how much salt you might be eating without realizing it. Anything over 1.5g is regarded as high by medical experts. A low level is put at 0.3g. It is important to cut down on salt, as it is a leading contributor to high blood pressure, which causes heart disease, and heart attacks.
That is basically it as far as initial dietary matters go, but, in fact, the whole area of diets, health and fitness, is a complex one with many factors to take into consideration. It is so complex that if you are thinking of embarking on a new health and fitness regime, it is probably a good idea to seek advice from your doctor, or nutritional expert, or other healthcare professional.
Of course, dieting is not all about simply eating better. The food we eat, calories, and the amounts we eat are the crucial cornerstones to any long-term diet plan - but running gently alongside the healthy food is a healthy regime of exercise to make the most of the positive impact the new foods we are feeding our bodies is having. Regular exercise is a must because eating food alone will not get the heart pumping, and help the good blood circulate and pass on the goodness of the nutrients in the food to our vital organs. And just as important is the strengthening of muscle. Keeping muscles strong helps general body mass, which in turn helps to rid the body of unwanted fats.
Eating healthily and combining that with a good regime of exercise is the secret to controlling your weight, and enjoying an overall sense of health, and well-being. But organizing this plan by yourself can be quite daunting given the extremely complex nature of, well, the human nature of our bodies, hearts, and minds.
That's why we have our team of expert nutritionists and fitness coaches on standby at changingshape.com. We are here to help formulate the individual diet plan that you are looking for, because we know that everyone is different, and requires individual attention. At changingshape.com you get the best of both worlds - a carefully prepared set of meal plans and a structured fitness schedule, all from the one professional team. Fighting fat together - Colonel Peppard would be proud of us!
But you will have won not because you chose a fad diet or went on some bonkers fast weight loss program, but because you had a plan...a long-term plan. Rome wasn't built in a day, so they say, and neither was the Hollywood set of the movie Ben Hur. Rome was real, and lasted for hundreds of years. The set of Ben Hur may have been torn down after its use - but the movie lives on, and has been a film favorite for over 50 years.
The point is, there is reality, and there is fantasy - yet both can have long lasting life. If you are looking to lose weight because the reality is you need to, then it doesn't have to be a fantasy that you will slim down to your dream size. It is achievable if you adopt a sensible mindset about it. The best way to lose weight? Think long term, not short term, and you won't be disappointed. Some diet experts call it the False Hope Syndrome, when people have unrealistic expectations about how long it will take to shift that extra poundage. That's why they are lured by the quick-fix diet fads that proliferate the universe with the promise of instantaneous results. But that is all they are, shallow, instant fixes devoid of meaning. In fact, the only thing that will go for good if you fall for these whims is the money in your purse. Certainly it won't be the weight that disappears forever.
That's where the title of this piece comes in: "Lose It Slowly, Keep It Off."
And that's why we have adopted it as the title, because it is the only truly proven method to attain permanent, long lasting control of your weight. It truly is the best way to lose weight! And it works because thinking long term prevents the dieter from becoming depressed, and despondent about their lack of success if they have followed a short-term fad, realized it's hopeless, and then decided that they are never going to bother ever again.
What every dieter needs to do is look at the bigger picture of a thinner you that is achieved over a few months rather than a couple of weeks, and the wait, and work, will be even more worth it. This is true, meaningful dieting.
Health experts are generally of the opinion that a realistic weight loss target is 5 to 10 percent of your start weight. So, for instance, if you weigh 200 pounds, then you should be aiming to lose between 10 to 20 pounds (which is no mean feat when you think about it). But you should be happy to lose all that gradually. Aim for 1 to 2 pounds a week, and within 10 weeks you will have reached your target. Doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
The main point to remember is that we are talking about reaching a desired weight, and then being able to keep it there, and maintaining that level. When you have reached a set weight you are now in control of it. And you will have gained control of your weight because you have worked to reach that level with a good, sustainable diet that has still given you all the vital benefits of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and all the myriad other nutrients that the body needs, and can only properly get from food.
But before you start to hesitate, and sigh heavily that 10 weeks still sounds like a long time, think about this - there is nothing to say that you can't set yourself short-term goals within the long-term plan. In fact this is a great motivational thing to do, and will inspire you to continue your journey to a happier you. Being happy to shed the 1 to 2 pounds a week should be encouraging enough, or even managing to just not eat as much as you once were is to be applauded. After all they are 'mini milestones,' and are achievements worth celebrating (but we don't mean with a Mars Bar!) Logging your successes in a journal is also another way of marking the achievements you are making. And of course, what is really happening here, is that you are beginning to adopt a new way of thinking about yourself and the way you look after your body. You are making a huge lifestyle change, and that is worth celebrating too because changing ones ways is not at all easy. It takes courage, determination, commitment, desire, and will power.
Let's be frank - crushing bad habits takes guts!
Okay, that's settled then, you are going to diet, and you are going to adopt the long-term mindset, with short-term goals because you now know this is the best way to lose weight and diet.
So what's next?
Top Diet Foods & Dieting Basics
Well, it leads us nicely to the lovely subject of food, and what the best foods are for the determined dieter in for the long haul. But that's the beauty of going for the long-term doable target - your choice of foods will probably differ only very slightly from your normal choice. At least it won't be cabbage soup every day for the next seven days, or a two week regime of nothing but lemonade. With the aid of a bit of thought, and the help of a good nutritionist, you can be enjoying proper food without the addition of drastic measures of shakes, and pills, and other oddities that are just foreign, and unnatural for our bodies.
Quite simply, the basic in dieting to lose weight - and keeping the weight off - involves eating a healthy balanced diet comprising plenty of fruit, fresh vegetables, starchy foods, and eliminating as much sugar, and fat as possible, as well as endeavoring to become more physically active. Hold on, you are thinking, starchy foods? Aren't they fattening? Well, no actually they are not. Gram for gram, starchy foods contain less than half the calories of fat...it's the things you use during the cooking or serving of these starchy foods that needs to be watched because it's these extra 'others' that cause the trouble (like cooking with lots of butter).
For some dieting might seem like it takes super human strength of mind, but there are some foods that can help to make the journey less lonely - and that is the foods called, appropriately enough, super foods. These foods are given super status because they are packed with more antioxidants, vitamin C, and fiber than other foods. Apples, broccoli, nuts, berries (particularly cranberries, blueberries, acai berries), oats, and most fish are seen by as experts as being super-packed with valuable nutrients, thus making them super healthy for us, and some of them certainly should be featured more highly when planning our diet. But on the whole, everyone should be aiming to eat 5 portions of vegetables and fruit every day as part of their healthy eating way of life. These are most important of all, as all plant-based foods are naturally rich in fiber. And why is fiber so important? Because fibrous foods take longer to digest, which means we remain fuller, which in turn helps suppress hunger.
Whichever way you look at it - dieting is all about eating less, as well as eating more healthily and exercising more regularly.
Other sources of food high in fiber will be those that are made from wholegrain, so certain bread, pasta, rice, cereals, that you decide to eat should be wholegrain, and not the refined 'white' variety. As for fish, it is the 'oily' type such as mackerel, sardine, tuna, salmon, pilchards, and eel that are good for us as they have Omega 3 fatty acids. Again, these types of fish are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and protein. But if you are worried about the environmental impact of eating fish, and then ease your conscience by varying the type you eat. It might help.
Now, crunch time. What does eating healthier foods entail? Eating less of the bad foods that have made us want to start losing weight. Weight is caused by eating foods that contain too many calories and fat. We need to cut that out. Now! And that means saying 'bye-bye' to fast food junk, pies, cakes, pastries, processed meats, and fatty meats. The best way to check how much saturated fat you might be eating is to check food labels. Most will tell you, and if you remember that high saturated fat content is anything with 5 grams of fat per 100 grams. The number 5 may not seem a significant number, but it can be highly harmful in this case. On a more general level, you can also check how much total fat you will be eating by checking food labels, and anything that has more than 20g per 100g is considered high and should be avoided. It is also important to remember that a bit of fat is okay. There are good fats, as in the fatty fish oil, so it is not wise to avoid them altogether. Your body needs them!
Eating less salt is also a basic requirement of any diet. In fact adults should not consume more than 6g per day. Again, checking labels will help you cut down on salt, as you will be surprised how much salt you might be eating without realizing it. Anything over 1.5g is regarded as high by medical experts. A low level is put at 0.3g. It is important to cut down on salt, as it is a leading contributor to high blood pressure, which causes heart disease, and heart attacks.
That is basically it as far as initial dietary matters go, but, in fact, the whole area of diets, health and fitness, is a complex one with many factors to take into consideration. It is so complex that if you are thinking of embarking on a new health and fitness regime, it is probably a good idea to seek advice from your doctor, or nutritional expert, or other healthcare professional.
Of course, dieting is not all about simply eating better. The food we eat, calories, and the amounts we eat are the crucial cornerstones to any long-term diet plan - but running gently alongside the healthy food is a healthy regime of exercise to make the most of the positive impact the new foods we are feeding our bodies is having. Regular exercise is a must because eating food alone will not get the heart pumping, and help the good blood circulate and pass on the goodness of the nutrients in the food to our vital organs. And just as important is the strengthening of muscle. Keeping muscles strong helps general body mass, which in turn helps to rid the body of unwanted fats.
Eating healthily and combining that with a good regime of exercise is the secret to controlling your weight, and enjoying an overall sense of health, and well-being. But organizing this plan by yourself can be quite daunting given the extremely complex nature of, well, the human nature of our bodies, hearts, and minds.
That's why we have our team of expert nutritionists and fitness coaches on standby at changingshape.com. We are here to help formulate the individual diet plan that you are looking for, because we know that everyone is different, and requires individual attention. At changingshape.com you get the best of both worlds - a carefully prepared set of meal plans and a structured fitness schedule, all from the one professional team. Fighting fat together - Colonel Peppard would be proud of us!
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