Most of the adult population has been or currently is on some type of diet. Diets are everywhere! Every place you turn, someone is talking about a new diet. A diet that is unlike any other that came before. A diet that will change your life forever and you won't even have to exercise! The truth is there is no such thing as an easy diet. There is no such thing as a life-changing diet. If I was to be completely honest with you, I would even go so far as to tell you that there is no such thing as a healthy diet! There is a large variety of diets out there, and they all have many different aspects of how to lose weight. However, they all have one thing in common; as soon as you lose the weight and step off of the diet, (poof!) the weight comes back, sometimes leaving you with even more weight than you had before the diet! This is called the yo-yo effect, and it is true with any diet. The point I am trying to make is simply this: A diet is not a healthy weight loss solution.
There are many different ways to lose weight, but there is only one way to keep the weight from coming back. Now that we know a diet is not a healthy weight loss solution, we can move on to what is a healthy solution. The only antidote to losing weight and keeping it off while staying healthy is for you to make a change in your lifestyle. It's not as hard as it sounds, and those who choose to make a lifestyle change, actually find it quite easy after the first couple of hurdles are passed, and they don't even look back.
There are three important keys to making a lifestyle change, and they are:
- You must have a balanced and healthy dietary plan.
- You must adhere to a good, healthy physical activity plan.
- You must have a change in your behavior or attitude.
Let us start with number one: having a balanced and healthy diet. Take a good, honest look at the foods you eat on a regular basis, and the amount of it that you eat. Most of us would have to answer that we are eating a lot of the wrong foods, and not in moderation! Fast foods, salty foods and baked goods are all okay - in moderation. When we are eating them everyday or several times a week however, they are not okay. Probably the most important key to learn in having healthy weight loss is moderation. Most things are okay and healthy in moderation, but everything, when turned into an extremity, is certainly not okay, and not healthy to the body, the mind or the spirit! Moderation is a must when it comes to healthy weight loss.
When your stomach starts telling you that it is time to eat, carefully consider your choices. Make sure you surround yourself with good and healthy foods that are low in calories and high in vitamins and protein. When it comes time for a snack, have some veggies and dip or an apple instead of that bag of chips. Or snack on some cheese and crackers in the place of that chocolate bar. Making these kinds of choices is the first step to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Also, make sure your meals aren't left out when it comes to making those good choices. Instead of ordering a pizza or going out for a burger and fries, cook a balanced meal. If you find it hard to do this, I suggest making a meal plan at the beginning of week. That way, half of the work is already done for you. Yes, usually half of the work in preparing a meal is deciding what to prepare! Remember, cook and eat in moderation, and you are well on your way to a healthy weight loss solution.
For those whose main reason in making a lifestyle change is to lose weight, there are some options open to you that there never were a few years ago. One of these options is Proactol. This healthy and clinically proven weight loss pill is not a miracle worker, but it is certainly one of the most beneficial tools for healthy weight loss in the world today. Proactol not only helps the body lose weight, but it also maintains other health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. This doctor recommended medication has also been proven to increase joint flexibility, lessen aches and pains and improve concentration and energy levels. Proactol helps with healthy weight loss by lowering the body's food cravings and decreasing your appetite, making it easier to control your food intake. This also helps you in the learning to eat with moderation. Take Proactol after each meal and you will find that it greatly helps with achieving a healthy lifestyle.
The next step to changing your lifestyle is making a good physical activity plan and sticking to it. This goes hand in hand with one part of the third step, which is setting achievable goals. Too many people want to reach the stars right away when it comes to exercising and losing weight. However, like we have already talked about, everything must be in moderation. Exercise is good, but when it is turned into an extreme, it is not good. Pace yourself. Start off slow, and work your way up from there. Rome wasn't built in a day, and if the builders had had the attitude that most people have towards exercise, Rome would never have been finished! Achieving healthy weight loss is not done too quickly either, or it is not beneficial to the body. Make a reasonable exercise plan for yourself, and try to include someone else as well. Studies have shown that when we exercise with other people. We are much more likely to stick with it, than if we exercised by ourselves. Encouragement is the key to getting into a good physical activity habit. Surround yourself with people that will encourage you and hold you accountable to your lifestyle change. Try out a few different fitness programs and see which one fits your life the best.
The third and last step to improving your lifestyle and reaching a healthy weight loss solution is a behavior or attitude change. We have already talked about setting achievable goals, and the next part of this step is education. Instead of eating all of the wrong foods and then feeling awful about what you are doing to your body, educate yourself with information such as the energy value of the foods you eat and what kind of nutrients they possess. Making a lifestyle change is more than just choosing the right kinds of foods. You must also change your mind. This simply means that you have to change the way you think when it comes to food, your health, and your lifestyle. Sometimes this also means that you have to figure out why you eat, what you eat, and when you eat. Keeping a journal is a great way to do this. Write down everything pertaining to eating. Keep a track of what foods you eat at what times, but also write about why you ate those foods at those times. Sometimes it may be just because you were hungry, but many people eat when they're stressed or emotional, and discovering this about yourself is the first step to changing how you deal with stress and other problems in your life. Change your mind. Change how you eat, when you eat, and what you eat. Change how stress affects your life, and learn how to deal with it more effectively. Eating doesn't make any problem go away permanently.
One more key to changing your lifestyle and maintaining your goal of healthy weight loss is to conduct regular self "check-ups." By this I don't mean the kind of check-up that a doctor would give, but a check-up of lost weight, periodical BMI checks, and of how much you body itself has shrunk since making these changes. Some people like to take measurements of themselves in the areas like the waist, hips and thighs, on a continual basis, such as weekly or monthly. One of the best encouragements is progress. When you see how far you've come already, it is a wonderful boost of confidence and motivation to keep you going. It won't all be a bed of roses however, but when you find yourself feeling down, remind yourself why you are doing it, and how much you have already done. Remember, once your lifestyle change is complete, you will be well on your way to reaching healthy weight loss.
