Stop Those Unhealthy Habits and Lose Weight for Good!
You know you want to make a change. You want to see what life is like without extra weight on your body. When I was heavy, I’d think about losing weight every day. I’d skip meals, I’d just drink liquids all day. I tried different quick diets. Nothing worked until I changed my eating habits. I quit eating out, I ate more salads and less red meat. I had to plan out the food I was going to eat that day. Count the calories and then find other things to eat that had no calories like celery. And who knew but celery is really good for you.
Map Out Your Route
Just like you'd make a plan for a long road trip, you'll want to take time to think about how to map out healthy habits to take you to your goal. Lose fat not muscle. Planning can also get you psyched up about new things to try or doing things you enjoy. Here are tips to help you plan your habits, your support, and your own mindset. Daily planning will help you stick with your plan.
Prepare for each destination. Think about what you’ll need to stick to your healthy habits everywhere you go: home, work, church, favorite restaurants.
For instance, what would your perfect, most motivating kitchen have? Cut-up colorful vegetables ready for you in the fridge? Apples in the fruit basket? Sheer curtains to let the light in?
Plan for the family and friends you'll see along the way. There will be people who are for you -- happy to support you in your weight loss. And there will be people against you -- not so supportive. You may already know who they are.
If your goal is to loose 10% of your body weight, for example, and your family is a little overweight and thinks that’s o.k., well, you might have a problem convincing them losing weight will be good for you.
You need to be prepared for both types.
Think of each person you spend time with in your daily life, and ask yourself these questions to set up a game plan:
• How much do you want to share with them about your efforts?
• What kind of obstacles do you expect from them? What are a few ways you can respond to them?
• What kind of help do you hope they'll offer you? Think through the best way to talk with them about what you need. Don't be afraid to be specific about what helps you and what doesn't.
Check your readiness to drive. You've got a long, winding trip ahead. Even with help and support, the buck stops with you. What can you do to set yourself up for success?
For instance, are you worried that you can't meet your goal? Now's the time to identify and sort out those feelings. Tip; don’t set big goals. Take one week at a time. Three pounds at a time.
To change behavior, experts say you must have the ability to do the required new habits. So, it's key that you choose habits that you can follow through with.
Let's say you've picked a food plan with foods or styles of eating that you don't like -- say, one that omits all carbs when you love carbs. Or you pick one that's impossible to stick with, like eating cabbage soup twice a day. If you keep moving forward with that plan instead of adjusting it, you're crushing your ability to succeed.
As part of your preparation, ask yourself: Why do I want to make changes?
Your reason will be most motivating when it's linked with a strong emotional state. Instead of simply “wanting to lose weight,” the reason could be “because I want to have more energy” or “not be in pain.”
"Rather than focusing on the weight you want to lose, focus on the feeling you want to have. As you create that experience, the weight will come off,” says Erik Hajer, a Boston-based fitness and lifestyle coach.
Set up cues to remind you about your motivation. A good cue is one that you'll be sure to notice and that occurs near the time for your healthy habit. You could open your blinds in the morning to cue you to take your vitamin, for example. Or, you could simply set an alarm.
Even when you take the actions you need, there's always a risk of relapsing to your old ways. So have a clear sense of what you want -- it's like an energy reserve. It gets you back on track when you need
Expect some curves in the road:
It happens slowly and over time. The path to change most likely isn’t a straight line. One day you might be plugging along, committed to living healthfully. Then you have a stressful day or two -- at work, or yoga class is canceled -- and zap! Your motivation is blown.
At times like this, you have to think about how to adjust your schedule to stay, or get back, on track. You have to map out a new plan.
That's OK. In fact, it’s normal to hit a few speed bumps on the road to changing your behavior for good.
Count on the fact that you'll lose your way. Just like an emergency kit in your car, you need to have tools ready for the unexpected.
Here are a few potential pitfalls that could sway you off track. Reinforce your resolve by thinking through possible solutions ahead of time.
• What will you do when a coworker brings in homemade cookies?
• How will you move on if you fall back into your old habits? Like overeat or skip the gym?
• How will you cope when you feel stressed?
• Who can you call for help?
•
• Recalculate Your Route
Accepting that you may go off-road sometimes can help ease your anxiety if it happens.
“We’re so quick to punish ourselves when we veer off the pathway,” says Sofia Rydin-Gray, PhD.
She gives her new patients at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., this analogy: Imagine you’re driving from New York to Florida. Let’s say you get off at the wrong exit. What would you do?
"You’d simply get back on the freeway and continue driving," says Rydin-Gray.
But when it comes to personal goals, she explains, "we’re usually not so rational. We expect our journey to be a straight path -- and when it’s not, we beat ourselves up or just quit altogether."
To help her clients have a less emotional response, she suggests you talk to yourself using the same tone as a GPS voice.
Your GPS is completely objective and doesn't blame you. It's programmed to know that you’re going to make mistakes and redirect you. If the new route doesn't work, it offers you another way.
Rather than judge yourself for a completely understandable detour, "use your energy to get back on the right road," Rydin-Gray says.
When you practice doing that, the amount of time you stay off-road will get shorter and shorter. Eventually, you will get to the point when your habits feel natural.
Still, at times, you'll have to dig deep to fine-tune your motivation -- again. You'll have to rethink your plan and relationships. And you'll make mistakes.
All of this cycling is how it's done. It's how you change your behavior for good. When I was first starting to lose weight, I didn’t tell anyone. If I was eating with others, I’d make an excuse for only eating a little. I was a calorie counter, so I could taste anything in small quantities. I was eating 1500 calories a day. Until I learned what was the right thing to eat, I would eat too many carbs and not enough protein. After a few weeks I lost weight but I also lost strength. I was always tired. Then through trial and error I found the right foods I needed to give me energy to workout and live a normal life and still lose weight. It took me a while to figure it out but you have to eat to lose weight and you have to increase activities to burn calories and retain muscle. 1500 calories was good for me, I just needed to eat the right foods that added up to 1500 calories.
Map Out Your Route
Just like you'd make a plan for a long road trip, you'll want to take time to think about how to map out healthy habits to take you to your goal. Lose fat not muscle. Planning can also get you psyched up about new things to try or doing things you enjoy. Here are tips to help you plan your habits, your support, and your own mindset. Daily planning will help you stick with your plan.
Prepare for each destination. Think about what you’ll need to stick to your healthy habits everywhere you go: home, work, church, favorite restaurants.
For instance, what would your perfect, most motivating kitchen have? Cut-up colorful vegetables ready for you in the fridge? Apples in the fruit basket? Sheer curtains to let the light in?
Plan for the family and friends you'll see along the way. There will be people who are for you -- happy to support you in your weight loss. And there will be people against you -- not so supportive. You may already know who they are.
If your goal is to loose 10% of your body weight, for example, and your family is a little overweight and thinks that’s o.k., well, you might have a problem convincing them losing weight will be good for you.
You need to be prepared for both types.
Think of each person you spend time with in your daily life, and ask yourself these questions to set up a game plan:
• How much do you want to share with them about your efforts?
• What kind of obstacles do you expect from them? What are a few ways you can respond to them?
• What kind of help do you hope they'll offer you? Think through the best way to talk with them about what you need. Don't be afraid to be specific about what helps you and what doesn't.
Check your readiness to drive. You've got a long, winding trip ahead. Even with help and support, the buck stops with you. What can you do to set yourself up for success?
For instance, are you worried that you can't meet your goal? Now's the time to identify and sort out those feelings. Tip; don’t set big goals. Take one week at a time. Three pounds at a time.
To change behavior, experts say you must have the ability to do the required new habits. So, it's key that you choose habits that you can follow through with.
Let's say you've picked a food plan with foods or styles of eating that you don't like -- say, one that omits all carbs when you love carbs. Or you pick one that's impossible to stick with, like eating cabbage soup twice a day. If you keep moving forward with that plan instead of adjusting it, you're crushing your ability to succeed.
As part of your preparation, ask yourself: Why do I want to make changes?
Your reason will be most motivating when it's linked with a strong emotional state. Instead of simply “wanting to lose weight,” the reason could be “because I want to have more energy” or “not be in pain.”
"Rather than focusing on the weight you want to lose, focus on the feeling you want to have. As you create that experience, the weight will come off,” says Erik Hajer, a Boston-based fitness and lifestyle coach.
Set up cues to remind you about your motivation. A good cue is one that you'll be sure to notice and that occurs near the time for your healthy habit. You could open your blinds in the morning to cue you to take your vitamin, for example. Or, you could simply set an alarm.
Even when you take the actions you need, there's always a risk of relapsing to your old ways. So have a clear sense of what you want -- it's like an energy reserve. It gets you back on track when you need
Expect some curves in the road:
It happens slowly and over time. The path to change most likely isn’t a straight line. One day you might be plugging along, committed to living healthfully. Then you have a stressful day or two -- at work, or yoga class is canceled -- and zap! Your motivation is blown.
At times like this, you have to think about how to adjust your schedule to stay, or get back, on track. You have to map out a new plan.
That's OK. In fact, it’s normal to hit a few speed bumps on the road to changing your behavior for good.
Count on the fact that you'll lose your way. Just like an emergency kit in your car, you need to have tools ready for the unexpected.
Here are a few potential pitfalls that could sway you off track. Reinforce your resolve by thinking through possible solutions ahead of time.
• What will you do when a coworker brings in homemade cookies?
• How will you move on if you fall back into your old habits? Like overeat or skip the gym?
• How will you cope when you feel stressed?
• Who can you call for help?
•
• Recalculate Your Route
Accepting that you may go off-road sometimes can help ease your anxiety if it happens.
“We’re so quick to punish ourselves when we veer off the pathway,” says Sofia Rydin-Gray, PhD.
She gives her new patients at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., this analogy: Imagine you’re driving from New York to Florida. Let’s say you get off at the wrong exit. What would you do?
"You’d simply get back on the freeway and continue driving," says Rydin-Gray.
But when it comes to personal goals, she explains, "we’re usually not so rational. We expect our journey to be a straight path -- and when it’s not, we beat ourselves up or just quit altogether."
To help her clients have a less emotional response, she suggests you talk to yourself using the same tone as a GPS voice.
Your GPS is completely objective and doesn't blame you. It's programmed to know that you’re going to make mistakes and redirect you. If the new route doesn't work, it offers you another way.
Rather than judge yourself for a completely understandable detour, "use your energy to get back on the right road," Rydin-Gray says.
When you practice doing that, the amount of time you stay off-road will get shorter and shorter. Eventually, you will get to the point when your habits feel natural.
Still, at times, you'll have to dig deep to fine-tune your motivation -- again. You'll have to rethink your plan and relationships. And you'll make mistakes.
All of this cycling is how it's done. It's how you change your behavior for good. When I was first starting to lose weight, I didn’t tell anyone. If I was eating with others, I’d make an excuse for only eating a little. I was a calorie counter, so I could taste anything in small quantities. I was eating 1500 calories a day. Until I learned what was the right thing to eat, I would eat too many carbs and not enough protein. After a few weeks I lost weight but I also lost strength. I was always tired. Then through trial and error I found the right foods I needed to give me energy to workout and live a normal life and still lose weight. It took me a while to figure it out but you have to eat to lose weight and you have to increase activities to burn calories and retain muscle. 1500 calories was good for me, I just needed to eat the right foods that added up to 1500 calories.
Comments