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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Losing weight is the number “1” health & fitness topic now that the New Year is here, with many of us even more anxious to diet. But keeping with my philosophy of “It’s Not a Diet, it’s Creative Eating!” and title of my new book, I propose that we shift our focus instead to lifestyle eating. I think that this includes setting a weight loss goal (both an end goal and a weekly goal), as just an important part of achieving success as how we go about it. Isn’t this what most of us want? So let’s look at goal setting and a concept I call “realistic vs. idealistic weight loss”. What’s the difference?
Many of us (myself included) want to lose weight fast (overnight sound good?), have an ideal weight in mind, and expect to keep it off once we’ve reached it. Most of us also have a particular number on the scale we want to reach, with a number of pounds we think is reasonable to lose each week ( I do too!).
But are these numbers, which we have in our heads reasonable, and what are we basing them on? I’m not sure where I got my numbers from, but I’ve done some re-thinking about them, and maybe we all could use to rethink them. After all, trying to reach an unrealistic weight might led to frustration just like trying to reach for the moon. So, here are a few questions we can ask ourselves when we make decisions about our weight and our weight loss goals.
Are we being realistic or idealistic?
What would I like to weigh? This would be our ideal weight we have in mind. Have I ever weighed this? This is an important question to ask ourselves. This question is important because if the number we have in mind was our lowest weight, say, when we were 18 and very active, we may need to ask ourselves if we are being “realistic”. Would I be able to maintain this weight now without practically starving? Ah, another important question.
What weight would I be satisfied with if my ideal is too low? This is a weight that’s not our ideal, but it would satisfy us; be within a healthy weight range and would be more reasonable given our current lifestyle. I like to compare my clients’ goals to the BMI chart for the healthiest weight ranges for their height. Here’s one more way to go green, BMI green, that is (The BMI chart is colored coded with green as the healthy weight ranges. Take a guess the color for unhealthiest?) Scroll down for a link to a BMI chart where I give all the links.
How long did it take for me to gain my weight? Another question that ties in to this is, how fast do I expect to lose real fat, not just water and certainly not muscle weight (let’s keep in mind that 1 pound is a deficit of 3500 calories!)? I like to suggest to my clients that we learn to maintain as we lose. This means we will experience a slower weight loss each week as we personally find a way of eating as a lifestyle, which becomes a habit.
How long can I follow my diet and eating plan? This question ties in to our above question because most importantly, to keep our weight off, we need to go beyond going on the latest diet. I suggest that we ask ourselves, “can I see myself eating this way for the long haul 80% of the time to maintain” (20% or less is for the so called unhealthy foods)?
These are some questions I think that are worth asking ourselves if we plan to start a diet this spring. Deciding on a “realistic goal vs. an idealistic” one, might lead us to more success, short term and long term. What do you think?
Here’s to Our Health!
June M Lay M.S.
www.junefit.com
Get a start with a new year weight loss goal with my book, just published! I tell my own personal story. Here’s the link to Amazon, Its Not a Diet, It’s Creative Eating
Read more about losing fat weight safely and permanently here at http://www.junefit.com/tips_weightlosshp.htm
Click here to see your BMI by color http://www.bmc.org/medicine/medicine/nutrition/images/BMI-Chart.png
Junefit is included in Google’s top ranked women’s health resources, scroll midway; http://directory.google.com/Top/Health/Women’s_Health/Resources/
June is Lifestyle Columnist at www.healthnewsdigest.com/
copyright 2010, junefit. All rights reserved.
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