A Different Approach to Permanent Weight Loss

When most of us think of losing weight, we think of dieting. This brings to mind sticking to a strict regimen, eating only certain foods and in a lot of cases, having cravings and hunger. Most diets fail due to getting into this mindset. Plus, just the vast amount of contradictory information out there is enough to discourage anyone. Diets don't work because most of them do not attack the root cause of the problem, which is permanently changing eating habits. Try a different approach to losing weight, don't focus on losing weight, focus on changing several habits, one at a time, which will result in weight loss. Don't weigh yourself every day, or even every week, since this will focus your attention on weight loss. Weigh yourself about once per month, on the same day every month.

When one wants to change a habit, it must be done slowly, and it takes approximately 21 days to as much as one year establish a new habit, depending on the individual. The key is to focus on changing ONE habit at a time, not try to change several at the same time. This method (notice I didn't day diet) worked for me and the result was a loss of 30 pounds which brought me to my target weight of 170. One of the best results was not only losing weight, but having my doctor take me off of the 3 different hypertension medications I was taking. To me, that's a big deal. Now 30 lbs may not seem like a big deal, but it depends on where you carry the weight. In my case, and this is true with most men, I carry my excess weight in the belly and the neck area. Those are the two most deadly places to carry weight. Excess weight in these two areas has been proven to raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Google the term visceral fat and see what you come up with. Anyway, here are five habits that I focused on, one at a time. Now I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, I'm just putting forth what worked for me. I did do a lot of research on the subject before starting. I'll provide some useful links along with the article to get you started.

Habit number one: substitute low or no calorie drinks in place of high sugar drinks.

This change alone can cut as much as 400 to 1000 calories a day. Sugar, or in the case of soft drinks and juices, corn syrup, can hide everywhere. Don't get fooled by all the healthy sounding advertising, especially for juices. Read the labels. I drink a lot of cranberry juice, because it is known to be good for keeping the bladder and urinary tract clean. But along with the good benefits of most store bought juice, came lots of sugar and corn syrup. Another example is green tea drinks. They also have a lot of sugar. You may think that you are consuming a drink that is good for you, and you may be getting some benefits, but there is a lot of sugar and calories coming along for the ride. There are many sugar substitutes on now on the market, with several more coming. The days of sugar substitutes tasting bitter and leaving a chemical taste in your mouth are over. Don't be concerned about the safety of these products either; the average individual will never consume enough to cause any problems. I honestly cannot tell the difference between a diet green tea and a regular one. The only difference is about 80 to 100 calories. This habit was an easy one for me to change.

Habit number two: Slowly replace unhealthy snacks with good ones.

This habit can be a little more difficult for some people to break. Not everyone likes to eat vegetables and fruits, but I think everyone likes at least some. The key with fruits and veggies is to SLOWLY introduce them. With more fruits and vegetables, comes more fiber. If a person is not accustomed to eating too much fiber, the addition of too much fiber will result in gastric upset. If you are not a heavy fruit and veggie eater, start with eating one serving a day, and the slowly go from there. It helps to do a little research ahead of time to see which fruits and veggies have the most fiber.

Slowly replace those potato chips, candy bars and other empty calorie snacks with more healthy ones. The key here is to avoid sugar. As with soft drinks and juices, there are now many choices of snack foods on the market that do not have sugar. The manufacturers of snack products have caught onto the fact that many people do not want to consume a large amount of sugar. The result is that you can now walk into any grocery store and buy healthy snack alternatives. It may take you a while to find some you like, but you will. Now don't think that just because these snacks are healthy alternatives that you can eat the whole bag. That's not how it works, eat a sensible portion and then put it down!!

Habit number three: put down the salt shaker

We all have a craving for salt. It is a part of our design. In fact we need salt in our diet for our body to function properly. Salt is vital for our health. Right now, you have around 250 gr. of salt - about a cupful - working for keeping you alive. Without enough of it, muscles won't contract, blood won't circulate, food won't digest, and the heart won't beat. However, too much salt causes problems. It is a well known fact that excess salt in the diet raises blood pressure. Salt in the bloodstream absorbs water and increases the amount of blood in the body, causing pressure on the arterial walls. It also causes the body to hold water, increasing weight. In fact many hypertension medications work by removing excess salt from the body, resulting in water loss. OK, enough on the medical stuff, how do I put the shaker down? This can be tough for individuals that use a lot of salt. I used to salt everything, without tasting it. I just put salt on it. For me, I first had to switch to a salt substitute. Then I slowly just used less and less of the substitute until I just put the shaker down altogether. Kind of sounds like an addiction doesn't it? At this point, don't worry too much about the sodium content in foods. Just focus on not using the salt shaker. Later on, start looking sodium content in foods, and shoot for the daily requirement of between 2000 to 2300 mg daily.

Habit number four: Put down the remote and do something

Now if you have success with changing habits one, two and three, you probably have more energy than you have had in a while. Instead of coming home from work and sitting in front of the TV, get active and focus that energy into something productive. At first, set aside one day a week and take a walk, bike, garden, golf, or do some other activity you enjoy. Make it the same day every week. Once you feel that you have successfully established the habit of being active one day a week, add another day. Then go from there. You may end up establishing a routine of activity for 3, 4, 5, or more days. Do whatever you want and feel comfortable with. The result of course will be increased activity, better health and you'll be burning additional calories. Now this activity does not have to be vigorous exercise, you just need to be moving around instead of sitting in a chair watching TV.

Habit number five: Take supplements to maintain health

This habit takes a lot of effort and research. Since supplements are not regulated by law, there are a lot of wild claims out there that just are not true. Anyway, I would start with just taking a good quality multivitamin / mineral supplement that has the recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals. Then get on the internet and start to wade through all of the information out there about different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs and other supplements. Like I said, there are some pretty wild claims out there, usually by someone that is selling the miraculous item they are talking about. The snake oil salesmen have moved to the internet. However, there are dietary supplements on the market that do what they say. You know what your health issues are, if any, and there are usually natural alternatives out there that can be used. Always consult with your doctor before using any supplements.

Summary

By focusing on permanently changing habits, instead of losing weight, one can achieve permanent lifelong weight loss and increase health. This will take some time, and the weight will come off slowly, but it will come off and the loss will be permanent as long as a bad habit can be changed into a good habit successfully.