New Year's Resolutions for Dieters

Although losing weight is a resolution made more than any other at the begging of a new year, it's also probably the resolution that's most easily broken. What dieter hasn't made this resolution only to slide back into old eating habits before January had even ended. Instead of making a general resolution, you should be outline specifics to help you keep your resolution of losing weight. A few suggestions include...

Resolve to Choose a Plan and Stick to It
To lose weight you need to plan. If you don't you'll fall victim to the familiar saying, "those who don't plan, plan to fail."

Too often when we try to lose weight we don't' have a particular plan. Instead, we fumble around, choosing something we like about various diet plans, but fail to stick to just one program. For example, if a low carbohydrate diet works for you then follow it. But don't try and leave out the parts you'd rather not follow.

Resolve to Make Your New Food Plan a Way of Life--- Not Just a Diet
Resolve that your food plan isn't a diet, but a way of life. If you only focus on losing weight and not changing the way you eat for the rest of your life, it's likely you'll fall back into the same bad eating patterns once you reach your goal weight.

Resolve to Find Support
If go about your weight loss program without any help from others, your chances are not as good as if you had sought support. Look for others who are also dieting to give you support. Besides commercial weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers, you can find excellent group support from programs such as "Overeaters Anonymous" where members not only encourage one another at meetings, but also call during the week to both share their struggles and victories in losing weight. What's more, the internet also offers a variety of online weight loss programs, as well as message boards where members support one another.

Resolve to Set Small Goals
If you insist you'll going to loose 70 pounds in six months, chances are you may not make your goal. Instead of aiming for 70 pounds, divide your weight loss into bite size, more achievable goals. Also, be realistic. Although you'd love to loose five pounds a week, the average weekly weight loss on any healthy food program is about 1-2 pounds, often even less.

Resolve to Drink More Water
You may do everything else right on your food plan, but your hard work may not show up at the scales if you fail to drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of water daily. Not only will drinking more water help flush out the fat, but it will also improve your overall health. If you have a hard time drinking water, then try sprucing it up with a slice of lemon or lime to add taste, as well as using artificial flavoring.

Resolve to Record Body Measurements
Sometimes you may not find a weight loss from the scale numbers, but if you take your body measurements, you'll see you are still losing. And isn't that how others see you've lost weight, anyway? When you first start your weight loss journey, record you're the measurements of your chest, waist and hips and continue to do so, at least once a month.

Resolve to Not Weigh Everyday
In fact, it may not be a good idea to weight every week if the numbers you see overly affects you. Instead, it's best to weigh every other week or once a month. And, when you do weight, remember to weigh at the same time of day each time, wearing clothing that weighs the same each time. It's also wise to use the same scale each time you weigh.

Resolve to Determine What's Eating You
Most of the time, we overeat because something is eating on the inside of us. Search within yourself to the reason why you overeat and then get help. Confide in a professional, a good friend, or a support group of other overeaters as to what's the real reason behind your food disorder.

Resolve to Not Give Up if You Backslide
Let's face it. No one's perfect and at one point, you may "fall off the wagon". Instead of staying on the ground, determine to pick yourself back up and start over. Don't wait until the next day, but start over immediately. Too often, I'm done more damage to my body by lying to myself that it's "okay, because I've already blown it anyway."

Resolve to Love Yourself
Remember that "you're more than just what you weigh." In other words, don't think of yourself in terms of weight for value. Even if you weigh 300 pounds or more, and loose 150, reaching your goal, you're still the same person inside. Once you learn to love yourself, you're on your way to victory.