Whether its about losing a bit of winter fat or correcting an obesity problem, making the decision to lose weight is not the easiest one to make. In fact, for most of us, it is a daunting challenge. These 10 tips should be of help if you want to go for it, they are about what to avoid.
1. Don't even think you can do it alone.
If you need advice or help, don't hesitate to ask it from your friends or from professionals. Don't try to solve all problems by yourself. Not everyone was born with steel in his character or nerves stronger than guitar strings.
2. Don't allow reality to slip away.
Logic dictates that a situation that took months or years to build up won't go away in a day or a couple of weeks. The secret here is a combination of two words: consistency and determination.
3. Don't imagine willpower can do it all.
Use your common sense. After hard labor comes a period of rest. This is also valid when you lose weight, for when you are eliminating fat, the body is working hard to achieve this. Allow yourself a treat every now and then, the trick here is: be kind and patient to yourself and your body.
4. Don't start visiting the gym like your life depends on it.
Another common mistake is to fall in the new-brooms-sweep-clean trap and hit the work out room every day. Build the good habits slowly and remember to tell yourself that every single effort, however small, will contribute to the overall result. When working out, your body will start growing muscle, this takes time. Moreover, muscle tissue is heavier than fatty tissue, keep this in mind too.
5. Don't start fanatically saying "NO" to yourself.
The child in you will go into rebellion. Your willpower and determination will only grow if you reward yourself and don't turn reward into a bad habit by exaggerating. Don't make your diet a regime. The word regime itself contains elements of dictatorship. Nobody likes a dictator.
6. Don't choose the die hard method to begin your diet.
This will only set you up for a major crash. When dealing with habits that created an overweight situation, start focussing on the fact that they need to be tamed, not broken. Gradually replace the overweight creating habits by new ones that will help you achieve your goal.
7. Don't ban all calories.
If you suddenly stop making available large quantities of food to your system, it will believe that lean times have arrived and the result will be that your body will start building reserves, which makes the problem worse. Slowly decreasing the amount of food intake will allow your body to adapt.
8. Don't start suddenly skipping meals.
Some people let their logic misguide them into thinking that skipping one or two meals could help them lose weight faster. Its the best way to get yourself trapped in the yoyo syndrome. Every time you lose a pound this way, the body will try to compensate by creating two pounds of reserves.
9. Don't go stand on the bathroom scale everyday.
As the best results are the ones we gain slowly, standing on the weight scale everyday can be counter productive. The lack of immediate results can be demotivating. Moreover, take into account that stabilizing your weight comes before a drop and that this also needs time.
10. Don't let emotions be your chief decision maker.
Human beings often fail to make the link between unproductive emotional states and the knee jerk reflex of grabbing something to eat. It is just another way of dealing with this negative state of mind and its a common trap as well. Why punish yourself, your body and tax your own health for failing to understand something about yourself?
Joe is webmaster for YouEatItYouWearIt since January 2008 when he decided that he would put up an internet site to share his dieting experience with anyone struggling with an overweight problem. He managed to lose more than 35 kilos (100 lbs) some 18 years ago and keep it that way. How he managed this is freely shared on http://www.youeatityouwearit.com for everyone to see and he publishes his articles on the subject here on Ezine Articles.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Van_Moorleghem
