Healthy Weight Loss Is the Side Effect of a Healthy Lifestyle

What are the essential steps to weight loss? It seems that most of my patients are trying to lose weight. Almost half of all people in America and the Western hemisphere are significantly overweight and are rapidly becoming even more obese. The diet and weight loss industry is literally a multibillion dollar a year business. I just Googled “weight loss” and came up with 158 million hits. There is so much information, and there are so many products that it is overwhelming. Most of the information and most of these products are worthless at best and harmful in some cases. So what do you need to know to lose weight in a way that is permanent and healthy?

1. Weight loss is simple. You just need to consume fewer calories than you burn off. You can do this most effectively by Eating Rainbows and exercising most days of the week.
2. Stop dieting. What are the first three letters of diet? D-I-E. That is how dieting makes you feel. Diets are temporary solutions to a long-term problem. Instead a short-term quick fix, you need to make permanent lifestyle changes, which include good nutrition, exercise and stress management.
3. Conquer stress. If you are stressed or depressed, you will not be able to focus on good nutrition and exercise. Of course, exercise is one of the most effective ways to manage stress.
4. Have a big enough "why". If you have a big enough “why”, the “how” is easy. Why do you want to lose weight? What is your primary motivation? If your reason is not important enough or exciting enough, you will have a more difficult time following through with your plan.
5. Choose a specific target and a well-thought-out plan. You need to be specific about the amount of weight that you want to lose. Amorphous goals are not goals, they are wishy-washy dreams. The difference between goals and dreams is that dreams don’t usually come true but goals usually do. Wishing that you can lose weight is very different than deciding to lose 15 pounds in three months by exercising five days per week and eliminating all desserts except for one per week.
6. DECIDE. When you make a committed decision to accomplish something, the universe wakes up and sends all kinds of unexpected resources to your aid. A friend may call you up and ask you to go walking. You may get a coupon for the local gym in the mail. More importantly, you become an unstoppable force when you are determined to accomplish your goal in spite of all obstacles
7. Monitor your progress. What gets measured, gets done. If you are serious about losing weight, you need to weigh yourself every day. This will keep you on track and give you valuable feedback about what is working and what is not. Weighing yourself will keep you focused on your goal.

There are no magic pills or surefire diets that work over the long term. You need to make permanent lifestyle changes. Whatever you do to lose weight, assuming that it is healthy, you need to keep doing so that you maintain a healthy weight. You need to develop the habit of a healthy lifestyle. Weight loss is the side effect of a healthy lifestyle.

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