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Why Weight - - The Sequel

By Nancy Irwin

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Published: 01Nov2007
Word count: 1124
Viewed: 230 time(s)

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How do we lose weight the keep it off? By committing to health. By making health a priority. Each day that you make the healthy choice of food and work out, you are investing in your health. You would never miss paying an insurance premium, would you? Now you make exercise and proper nutrition just as important. When you got married, you said “I do”. You didn’t say “Well, I’ll try….” You can choose to stand in your commitment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Here are some simple steps to help you stay on the healthy path for life:

1. Stop using that 4-letter word: DIET. That not only connotes deprivation, but also a short-term goal…..like you’ll follow the plan, get your goal, and stop. Health is a lifelong value!

2. Start keeping a food diary. Write down everything you eat, every time you eat. Most of us are unaware of how we spend our calories (and our money). By keeping track of what you eat (or spend!) you will quickly see your patterns, and then be abler to make healthy food choices.

3. Fool-proof your kitchen and/or office. Get rid of anything unhealthy. If you are thinking “But, Dr. Nancy, I have kids!” Why would you want to allow them to learn unhealthy eating habits? This is about changing your lifestyle for maximum health and minimum temptation. Set yourself up for success by only having healthy foods and healthy eaters around you.

4. Accept that exercise is just as important as healthy food choices. Check with your doctor to see what is the best exercise program for you. If you are just starting one, make sure you start off with “baby steps” - - - i.e., start off walking briskly for 15 minutes a day. After a week, bump it up to 20, then 30, etc. Then when you are ready, start running. Or enroll in a beginner’s yoga class. If you don’t like exercise, pick something that doesn’t seem “exercisey.” There truly is a sport for everyone. Perhaps you’d enjoy a martial art, or hiking, salsa dancing, biking with your child, or swimming, or join a softball team, or pick up a tennis game with a friend. You may not be in love with exercise, but you can learn to enjoy the results, if nothing else. You probably don’t really enjoy paying taxes either, but you do it to avoid the consequences. You can always find ways to make your exercise program more fun: wear a great outfit in your favorite color, get top of the line shoes (if you pay a lot for them, you’ll probably be more inclined to use them), make a piggy bank and pay yourself each time you work out. Or, make a campaign contribution of $100 to an opposing political party (that one really hurts!!!). Enroll a friend/family member to hold you accountable.

5. Write in your calendar or datebook each week in advance the times/dates you will work out. Honor those appointments as if they were more important than a doctor or dentist appointment. They are. Nothing is more important than your health. If you don’t have that, then you can’t work, take care of kids, etc. There are 168 hours in the week. You can quickly calculate how many you spend sleeping, eating, working, commuting, child caring, etc., and see that you can carve out 10 hours a week (including driving to gym, changing, showering, etc.) for your health. That is less than 10% of your time, yet your body works 100% of the time for you! Give yourself the gift of allowing all your vital organs and systems to recharge, oxygenate, and rejuvenate you. Every cell of your body will respond positively. Most of us continually overeat and stuff and never move. How would it be if you kept filling up your car’s gas tank till it was spilling over, and then never driving it? This is what many do with their bodies. You can start thinking of food as fuel. Stop fueling when full, and then burn it off. Just imagine if you were given one car that you could drive for the rest of your life. You’d probably be very careful about what sort of fuel you put in it, who repaired it, drove it, even looked at it. Well, your body is your only vehicle for life. Start treating it like the precious jewel that it is, and you will very soon feel better, sleep better, look better, have more mental clarity and emotional stability.

6. Prepare for plateaus. Most people “fall off the wagon” when they hit a plateau. This is a perfectly natural phase of any change process. While it appears that nothing is happening, know that lots of things are going on behind the scene. Much like intermission at a play…it looks like nothing is happening onstage, yet there’s a flurry of activity backstage that will be revealed to you if you wait it out. What is happening in the human body when the scale doesn’t budge is that every system, organ, cell is absorbing the new adjustments. It’s as if gauges and levers and toggles and switches are all being readjusted to the new program. And it takes some parts longer than others. Just like in a classroom, the teacher must wait for every child to understand the lesson at hand before moving on to the next one. This trains every cell in the body for long-lasting results. This is precisely why rapid weight loss programs (“crash diets”) only promote the yo-yo effect. If you’ve trained your body one way for 35 years, you cannot expect it to be re-trained in 30 days! The body cannot possibly adapt to a new program that quickly. Slow and steady ensures permanence. So, expect plateaus…..even welcome them. This is proof that your new body is adapting.

7. Focus on your progress. Remember, we get whatever we focus on, and whatever we focus on expands. If you celebrate losing 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 20 pounds, etc., you will enhance the process. If you focus on how slow it’s going or what a “fat pig” you still are, guess what will happen? Stay patient and positive, and plan activities to redirect your energy. Remember, being overweight is a voluntary condition. You and only you can control what you eat and drink, and how much you work out. There are few guarantees in life, but one thing IS guaranteed: if you burn up more than you eat, you can't not lose weight! See ya on the healthy path.....

Dr. Irwin is a psychotherapist/therapeutic hypnotist in Los Angeles. She is also an author, speaker, and exercise fanatic. http://www.drnancyirwin.com http://www.youtube.com/DrNancyIrwin

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