Change your mindset....you aren't on a DIET. "Diet" is a nasty four letter word that should leave your vocabulary. You want to change your lifestyle....why?????
Because your current lifestyle is the reason you put on the weight to begin with and you really don't want to enter a cycle of yo-yo dieting. Your body really hates that and is worth better.
First you need to make small changes for yourself.
1) Drink 64 oz of water every single day (many have to work up to this but it's easy once you start)
2) Get 8 hrs sleep every night. Yes this one is very hard for busy people but really work on accomplishing this. Your body metabolizes differently at night and that's when the most weight loss happens...have you ever noticed that you are lighter first thing in the morning than later in the day? Go to bed early if you have to. I go to bed with my son every night to assure myself 8 hours.
3) cut out soft drinks...if you drink regular go to diet then even cut that out. Diet drinks can cause cravings that are real hard to ignore.
4) Don't cut out snacks right away.....Reduce them instead. Take a look at your current habits. How much sweet do you really eat? How much salt do you really eat? cut these in half for 1 week....then cut them in half again the next week until you are happy with where you stand with your snacks.
5) make a plan!!! What will you do when you feel that you "blew it", "fell off the wagon", or otherwise go off your new lifestyle. Be guaranteed......it will happen. Be sure you don't allow yourself to go on an all out binge! Enjoy what it is that took you off your plan then tell yourself that ok, now you're back at it. NO WASTING AN ENTIRE DAY!!
6) Don't neglect physical activity. Yep EXERCISE!!! That used to be a nasty word to me also but I have grown to truly love exercise (If you don't believe me read my first blog here, I try to portray my loathing of exercise). I started with 20 minutes a day every single day. I didn't want to take a day off because I knew it would be harder for me to do it the following day. I started with Richard Simmons Sweatin To The Oldies DVD's. I love the first one best!!! I have since moved up to 30 minutes of cardio every day and I'm working on my strength training plan. I will soon be restarting the ChaLEAN program which has strength training 3 days and 1 endurance day along with cardio, core, and flexibility training.
Start small but not too small. Be sure that your activity does raise your heartrate, make yourself pant some. I love DVD's, some people love the gym...others love outdoor activities, Find something YOU love.
lastly, don't be afraid to look for support.
diaperswappers and sparkpeople are my best support systems. when I get bored and want to binge i read blogs on sparkpeople or diaperswappers weight loss message boards to post and read.
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