Weight Loss & Healthy Living

Healthy weight loss often requires major changes to your daily routine. Improving your eating habits or adding exercise can be difficult, but a healthy approach to weight loss can make changing your lifestyle easier.

Be Realistic
Use Readily Available Resources
Set Goals for Yourself
Do What You Like
Be Nice to Yourself
Get Started Now

Be Realistic

When we start trying to get in shape for the first time or after a long break, we often set overly ambitious goals and then feel disappointed in ourselves when we don't achieve them right away. If you haven't exercised in three years, don't expect to be able to run for five miles straight after one week.

Start doing some kind of exercise--as simple as taking a walk--for thirty minutes, three times a week. You can always add more days or minutes later! If you want to lose fifty pounds, start by trying to lose a couple of pounds over the next few weeks.

As you begin to feel more empowered, the rest of the weight loss should seem more attainable--and you are less likely to get discouraged. Gradual weight loss is healthier and easier than quick weight loss, and you're more likely to keep the weight off in the long-term.

Use Readily Available Resources

You don't have to buy expensive equipment to start exercising--walking works, too! You can get books about almost any topic you can think of for free from the library. You probably already know several people who are doing things you are interested in (eating healthier, exercising, quitting smoking)--ask them for tips.

Set Goals for Yourself

Make a Specific Plan

Vague goals--like "I will exercise three times a week"--are harder to stick to. Set specific goals: Which days? What time? What kind of exercise will you do? For example, you might exercise every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Write down your exercise schedule in your planner or on a calendar so that you can plan around it.

Use Teamwork to Your Advantage

It helps if you have friends and family to help you stick to your plan. Tell everyone you know that you're trying to lose weight. Ask if your neighbor wants to go on a walk with you twice a week. Come up with particular ways in which your diet could improve. Then start doing it!

Pace Yourself

If you want to quit smoking, lose twenty pounds, and start jogging three times a week, start with one of these goals instead of all three. Chances are good that if you quit smoking, exercise will eventually become easier and more appealing, and then you will lose weight. Take it one day at a time. If you try to change everything all at once, you're more likely to get frustrated and quit rather than see your resolutions through.

Do What You Like

If you absolutely hate gyms, you probably shouldn't get a membership to one--will you really go? Find a different way to exercise that appeals to you: ride a bike, walk with a friend, or join a yoga class.

If you love red meat, it would probably be very hard to quit eating it altogether. Instead, strive to eat less red meat by reducing your portion size or occasionally substituting chicken or fish. There are plenty of ways to change your lifestyle without trying to change who you are--and guess which one is easier?

Be Nice to Yourself

Cut Yourself Some Slack

Major lifestyle changes are difficult, and unrealistic expectations can make them harder. If you can't run a marathon after three weeks of training, don't give up. Readjust your timeline, and keep going. If you skip an exercise session once in a while or if you eat too much one evening, remember: you're only human! Don't beat yourself up about it--just get back to your routine as soon as possible.

Reward Yourself

If you stick to your plan for a little while, come up with positive ways to give yourself a pat on the back. Take yourself to a movie, buy a CD you've been eyeing, or get a manicure. (Try not to use food as incentive or reward.) Remember, your resolution is not meant to punish you, but to benefit you!

Get Started Now

You don't need to change your entire routine at once. Just start doing something--tackle your goals as soon as possible! You can refine and change your plan as you go. Even very simple changes--like eating a little less salt every day--will still benefit you. Incremental change is revolutionary, too.

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