Worldwide Success

In the beginning of the New Year many people try to lose weight.  Many plans are made, and many goals are set.  Some people get a real good start fueled by a renewed enthusiasm brought on by the New Year.  The challenge is to maintain that enthusiasm so that your weight loss program does not become a two-week failed attempt.

Here are a few suggestions to keep you on a path to success in your weight loss program:

Don’t Make it Too Hard on Yourself

If you starve yourself or go on a strict diet that you can’t stand you will not be able to keep it up for too long.  You may be ok for the first few days, stimulated by a sense of a new beginning that comes with the New Year.  But once you settle into your normal routine, maintaining the same level of motivation will be very difficult.  In order to achieve success you need balance.

Your food intake should not be so restrictive that you are hungry most of the time.  It should also not be so boring that you don’t get any pleasure from eating.  Try to have a nutritional plan that is easy to follow, and yet provides enough variety.  The key is to strike the right balance between having too many choices to make and not having enough variety in your diet to keep you healthy and motivated.

A good plan might be to have one or two choices for breakfast and maybe two or three choices for lunch.  For dinner, try to eat something different every day of the week.  Here is a really important part of your weight loss program that many people forget: You must plan your snacks.  You will certainly feel hungry between meals and if you don’t plan properly you will run the risk of eating the wrong food.  Always have with you a bad of mixed dried fruits and nuts, or a healthy bar.  The last thing you want is to be so hungry between lunch and dinner that you don’t resist the chocolate chip cookies that someone brings to the office.  Even if the calories of that one cookie do not do major damage to your plan, psychologically it could be fatal.

Keep a Food Diary

Studies have shown that people eat less when they keep track and write down what they eat.  This is a critical habit for your weight loss success.  You would be surprised by how much you end up eating at the end of the day when you count all the snacks and small meals in between the main meals.  The process of writing down what you eat does not have to be very elaborate.  It can be simple scribbles on a notebook or on your calendar.  If you want to go high-tech, you can make notes on a PDA or use a more sophisticated tracking process on a web site or spreadsheet.

The most important thing is that you do it.  This has more to do with psychology than the actual tracking of the amount of calories you are consuming.  If you know you have to write it down, you will be less likely to eat the wrong thing.

Step Up You Physical Activities

You don’t necessarily have to join a gym or buy an expensive piece of equipment.  If you enjoy some type of sport, join a league or find friends to practice with.  Go for walks.  Work on the backyard.  Whatever it is, just do something that will keep your body moving.  Again, this does not have to be anything very elaborate.  Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective.

Allow Yourself a Treat Once in a While

You can’t be running on all cylinders all the time.  Once in a while you need a break.  Giving yourself a chance to recover is a very important aspect of every successful pursuit.  Tie the treat with the achievement of a successful milestone.  This will achieve three things in one shot:  It will serve as a rewarding mechanism for reaching the milestone; it will give you a much needed psychological relief; and it will keep you motivate to keep going with your weight loss program.

Much success to you in your weight loss pursuit in 2008!

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