Appearances matter today, like never before. We judge people. including ourselves, by looks. We`re bombarded with impossible images of anorexic, silicone-enhanced, Barbie doll perfection, so it`s not surprising that dieting is big business on both sides of the Atlantic.
Have you been on a diet yourself? If you have, the chances are you`re tried more than one. And if you`re health and fitness professional you`ll have met many people fighting a desperate battle to be slim. Yet 95% of people who diet re-gain the weight; obesity is rising rapidly. By the year 2030, it`s estimated that most Americans and 37% of Brits will be obese. And because over-weight people are generally less healthy, these statistics imply a frightening increase in illness and disease.
Here are some slimming strategies to do your best.
Slimming strategy #1
The food diary
Get to know yourself better. Keeping a food diary is a good way to understand your eating habits.You might know lots of diets involve writing down what you eat. But there`s more else you do while you`re eating and what triggers you to start.
You can`t change eating patterns until you know what they are. Keep it simple to start with and, for the next six weeks, record:
- Everything you eat
- When you eat
- What else you do while you eat.
Slimming strategy #2
The Hunger scale
This will get used to the idea of eating when you`re full. Most overweight people eat for reasons other than hunger. Whenever you`re about to eat, stop and ask:
“How hungry am I on a scale of 1 to 10?”
Dieters don`t know when they`re hungry. They assume they are, because they think all the time about not being allowed to eat. Ask yourself, “Do I really beed to eat?” Maybe you need fresh air, activity, a cuddle, a drink or sleep. Maybe you`ve just conditioned your self to snack when you come home from work. Maybe you were comforted with food when you were little. Only hunger requires food.
Slimming strategy #3
Consciously slow down your eating
-Put down your knife and fork between mouthfuls.
- Pause between courses for at least five minutes.
Slimming strategy #4
Get a fat jar
Any jar will do. Take 15 minutes of comfortable exercise, like fast walking, daily for the first week, then twice daily. This is on top of exercise you already take. For every 15 minutes, put a coin into jar. When the jar is full, spend it on a treat -a non-fattening one- clothes, books, CDs.
Slimming strategy #5
Throw your scale away
Or give them to someone you don`t like, so they can be miserable instead of you. Body weight fluctuates for lots of reasons and scales don`t just register fat loss, which is the only things that matters. If you cut back drastically on food, your body assumes there`s famine and slows down your metabolism. You`ll end up losing muscle, not fat, but when you start eating again, it comes back as fat. There are better ways to mesure success: Your energy levels, your fat jar, the way your clothes fit, the compliments you get…