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This is the time of year for New Years resolutions. One of the most popular resolutions is to lose weight. To make the resolution real, you must make it a goal, then find your plan for reaching that goal.
Before you jump in and make a New Year’s Resolution think about it. It is easy in a moment of inebriation or frustration to declare “I am going to lose weight this year.” This resolution is also very easy to break. Why? Is it because you are addicted to overeating, or you enjoy the couch too much, or you are lazy? These may or may not be true, but are not the main reason the resolution might fail. The main reason is because the resolution is too vague.
How can you accomplish a New Years resolution objective if you do not have any way of measuring your progress towards accomplishing it? We need a goal to strive for. This goal needs to be reachable and reasonable. You must have reasons why you want to be successful. If it is to lose 10 pounds to fit into a size smaller prom dress you have a reasonable goal for most people. The time you have to reach it is 3 or 4 months. If you lose the 10 pounds early, then you will have to maintain it until the prom. If you wait, you may not be able to lose it quickly enough. Another thought: what happens after the prom? Do you forget about your weight and gain it right back? Or do you continue to maintain a healthy weight?
For those of us who have more than a few pounds to lose, we have to follow through with a long term goal. We have to change habits in our lives: eating, sleeping, activity, schedules, etc. Our resolution needs to contain levels of accomplishment. One way to do this is to make our goal 10 pounds, then another 10, etc. Say someone is 229 pounds and need to be about 140 pounds. Make your first goal to get into the 200 teens, then the 200’s, then the 190’s etc. Make it totally unacceptable in your mind to be above the goal. Most of us, including me, are too comfortable at our heavier weight. How can you obtain a goal unless you feel it is a meaningful goal?
If you do not like the sub goals of tens of pounds, try a percentage of the total pounds you are at the initial point. So, if you start at 200 pounds and lose 10 percent of your body weight, you would be at 180 pounds. In this instance, you simply need to know what percentage of your original weight your goal weight is. For example, you weight 200 at the initial point, your healthy weight is 150 pounds, you need to lose 50/200 or 25% of your weight.
In weight loss, you also need to keep the time frame reasonable. It is reasonable to lose 5 to 10 pounds the first week or so IF you have not been watching your food intake and IF you go on a strict 1500 calorie diet. Most of the initial weight loss will probably be excess water weight. After that, the safe weight loss rate is 1 to 2 pounds a week.
I have mentioned defining your goal in your resolution and making a reasonable time line. The time line must be flexible as you will have plateaus in your weight loss. To reach your goal, you need to decide what your eating plan will be, what your activity or exercise plan will be, and work on changing your mental attitude and picture of yourself. I will not expand on that here. That is the plan or the journey you will be starting on. The resolution is the beginning of an interesting and challenging journey.
How do you plan on keeping your weight resolution?
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