Quick tips for starting and sticking with a weight-loss plan
• Get help. Talk to your health care provider about healthy ways to lose weight. Also talk to family members and friends about your goals and ask them to be supportive. Some people find it helpful to attend weight-loss support groups or work with a personal health coach. Ask your health care provider for more information.
• Set a realistic goal. Many people set unrealistic goals and then feel bad about themselves when they fail to reach them. Ask your health care provider to help you determine a realistic rate of weight loss (for many people this is 1 to 2 pounds a week) and how much you need to lose to achieve a healthy weight. Then try to take losing weight one day at a time so that you don't feel overwhelmed.
• Create a plan. Most people find it easier to lose weight and eat healthy foods if they have a specific plan. Your plan might be a program such as Weight Watchers® or a healthy eating plan prescribed by your health care provider.
• Learn about healthy nutrition and weight loss. The more you know, the more successful you'll be. Find out what constitutes a healthy diet and how you can follow nutritional guidelines.
• Realize that achieving and maintaining a healthy weight requires lifestyle changes. Try not to think of losing weight as "going on a diet" because it actually requires permanent lifestyle changes. You'll have to change more than just the amount of food you eat in order to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. You'll need to change the way you think about food and the way you shop for and prepare food. Committing yourself to these and other lifestyle changes, like fitting in exercise, will set you up for success.
• Understand that you'll probably have setbacks. Almost everyone has slip-ups -- days when they overeat, skip exercise, or make bad food choices. Just start over the next day and remind yourself that setbacks are part of the process of losing weight and developing a healthy lifestyle
For more information:
American Dietetic Association
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/index.html
US Department of Argriculture
Food and Nutrition Information Center
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic
Reprinted with permission of Ceridian LifeWorks.
*National Center for Health Statistics for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention