Lose Weight Permanently Without Dieting
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Diets don't work.
More to the point, any diet will work for awhile. The problem is, at some point, after losing a few pounds (or a lot of pounds) the feeling of deprivation that a diet induces in the dieter causes that person to compensate by overeating. This phenomenon is partly psychological and partly physiological, but it is absolutely real.
Nine out of ten people who lose weight on any given diet will gain it all back, and then some, within the first year after the diet ends. That's why every single diet commercial you've ever seen has the words "results not typical" as a disclaimer at the bottom of each and every testimonial.
In other words, for every single dieting success there are nine failures. And yet, each and every day, thousands of hopeful chubby people start a new diet convinced that this time they will be one of the lucky 10% to be transformed forever into, well, what? Into somebody else.
That's messed up.
There's a saying in AA that goes, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Why do we maintain the insanity of dieting when we know it's a scam?
Because the weight loss industry and the food industry are both big businesses, and we're human. We're surrounded by the twin messages: Eat! and Diet! so we do both.
Americans eat too many calories and exercise too little, then go on crazy diets to offset a toxic lifestyle crammed with commercial values. I don't think we are fat because we're a nation of pigs with no discipline. I think it's because we are an affluent nation with easy access to lots of fattening delicious food, while at the same time, we are hardworking and miserable.
Most of us work long hours at very sedentary jobs that we hate. So we eat to cheer ourselves up, then we diet to slim ourselves down. Often our workplaces push food on us as a reward. Food is everywhere, and everywhere the message "you deserve it!" is connected to food.
It's not that complicated.
But the fact that it's not that complicated means it can indeed be changed.
Not by dieting, but by changing personal habits, one at a time.
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Conventional Wisdom is Wrong
Conventional wisdom says that to lose weight you have to eat less and exercise more, which is why, on the surface, diets seem to make rational sense. It's also why most diets do work, for a little while.
The problem is, diets also train your body and your mind to think that food is scarce, which causes your metabolism to hang on to every future calorie as if it might be the last, and causes your mind to obsess about forbidden foods or portions. That's why so often, once you go off the diet, the rebound weight leaves you worse than where you started.
To lose weight and keep it off, you have to change your whole life.
I'm not kidding.
The American way of life is deadly. High fat, high sugar, high salt foods. High pressure, low pay, high anxiety, long hours, sit-on-your-ass and stress-out jobs. Constant rushing, not enough sleep, no down time. That's a recipe for disaster, and lots Americans are now walking disasters. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in this country now.
Equality! (Yay.) We've come a long way baby.
One approach that has worked for me in the past (and that has been written about by diet and lifestyle experts like Andrew Weil) is the "change a habit a week" method. No calorie counting. No feeling guilty every time you look at that exercise bike that you use to dry your socks on. Just develop one new habit a week, week by week.
Don't lose weight. Add new habits.
Change your life. Change your body.
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Easy Effective Changes
- Eat a high fiber, high calcium breakfast. While
lots of folks are virulently anti-dairy these days, the fact is that
some of the longest-living people on earth eat yogurt at every meal.
Not the sugary kind with the fruit at the bottom and all kinds of
preservatives and chemicals: the tart, organic kind with probiotic
cultures. People who eat breakfast every day eat less overall, and they also charge up their metabolisms to burn more calories
than people who don't eat breakfast. People who eat dairy lose more weight than people who don't.
- Cut out processed foods six days a week. If
I tell you "Don't think about elephants," then all you are going to
think about is elephants. You can't help it. Similarly, if someone
tells you, "No more oreos, ever. They're poison!" then eventually you
are going to devour a whole bag of those puppies even
though you don't really like them that much. Instead of forbidding
some foods, limit them. Just knowing you can eat whatever you
want once a week helps you not obsess. Weirdly,
once you begin to cut out processed foods and eat more healthily, junk food loses its appeal.
- Eat five servings of fresh fruit and fresh veggies each day, more if you can. One study showed that people who did nothing but add
fresh fruits and veggies to their diets lost weight when compared with
a control group of people who made no changes. The reason for this is
that fresh fruits and veggies are filling, low in calories, and high in
nutrients. One theory about cravings ties them to nutritional shortages.
Eating your fruits and veggies can actually tame that sugar monkey
you're carrying around.
- Divide up your plate. As a rule of thumb, half of your plate should be veggies, one quarter of it protein, and the other quarter whole grain starch. This isn't to say you can't have a plate of spaghetti and nothing else, it's just a guide for the proportions you should keep in mind. Eat until you're full, then stop. Easy to say, hard to do.
- Talk a daily walk. Experts recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five times a week as the absolute minimum required for good health. You can break that up though. So park a few blocks from your job and walk 10 minutes twice a day, and ten minutes at lunch, and you've done your 30 minutes. Even better, get up early and walk before you shower (or run if you are already fit). Walking early in the morning adds meditative benefits and revs up your metabolism.
- Go to bed earlier. Most
Americans are sleep-deprived and brag about it, but when you
consistently get less than eight hours of sleep per night your body
releases cortisol, a hormone that causes fat to accumulate
around your middle. This is a hardwired response to stress, something
your body learned a million years ago when people who weren't sleeping
were usually people who weren't eating either or were in danger. Cortisol is part of
the "fight or flight" response, and you can't stop it through
willpower.
- Meditate. Even five minutes
twice a day will show benefits. Most Americans are incredibly unaware
of what they are doing and where they are doing it. If you are rushing
around all the time, your mind always on your next task, you're
triggering that cortisol thingie again and that will chub you up fast.
Slow down. It's not a race unless you make it one.
- Take emotional eating seriously. Most people overeat as a reward or because it helps them 'stuff' uncomfortable feelings. We all know this intuitively. The image of the woman in her PJs watching reruns of "Sex and the City" while eating ice cream right out of the container because of a bad breakup or a bad day is a recognizable cultural stereotype. While you can't insulate yourself from emotional pain, you can pay attention to what happens right before you reach for the chocolate chip cookies. Is it boredom? Anger? Frustration? Sadness? Understanding what is happening inside you is hard because it means facing your real issues instead of burying them with food. Most Americans are perfectly miserable in their work, that's a big one. Many have no time for themselves. That's another. The catch here is that once you recognize your issue you have to make changes. Get a less stressful job. Take time for you. Dump the crappy boyfriend. Tell your mother to butt out. Whatever it is, you have to change it and take care of you.
- Learn to appreciate whole foods. Whole foods are foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. A raw tomato is a whole food. A can of Campbell's tomato soup is not a whole food, and as innocuous as it may seem, that can of soup is full of salt, sugar, and preservatives that are not only bad for you, they will make you crave more salt, sugar, and preservatives. Whole foods are delicious and there are a gazillion of them, but you have to actually eat them, not just pay homage to them.
- Buy local. One of the easiest ways to lose weight without dieting is to stay out of the supermarket. If you buy most of your food from local growers and (if you are a meat eater) from grass fed local livestock suppliers, you will feel better, save a little money, and meet lots of interesting people. Plus, you will find you are eating mostly fresh, whole food, which is lower in calories and higher in nutrients.
- Love the body you have. Americans are obsessed with body image, and ironically, most of us are overweight. Millions of people are waiting (sic: 'weighting') to do all kinds of things "when I lose some weight." No! Do it now! I mean, what if you never lose any weight? You're going to put your life on hold for that? It's very hard, especially for women, to look at an imperfect body and say "This body is beautiful and it's perfect for me," especially when everyone around you is making fat jokes, but you have to do it. Self-hatred is not a good motivation for weight loss. In fact, self-hatred will sabotage your weight loss time and time again. Love yourself and live your life and your weight will sort itself out, or not. Either way, if you respect your own body, so will other people.
I've listed these few ideas as if each of them is pretty easy to accomplish and you can just go down the list picking one per week. You can do that of course, but the truth is, some of these are very difficult because they will cause you to rethink your life and hopefully, change it.
That could take longer than a week.
Change is never easy. But if you can make a start and go slow and be thorough, you will get healthier, feel better, have more fun, and oh yeah, you'll probably coincidentally lose some weight and keep it off. Permanently.
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Comments
Hi! Excellent advice!
My folks had friends who would simply cut down the size of their portions, rathar than eliminate things, and this helped them stay trim without dieting, also.
As for excercise, walking 30 minutes daily can cut the risk of heart disease greatly. I've heard this at various times over the last 30 years. My own job involves lots of walking, at least two hours daily if averaged over a 7 day week, and, while I've never been fat, it has kept me in the best shape of my life and has made a difference.
Unfortunately, when I bring this up to others who really need to exercise, they imagine running uphill 8 hours a day in hot weather, or something of that magnitude, even when I say that they only need to walk 30 minutes a day, and leisurely at that, according to some researchers.
As for veggies, I should eat more, especially now that I like them far more now, than when I was a kid. As a kid, I hated most veggies, except corn and tomatoes. But, as you said, I do try to develop one good habit at a time, and will make sure the veggies come.
Great hub!
It's good to find quality writing on the internet. One might feel audacious enough to hope.
Another winner, Pam. Insanity definition sooo fits here. Thanks. All of these suggestions are common sense and very, very doable. Even implementing 1/2 of them would make a big difference.
*trying hard not to think about Oreos:-)* MM
Storytellersrus--That's an excellent point. In fact, recently a study came out that showed that moderately overweight people--that is, people with a BMI of up to 27--live longer that underweight people and almost just as long as people of 'normal' weight. I would almost bet you that if Americans focused less on the number on a scale or inside the back of a pair of pants and more on living a full, healthy life, our weight problems would pretty much vanish. In some weird way the food industry and the diet industry support each other, but it's dysfunctional support. BTW, my ex was also very thing and I am familiar with the boneheaded things people say to think people, so I'm sorry if I offended you with this. By far the greater problem in the U.S. is overweight, so I was addressing that, but it just isn't OK to comment on anyone's size, weight, or appearance, even when it seems like a compliment. "You're lucky you're so skinny," is a boneheaded, rude thing to say to someone. Thanks for reminding us.
myway--Good ideas, thanks. We've been growing our own veggies and eating more of them.I almost listed that but not everyone has room to grow all that much. I love veggies. I love walking too. :)
amillar--What a nice thing to say! You made my day, thank you!
Hi MM--I have a wicked sugar monkey, as I think many of us with dependency issues do, but I find that if I eat NO sugar, I don't crave it. Isn't that interesting? I mean, I think it is. I notice some people can have a single cookie and really enjoy it, and some people can't even think about having one cookie. Just thinking about one cookie makes them want ALL the cookies. I think it is physiological, I really do, and it's good to know. I'm up and down with it. Do well for awhile, then it's oreo time again. :)
Great advice. Avoiding processed food is such a good idea, and its true - the more whole foods you eat, the less you crave the rubbish. Works with the kids too, which is great - I love it when they ask for a glass of fruit smoothie rather than fizzy pop. Not that they need to lose weight, but as you say, it is all about a total lifestyle, and hopefully by starting young you can set these choices up right from the start.
Hi Marie--Thanks for that. My grandson is four and he would rather have a carrot or a green pepper than cookies. How cool is that? Part of that is just him though. His parents LOVE cookies. (So do I!) Take care. :)
Fantastic hub! It's funny we both wound up on the same topic today -- mine focused less on the details of what to eat and more on what to do to deal with the emotional pain -- cut out television commercials and find activity you actually enjoy instead of punishment-style calisthenics.
I think getting up late would be as good as getting to bed early, it depends on your metabolism -- night people are much happier working night jobs and sleeping in than trying unsuccessfully to get to bed early.
I also suggested that when you need to give yourself small comforts or rewards, just focus on them in something that isn't foods, like new music on iTunes, a new cheap paperback, art supplies, craft & hobby stuff, anything that doesn't involve eating it. This can take the sting out of the deprivation pretty fast. Food is not the only small reward that can be self administered.
You're spot on about the pace too -- start with adding the healthy foods and cut back on the treats without cutting them out. I love my annual fruitcake and I don't expect it every day. I'd get bored with it if I had it every day, it wouldn't taste as good without coming around the holidays.
This is a fantastic article. Change comes to the culture when individuals change their lives for the better.
I don't think this culture has any successful mechanisms for how to live with prosperity or success in anything. It's a terrible gap -- but it is cultural, I don't think human beings are inherently out of control greedy fiends. I think instead that my daughter is right -- a great many people would rather be able to default a lot of their life choices to their culture, would no matter what culture they were born into... and when mistakes get made on that grand a scale the whole herd will go over the cliff.
For a lot of people it seems to hurt less knowing the cliff is rushing up than to be left out or fear social disapproval. The source of the social pressure is fictional but it affects people as if it were real -- the people who made the commercial are actors and actresses paid to say those lines and look that way. They don't personally care if you buy the product or use it and aren't going to come back to compliment or humiliate you.
But the sound of a human voice and the sight of a human face have a deep emotional impact on people. Which is why I suggested just ditching the TV commercials as the first thing to do, just start getting TV off the internet or renting it so that you get it commercial free.
It makes as big a difference as driving through a state park versus driving through an area with billboards every 20 feet, the latter is going to be aggravating and you won't see much of the scenery.
Thanks for pointing out how much stress has to do with putting on weight directly, and the chemistry of it. Your article is great.
I just edited in a link to your Hub on mine since it goes so well with it and provides more specifics on how to change your diet. Go you! Maybe these articles will help people get their lives sorted out and live better.
The one most attractive quality a person can have to get romantic interest is to be happy with his or her life -- at that point you're easy to be around and the interested singles start thinking you must really have some survival advantage to be doing that well when everyone else is worried.
Excellent hub and excellent comments. Some random additions:
If you get to the point where running replaces walking, do not jog. Instead, alternately sprint and walk. Jogging, which I used to do a lot, did substantial damage to some of my internal organs. And never do your running on concrete or asphalt.
The long run object of working with your body should be quality of life, not longevity. What good is the latter without the former?
The short run (daily) object of exercising should be that clean, energized feeling you have afterwards, rather than losing pounds.
The ideal weight for each person is different, and is not necessarily thinner than what you are now. The natural weight for some people may even be higher because different lifestyles and workstyles sometimes call for different bodies. When I played football and basketball in college, I was 40 pounds lighter than I am now because my life then required it. Now, if I lose 20 pounds, I start getting colds. Don't let TV determine your view of yourself. (Easier said than done.)
Hi Steve--Great points, thank you! At 56 I look very much like my mother did at 56, and I do believe much of how we look and what we weigh is genetically coded and not all that easy to change. I wish everyone could be more accepting of their own bodies and of others and just, as you say, eat and exercise for good quality of life, not vanity or social pressure. Thanks for your insights, they are always so good
Great hub, as usual Pgrundy! With the millions of hubs about losing weight, I pass most of them by because they're promoting some "get thin in 10" type diet. When I saw yours, I knew it was info I could trust. How's that for a reputation?! *wink*
Everything you said is true. I eat decently. My problem is lack of proper exercise. It always has been. I have made that mistake of putting things off until I lose weight instead of realizing that if I'd just do those things THEY would be what helped me lose it!
Thanks for the great advice and that little nudge I needed.
Another great hub PG, on a subject near and dear to many people’s heart---dieting! My grandmother was a nurse and nutrition was part of our daily lifestyle. She always told us we can eat anything we want and stay healthy and slim. The secret---quality of food you put in your mouth and quantity…its excess in both that will be your enemy…
Hi KCC--I think sometimes we are conditioned by advertising to hate our bodies no matter what they look like. It's hard for me to set a good example because I look in the mirror and think, ugh, you are so NOT Michelel Kidman, Pam. But that's so messed up and I know it. Thanks for your comment and all the best to you! I'll bet you look great.
Nancy--Thanks for that. It's so true, quality and quantity matter!
Pam this was so refreshing. I personally am dead against weight loss pills. They do more harm than good. We see all sorts of ads on TV (don't want to name the pills) luring people into the vicious circle of getting addicted to the stupid pills for a while and messing up with their body system. The only way to lose weight, as you said, is the natural way. Eat fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Exercise and avoid bread for dinner. :)
Hi Anjali--Thank you for that. I agree. I think we are all way too obsessed about weight in general. If people would eat well, take care of themselves, and live their lives instead of obsessing about weight loss and their bodies I think it would sort itself out. I appreciate your positive comments.
Really struggle with my weight these days. Apart from the fact that I often eat too much of the worng thingh I think its because a-I gave up smoking b- I now have an underactive thyroid condition and c-I am post menopausal. It would seem I have got a full house lol
Ethel--I'm in the same boat! (Except for the smoking, I never did smoke.) Once I passed 50 it seemed like all bets were off. I can't even look at sweets or my belly gets flabbier. But all in all I can't complain. I mean, I look pretty much like the rest of the women in my family when they reached my age. :)
Love your style, really- pgrundy...You are a pro--Your hub is so organized that the bold underlined sub-topic with the list that consistently identifies what easy effective changes may be when losing diet helps the reader pinpoint what he needs to know or get right away. Maybe there's such a thing as hall of fame hubbers and may I nominate you, or you already are- or maybe there is such a thing I just haven't been in that page yet- hahahahaha- still a "baby" in this hub---(no, no, not corn on the cob..???) :)
Thanks SimPly RaRe--I appreciate the positive feedback. Have a great weekend. :)
Excellent advice! I wish more people would think like this, instead of always trying to find the next "miracle" diet..Losing weight is a big task which requires some self disciple and effort - there is no magic pill!
Those are some very good points made in the article . Have you ever considered adding the use of reshaping garments into the routine. This is a great way to keep the diet on your mind check them out http://www.getbodymagiconline.com
Hi. everyone else has basically said it all. I'm for ya' too.
thanks for the tips.
Pam nobody in my house is overweight though we all pretty much eat whatever we want. What we don't eat is junk food and a lot of processed food. Though I am fatter than I'd like to be, I've always been called thin and never had a doctor tell me to lose weight. That's because I am active and enjoy home cooked foods. Even homemade cookies!
Dance! Dance!
Exercise is all around us.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
Getting a stop or two before your actual bus stop if you take the bus.
Finding a longer route to go some place instead of the shortcut.
Cleaning your office, working in the garden.
Most people don’t realize it but they exercise all the time, but it’s the food intake that needs to be control.
I complete agree with you about dieting.
Eat healthy and be patience. Losing weight does not happen over night but later takes time.
That time it takes means that it will stay off longer.
Blha...Blha....Blha....
1. have a plastic surgery;
2. cut u'r stomach in half.
this will be permanently no matter what u'r eating.
Hi Dolores--Good points. I'm sure being active doesn't hurt either!
Santine & HSPrincess--Thanks for your thoughts. :)
Thank you for this hub! I've been trying to figure out how to be more healthy with my life . . . and while exercising 3o min. a day doesn't sound like much, it's sure hard when you're trying to balance everything else. De-stress by meditating. I can't believe 5 minutes would help that much, but it's more than I've been doing. I am going to try to put your advice into practice.
Great Hub pgrundy! I never made the connection between mediation and weight loss before but you definitely have a great point there. Without knowledge of yourself and where your body is, there is no way you can look forward to a more healthy you. Thanks for the thoughts!
You have written a great Hub, but the one thing that is missing is the secret of weight loss:
DRINK AS MUCH PURIFIED, CHILLED WATER EVERY DAY !
Most diets all have the same common ingredient, ice cold water mixed with a mystery powder...
Our body temperature is 98.6 degress. When we drink ice cold water, our body burns calories naturally to heat up the water and keep our biosystem in balance.
I have a degree in Biology and was enrolled in the Wilkes-Hanneman program and this was one of the first things we learned when we went on rounds in a hospital.
Hello there
It is so good to see like minded people on this site. I have taken the weight battle as being a long term project. Yes the numbers on the scale moved from 185 to 150, but over a year and a half worth of time.
My only comment would be to watch your salt. Since I am a saltaholic I got past that one by filling all the salt shakers with a vegtable sale like, NO SALT, and allowing myself to shake all I want on my plate at the table. If my weight is up it is becasuse of my salt intake the day before, at least most of the time.
So glad to find like minded people on the internet.
Claudia
Hi :)
well i love it all but one thing
how can i love my body while i have extra skin and extra fats
I was trying but its too hard!! i tolde my self ihave a nice body but mirrors and pix never lies i have extra skin!!
great hub pgrundy... i like the "easy effective changes the most...:)
How about trying some Aunty Norah Potatoes for a change of habit?
Great article thanks Eways
Wonderful article, not always easy to do but worth trying!!
Really great tips. You really do have to change your whole life if you ever want to see a difference. Only thing I would add is cut out sugar completely - that really seemed to be what helped me out in losing about 50 lbs last year.
Wow, the bethography photo where she stands in the pants is scary. I can´t imagine how hard it must be to be that big. Hub gives a couple of good lessons to us all: obesity is possible to remedy, it is up to the individual.
I totally agree that processed food is the main killer. In today´s shop it is very difficult to find all you need that is NOT processed. Worst of all are the complete meals.
Hello PGrundy, really enjoyed your hub and sensible advice, but I live in a great country where we have fresh food on tap, - about 35 different fruits and fresh veggies to die for from all the local markets. But since we've been here though the very variety has encouraged me to eat them and I've put on another half stone! Never see processed food at all.....
I've now got a pool so swim every day, which feels great and I know is good for me.
And each morning we walk the dogs for an hour or more.
I'm just hoping taking up writing hubs is going to keep me away from the fruit as I've become obsessed doing them! But I don't hold out much hope cos Hubby keeps bringing me more plates of mangosteens, santol and the like..........
I was a good 9 stoner for about 58 years, (Well since my teens which is a bit less eh) but now gone to over 11 since retiring. And living in this land of tiny people makes it worse....... But hey ho, no more dieting like you said, and I promise to be nice to that little tubby lady in the mirror!!! - she looks just like my Mum!!!
One other thing, being a retired nurse I do take our BP once a month and mine is still 125/55 - 60, so not bad on that score eh.
Hi Chelles--Good point on the sugar. And congrats on losing 50 pounds! Wow!
Kidheadphone--Thanks for stopping by. I'm thinking you are talking about an ad here. Some of them are pretty awful.
Mountain Blossoms--that all sounds lovely. Now I'm off to check out where you live. Thanks for your comment!
hie pgrundy....cool hub....i like your point of divide your plate and go to bed earlier....it do helps a lot in weight loss or even for weight maintaining.....lesser calories you consume at night...means supper....then chances for you to cut weight is higher...do so??
Great hub..keep on posting and i will read on it...
WHat a exellent imformation.
An individual has to decide whether he wants to go through the pain of dieting to shed weight and gain nice looks. As for the title, I feel this article is written for easy goers. In my view, you need to give up something to gain something. That is the law of nature. Dieting, if it is properly done,even the certain parts of this article says about it, is an excellent thing that one can really enjoy. But, this is nice, very informative article, thanks
Thanks Sahar, lovemyself, and michelledragonfly--I appreciate you all taking the time to read this and comment.
KevinPeter--You have a point. I was only stating that statistically diets don't work very well for weight loss, but if they work for you, of course it's good to stick with one.
Another great hub Pam, with practical sensible content.
We did enjoy this Hub. As usual with you, the info is very well presented, both in words used and layout.
It seems to us that a lot of people are looking for a magic food or drink that will make them loose weight.
We agree that permanent weight loss requires a change of habit(s).
One practical tip: just don't keep cookies or chocolate (or whatever your main weakness) in the house. Not so easy when there are kids around, but maybe it's a good lesson for them too.
Hi 2patricias--Great advice! If I have sweets in the house, I will eat them no matter how much I tell myself I won't! :)
Very sensible and doable advice on living healthy and losing weight in the process. One step at a time adds up to a lifetime of healthy choices. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for stopping by lafenty. :)
I really enjoyed this hub - it's well written and seems sensible advice.
But now I need to google and find out what on earth an oreo is ???
./
Hi there;
Thank-you for posting the info and the comments.
I think I am a hybrid dieter.
Always beleived in the Food Guide and exercise but it gets harder as the years add on.
So last year I started a plan to get the weight off contineously but slowly, increase my exercise, and really try to gain energy and good health.
It worked.
I do 3 month plans, hoping to lose 5 to 10 pounds in each time zone. I am happy with 5 pounds. This is not going to happen over night.
We changed our eating habits one thing at a time.
I still have my glass of wine and potatoe chips on Friday night if I want them but snack on nuts, yougurt or rice cakes the rest of the week.
Just wanted to put my 2 cents in
Starting a nutrition/weight loss group August 4th
My first blog so probably not doing everything right yet
Check me out at http://hubpages.com/profile/Claudiazinc
Take care
Claudia
Great hub! I love the last point especially. It's so vital you love the body you have. It's not just all about staying in a 'healthy' state physically, but also mentally, and loving your body the way it is, is so critical to your overall mental and emotional state of mind.
This is a great hub. I noticed you have books listed by Andrew Weil. He's fantastic and he's the guy I go to for finding out information on everything - from nutritional supplements to dietary needs and exercise. He's masterful and doesn't take bribes, (unlike the FDA who can really no longer be trusted because of lobbyists, pharmaceutical companies and special interest groups).
I also want to add, for people interested in exercising less but getting more out of it...look up interval training. Its not really new, but its not really well known either. Its exercising in spurts - warm up, then go super intense, then rapidly cool down and do it again repeatedly and your body doesn't get used to it, so it doesn't store fat cells to prepare for the energy it knows you will spend - my workout used to be 45 minutes of cardio - now its down to 16 minutes and I get a better workout. Also, interval training strengthens the heart and expands the lungs.
Thanks for the hub!
Thanks Claudiazinc & cmarshall--I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this. :)
Laura Spector--Thank you for sharing the interval training idea. I'm going to check that out. I need to lose some pudge around my middle myself!
Weight watchers fan here :) SOme good points, thanks for sharing!
A lot of great advice! I need to get back into shape I finally all healed up!
i have to say, this is the best advice i've ever heard. when i was a freshman in college, i went from about 170 to 200 lbs in about 4-5 months. i was shocked when i finally lokoed at myself and saw the damage i had done. it's always been too easy for me to gain weight, and i thought it would be incredibly difficult to lose it again. i was on a team at the same time i gained the weight too! but i switched schools, lived at home and commuted, and made losing the weight my goal. all it really took was cutting out the candy that i had been comfort eating, and forcing myself to go to the gym twice a week. once i started living healthier i noticed i had more energy and more of a will to continue. it's not easy, especially at first, but more than losing the weight, i was more energetic and happier for it. i lost the 30 lbs in the same amout of time i took to gain it and though i've fallen off the proverbial wagon a few times, all i have to do is remember how good i felt when i was getting ready to go out somewhere and saw that i fit into my jeans again, or looked great in a new top.
here's another tip for all those women out there who are unhappy with their bodies- sometimes, as a reward for doing well at something (not necessarily for going to the gym or loosing a pound or two), maybe a good grade, or for a long week at work, is to go buy yourself something you look great in, a new top or jacket, belt, sunglasses, something not too huge but something others will notice, and walk into work, class, or hang out with friends and bask in their compliments. most of all, like how you look. i'm back at 175, and though progress is slow and i still have strech marks from my rapid weight gain and loss, i really do love my body. when i work out, i work out because i like how i feel afterwards, not because i hate how i look.
womenof the world: LOVE YOURSELF!
Hi niamh--Thank you for the kind words and the excellent tips! Great to hear from you. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. :)
Hi There,
I used to work at The CORI Centers for Gastric BYpass SX.
So, I can really relate to what your saying.
One Luv
Peace
Terrific Hub! Thank goodness for reminding us that common sense and what our parents and grandparents taught us... maybe not in so many words... is of value and holds true up through today.
Thanks Jenna. I'm glad you liked it. :)
Great article! I've been telling people similar things for years, but most people don't listen.
I think most people see their weight as a "problem" that can be "solved" through some quick effort, then they can forget about the problem forever and go back to their old routine. They don't want to deal with the idea of changing lifelong habits and living a healthy life everyday. I'm into fitness, and I know very well that you can't just get a great body then forget about it. You have to maintain it longterm or you go right back to your old self.
Hi pauljorg--So true! What works for me is building activity into my normal routine and limiting sugary treats. Also, lowering expectations helps. It's great if a woman can look 25 into here 50s but for most of us that's not a realistic goal. I look just like most of the other women in my family when they hit their mid-50s and I'm learning to accept it. It's health that matters, not whether I can bounce a quarter off my butt. :)
Excellent tips. I found very practical. In fact, I am using some of them now. Thanks for the info.
Wonderful tips .... you are an awesome hubber ....
I fully agree with you - "Don't lose weight. Add new habits. Change your life. Change your body." This is the only practical and no non-sense guide to effective weight lose. Thanks!
I really enjoyed reading this article, thank-you!! I linked you up on my blog, I hope that's ok! You can see my post here:
Thanks Carla!
Interesting article - some good stuff - a lot of great comments as one person commented having a little fat is not bad - the problem is the belly fat which leads to all kinds of health issues.
Great advice! ;-)
Excellent piece..I loved it
It is a good hub without doubt. It is very informative too. Eating less doesn't matter, eating quality foods matters. Thanks for the nice hub.
I like the pics
Really good article with such a lot of common sense. It has inspired me to begin changing my ways right now and I will forget about the getting up on the scales every day just being confident that in time I will gradually reduce my weight without even realizing it.
How can this be possible? I have read your arguments but it is very unrealistic. I would like to know more.
Great Hub! This one might help as well: http://hubpages.com/hub/relaxation
Excellent,helpful and interesting.
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great hub!
Ah, finally! I was so tired of hearing about diets or pills to make people thinner. These are some great tips, and though I was already aware of many of them, it's good to see them out there.
I, too, am a "chronically thin" person. In on sense, I am lucky to be this way, but I'm not in shape. If I worked on being in shape, it would be a lot better. Interestingly enough, a lot of these tips for "losing weight" will really just help you become fit, which will help you lose weight if you have too much of it, but in my case it might actually help me gain a little weight in muscle mass. Now to actually do what I know I should...
I do have to say, though, that the only tip that I find unnecessary is "buying local". A lot of areas, especially some of the densely populated cities, don't have many local growers or any local livestock suppliers at all. Furthermore, I would be surprised if buying locally is cheaper than buying from a supermarket that carries large enough chunks of stock that they can get huge discounts on a per pound basis, some of which (of course, not all of which) is passed on to customers. I think better advice there is just to pay attention to what you're buying, and then it becomes more of an add-on to the whole foods advice.
Sorry if my comment is long-winded ^_^
Hi Steve--No, you make a good point! Just paying attention to the quality of food is good too, it's true. I think you are also right that most of these ideas are just general good health ideas--if people are too heavy they'll lose a bit, and if they're overly lean they may gain a bit.
I will say that in general I'm not sympathetic to the cultural obsession with body size and shape. I think there's something dysfunctional and creepy about it, and I also think it's meant to make us feel constantly inferior and bad about ourselves so we will buy things--diet books, clothes, personal products, food products, makeup, whatever. People come in all shapes and sizes and I don't see a thing wrong with that. If you look at medieval paintings, you see people of all shapes, all weights. It's not like we're all that different, even after all this time.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. :)
This is some very good advice. This is a great article. Thank you for publising this.
This is a great hub. I just wanted to say that David Letterman is promoting his Doctors diet book called "The Skinny on Losing Weight Without Feeling Hungry". It is by Dr.Louis J. Aronne, the obesity Dr. David Letterman put his engineer George Clark on the diet in M arch and he has lost 52 pounds already by June.George does not exercise, so if he did he would have lost more weight. He does a weigh in on the show every couple of weeks if you want to check it out.
Choose eating ,Select foods for lose weight it better diet.
You should take into consideration your current health issues as well such as diabetes. Fruit is not recommended for diabetics due to its natural sugar so eating that everyday may not be the best for someone who is struggling to keep their blood sugar under control.
Great advice however for the rest who want to shed and live a healthier lifestyle.
Thanks for this article...
Hi Pgrundy, what an excellent Hub! I have a couple of Hubs that support what you say about dieting. Namely making small but better choices for eating habits, instead do doing big diets. Cheers.
I agree, the more approaches you take into consideration the more success you'll have in the long-run.
I wish my friends would take the advice posted here rather than falling victim to the fad diets promoted in the magazines and by celebrities. I too believe it's about dietary change but also change of attitude towards food and dieting. I have a lot of friends who suffer from various eating disorders and decided to write a post on dieters' motivations. When I finished I went looking for other posts that might share similar views of dieting and food in contemporary culture. In yours I found a shared mindset. The thing that frightens me most is that when girls like me see a thin girl eating french fries nowadays we can't help but wonder "is she bulimic?". Somethings not right there!
Storytellersrus says:
5 months ago
Okay p, as a chronically thin person with its resulting shorter lifespan, I would like to encourage you and everyone else who might think they need to diet but actually look pretty darn good to consider this: people with some fat on their bones live longer.
So, before you expend all this energy dieting, check out your BMI...
The lowest morality rates are in those with a body mass index (BMI) in the range of 21 to 22. To calculate your BMI, jot down this formula:
Convert your weight in pounds to kilograms by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.2.
Multiple your height in inches by 0.0254 to get your height in meters.
Multiply your height in meters by itself.
Divide the answer to number 1 by the answer to number 3.