Reducing calories and increasing physical activity help you to lose weight. How you approach these strategies determines your ability to keep the pounds off for the long run. Instead of approaching a diet as a quick fix, adopt changes that you can live with to help you sustain a healthy weight for a lifetime.
Food Records
Keep a food diary to help identify your dietary pitfalls, and to make you accountable for what you do eat. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research reported in July 2008 that study participants who wrote down their daily food intake most often lost almost twice the amount of weight as participants who did not keep records. A diary may be kept online at a resource like Livestrong’s The Daily Plate or less formally in a notebook.
Eat at Home
Cooking at home and avoiding restaurant food helps you lose weight more readily. Restaurants distort your perception of proper portion size, and meals usually contain excess amounts of sodium, fat and sugar. Even seemingly healthy foods contain more calories than you might expect, thwarting your efforts. The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that a serving of diet-friendly sounding chicken or beef lo mein at a popular chain Chinese restaurant contains between 800 and 1,000 calories per serving. At another well-known chain, a healthy-sounding meal of rack of lamb, vegetables and mashed potatoes tops the charts with 1,820 calories and 80 grams of saturated fat. At home, you can prepare a four oz. serving of lamb with steamed broccoli and a baked potato for fewer than 400 calories. You could even enjoy a small dessert and stay within your weight loss goals.
Move More
Getting up and moving helps you burn calories, which helps you lose weight. While formal exercise is important, it only accounts for a small amount of your daily burn. Exercising for one hour a day is admirable, but make an effort to make some of the other 23 hours active as well. “The New York Times” reported on May 24, 2005 that daily movement such as walking to your car, pacing, gesturing and doing chores can add up to an extra 350 calories burned daily. This is equivalent to over a half pound per week of weight loss. Volunteer for chores and errands, take an extra walk during the day or get up and play catch with the kids to burn more daily calories overall.
Go Slow
Patience during your weight loss effort is crucial. While fad diets may promise immediate results, they are often unhealthy and do not result in long term success according to the American Heart Association. When you initially begin a new diet plan, you may lose weight quickly in the first one or two weeks. After that, shoot for a one or two pound per week weight loss which, notes the Centers for Disease Control, is more likely to lead to successful results in the long run.
References
- The Center for Health Research: CHR Study Finds Keeping Food Diaries Doubles Weight Loss
- Center for Science in the Public Interest: Xtreme Eating 2010
- The New York Times: The Lean and the Restless
- American Heart Association: Quick Weight Loss and Fad Diets
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Losing Weight
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