A Carefully Developed Diet And Exercise Plan Will Get The Pounds Off More Surely Than All The Fad Diets In The World!
We all enjoy food and so we should but when we talk about a healthy diet the difference between the concept and the reality is often huge. Some of this is a lack of knwledge about what makes a diet healthy and some of it is a lack of control about our eating habits. Love of certain foods whether they be healthy or not can be the underlying cause of unhealthy eating and sometimes we just ignore what we really know.
So here are some tips on the lifestyle changes you will have to make to lose weight in a healthy way and maintain that healthy weight once you reach it. Be aware that eating is not the only aspect of your health that you must pay attention to. You also need an adequate amount of sleep, an exercise program that is suitable for your age, sex and initial fitness level, a relatively stress free life (or an active program to reduce it if the stress level is out of balance).
These are the healthy lifestyle and eating tips for you:
- Get plenty of sleep. Remember the old adage, 6 for a man, 7 for a woman, 8 for a fool. 6 hours sleep is probably minimal. You'd do better with 8 regardless of gender.
- Keep a food diary. If you don't know what you're eating, you will not eliminate the unhealthy food items form your diet and you will not follow healthy food guidelines or get a balanced nutritional diet
- Consult the FDA Guidelines for the right foods to eat (the Government Food Pyramid) and what quantity for your age, body type and gender.
- Incorporate an active exercise component in to your regimen having first checked with your physician.. Join a gym and aim to exercise for half an hour a day for a month and then gradually increase your exercise to a minimum of one hour a day
- Introduce cardiovascular workouts carefully and gradually. Add strength training in to your program three times a week.
- Weigh yourself daily at the same time without clothes and record the result. Once you have a month's results, calculate the calories needed to maintain weight and calculate how much you can lose in terms of weekly and monthly goals. Don't set the bar too high. Small successes reinforce your determination to reach your final goal weight in a reasonable period of time. Ignore the wild and crazy claims made for many of the highly publicized diet plans.
- Reduce your portion sizes until you can balance calories consumed with calories utilized. This is where the diary will be critical to your success.
- Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables daily. Fill up on salads and green leafy vegetables.
- Cut potatoes from your diet.
- Cut processed carbohydrates like white bread and substitute whole grains
- Have a physical examination and check your heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol/triglyceride levels against FDA guidelines. If these measurements are above recommended levels for your age seek professional help to obtain corrective medications. Maintain a record of your progress.
- Set goals for your weight; exercise; blood pressure, cholesterol level; triglyceride level. Monitor periodic progress with your physician
- Start to read the ingredient labels on the foods you eat and eliminate foods containing trans fats; reduce high levels of saturated fats;high levels of sodium; high levels of processed sugars
- Avoid food additives and wherever possible eat natural foods especially those organically grown
- Add a multivitamin to your diet
- Eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids like mackerel, bluefish, tuna, sardines in water
- Where your digestion allows it eat plenty of nuts
- Only eat red meats occasionally (not more than twice a week)
- Drink a glass of red wine daily. Use alcohol sparingly.
- Eliminate soda and substitute diluted natural fruit juices
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