2. Safe Weight Loss—Fun! Fast!
Losing weight safely and effectively requires
an approach that includes setting goals (both short-term and long-term
goals), changing eating habits, and incorporating physical activity into
daily life. Remember: Don’t just follow a “diet.” Aim to eat healthy!
Re-Set Those Goals
We talked about setting goals at the start of
this program. Now that I’ve given you some rock solid diet information,
your next step is to re-set your goals. Make sure they are realistic.
Lose weight for yourself. It’s okay to enjoy the appreciation and/or
jealousy others might have of you, but it is imperative that you do this
for you. Maintain a positive attitude. Remember that short-term goals
set your plans for the upcoming week or month—they are attainable.
Long-term goals should not be impossible, but they should challenge and
motivate you to keep striving for success. These are goals that you may
want to accomplish in six months or a year.
Lose Slowly
Initially your weight-loss goal should be to
lose weight slowly. Make small changes. Don’t expect drastic results at
first. Rome wasn’t built in a day. To lose weight slowly, plan to lose
no more than one to two pounds each week. You can accomplish this by
reducing caloric intake by about 500 calories each day. Here’s how. One
pound is the equivalent of 3,500 calories. If you want to gain a pound,
eat an additional 3,500 calories. If you want to lose a pound, eat a
deficit of 3,500 calories. An average person who consumes 2,000 calories
per day to maintain his weight would have to increase his caloric
intake to 2,500 each day (an additional 500 calories) over a week’s time
to gain a pound. On the contrary, the opposite is true to lose. This
person would have to decrease his caloric intake to 1,500 calories each
day (minus 500 calories) over a week’s time to lose a pound. Even if you
are not good with numbers, like me, you can see that this is very
doable. Do it! (Physical activity can also be counted into the equation.
The more you move, the more you burn off.)
When you initially use my program to lose weight
it’s natural to experience some fluid loss. Fluid loss can be as much
as one to two pounds but this is only temporary. Continue with the
program and you can lose about one to two pounds per week. This is a
healthy and adequate weight loss for any person. Just think: If you lost
one pound per week for three months you could lose about twelve pounds.
In six months, that would make about twenty-five pounds, and in one
year, that totals fifty pounds. Think about the last year and reflect on
all the so-called diets you have tried. Isn’t it now worth the time to
do it right and get it off once and for all?
3. Personalize Your Plan of Attack
Let’s face it, none of this information means
anything if it doesn’t work for you. Take this diet program and make it
your own. I like to say I have Cyndified my diet plan. If your name is
Bob you can Bobify it, or if you are Barb go ahead and Barbify it. You
get the picture. For example, you may think the MyPyramid focuses solely
on health and not on weight loss. Wrong! With the guidelines you can do
both if that is what you choose. You might say you can have your cake
and eat it too. Well, a small piece.
Your mission is to
reduce your food intake while choosing foods from all the groups. Think
about balance, variety, and moderation. Select foods that are low in fat
and high in fiber. The selections for your personal plan are endless.
Be sure to leave room for a little portion of “discretionary calories.”
4. Taking Little Steps
There are so many ways to cut excess calories
from your daily intake that you may be surprised how easy it can be. At
first, cutting back 500 calories or so each day may seem extreme, but
50 or 100 calories at a time might be a cut you can easily accomplish.
(That’s just one cookie or the savings from substituting skim for whole
milk.) Here are some other smart alternatives:
- Eat an open-faced sandwich (1 slice of bread, for savings of 70 calories)
- Drink black coffee (1 tsp. sugar and 1 tbsp. cream, for savings of 36 calories)
- Choose steamed white or brown rice over fried rice (savings of 100 calories)
- Substitute light mayonnaise over regular, or, better yet, no mayonnaise (savings of 65–100 calories)
- Crunch on ten carrot sticks instead of ten potato chips (savings of 70 calories)
- Try plain, low-fat yogurt with added fresh fruit in place of fruited yogurt (savings of 50 calories)
- Make a banana smoothie instead of a milkshake (savings of 50 calories)
- Snack on a vanilla wafer over a chocolate chip cookie (savings of 75 calories)
- Treat yourself with angel food cake, not devil’s food cake (savings of 200 calories)
5. Sticking to the Rules
I sometimes enjoy breaking the rules. Not
that I am totally rebellious but I love to challenge the norm. It helps
me grow as a person. I challenge you to challenge your norm. Try
sticking to the guidelines I’ve proposed in this program and see if you
can break out of your old eating patterns. See if you can grow as
well—and I’m not talking around the waist. Evolve with your own set of
rules using my tips.
