How many times have you tried to diet/lose weight in the past?
How many times have you had some initial success only to fall
short of your goals?
How many times have you achieved your initial goals, only to see
them fly away faster than you were able to enjoy the fruits of
your labour?
Why does this happen?
In most cases, the answer is simple. You've failed one test...
This is a difficult test. This test I like to call consistent
persistence.
Sometimes, you will be missing other essential components. You
need to also include a variety of other things that will make
the consistent persistence useful. If you are consistently
persistent in doing the wrong things, you will still fail. So
before we get in to the final key, let's review the other
essential components.
Successful dieting and or weight loss should always be geared
towards a total lifestyle change that you intend to be permanent.
If you cannot healthily sustain the changes for an indefinite
period, it probably isn't the right diet for you. Reasonable
exceptions would include medically necessary emergency weight
loss, with a view to changing the program once the crisis
management was concluded.
If you are trying to lose weight, you should have a goal of
maintaining that weight loss for at least five years. How many
of the fad diets out there today could withstand a five year
test? Not many.
With the diet changes (that can be maintained for five or more
years in a healthy fashion), it is essential to increase your
energy expenditure.
You can increase this energy expenditure with a variety of
strategies. Some of those include supplements that boost your
metabolic rate. As we have seen with the ephedra issue, it isn't
always the safest choice. A safer way is timing your activity to
boost your energy expenditure throughout the day. One of those
ways is to exercise early in the morning before eating, and then
waiting for a period of time after having concluded your exercise
before you eat. If you have blood sugar regulation difficulties
such as diabetes or hypoglycemia, this may not be the route for
you to take.
Additionally, because your body will accommodate to any exercise
regimen after a period of time, you will need to vary your
programs.
Water consumption at adequate levels is a must in any successful
plan. This will help to wash away the waste products and toxins
that the body will release as you burn away the fat (which does
store some toxins).
Adequate supplementation with good quality vitamins and minerals
is also very important so that your body has the micronutrients
it needs to drive its metabolic processes.
Ensuring that your body does not think that it is in a state of
famine is also important. While it is a good idea to decrease
your overall caloric intake, you want to make sure that you feed
you body on a regular basis, so that it knows that food is still
available and is coming soon. Six small meals a day is generally
a good idea. Your choice of calorie sources is also important.
For many health reasons, it is good to avoid highly processed
products. Vine ripened, organic produce is also a great idea.
Another way to help yourself succeed and give your body a greater
variety of micronutrients and enzymes is to eat a large variety
of foods. Our bodies haven't yet really adapted to the advent of
agriculture, let alone a few monocrops. Variety, variety, and
more variety is a great idea.
Ensure that your rest is adequate and of good quality. If you do
not rest adequately, all of your body's processes can be
adversely affected.
Take time for yourself. Meditate or pray. This will help you on
so many different levels that there isn't enough time or space to
go into it.
Set yourself reasonable, attainable goals with specific time
frames. If you don't achieve them, reset the goals and review
your plan. Maybe the goal was unrealistic or the the plan was
faulty. Entertain both possibilities. If you don't know how to
tell, enlist professional help.
Measure your progress. Measuring in inches and energy is a
better way to evaluate how you are doing rather than by pounds.
Also very useful and a good measure of health factors, is to
record how your body fat percentages change (for better or for
worse).
So now you have the basic principles down. While a three month
interval is a great way to look at progress points, if you stop
there, you have failed. You need consistent persistence. At
every goal point, re-evaluate your plan, refine it, work it, and
then repeat the process. If you need a holiday from your
routine, schedule it, don't improvise or you are likely to fall
out of the routine and have a difficult time getting back into
it.
Work it, re-evaluate it, measure your progress, and repeat.
Consistent persistence is the key to your success. This success
must also be built on sound principles and be realistic,
sustainable, and varied.
Don't let yourself be discouraged, keep at it and fight to
maintain your consistent persistence because this is where
success lives.
The information contained in this article is for educational purposes
only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any
disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any
health care program.
