Bee Healthy: Keys to successful weight loss
The following are five suggestions to help with a successful weight loss plan.
Understanding your eating habits
One main factor contributing to overweight or obesity is eating more foods than your body needs. Common reasons for overeating include: anxiety, stress, social pressure, going too long without eating, boredom and eating too fast.
Before reaching for any food, I urge you to ask yourself why you are eating. You might find that often the answer has nothing to do with hunger.
Food diary
In my experience, patients who track their food intake do better and lose more weight than those who do not. Most of us don’t realize how much food we eat. For example, we eat when sitting in front of the computer, we eat while watching TV and we eat while driving. Keeping a food diary helps to raise awareness of what and how much we consume.
Exercise
Most people agree that exercise makes them feel good and improves their health, but exercise doesn’t happen unless we plan for it and fit it into our schedule. Prioritize exercise routinely into your daily schedule; think about it as if you are making an exercise appointment with yourself.
Keep in mind, exercise is more than just burning calories; it boosts your mood and self-confidence, too.
Circle of support
Why is having a support system crucial? Losing weight is mainly about changing behaviors. Having a support system whether it is a family member, your spouse or being a part of a group can offer encouragement, advice and accountability. Start by explaining your goal and why your health is important to you. Surround yourself with people who are positive, nurturing, and people who want you to succeed and achieve your health goals.
Creating a healthy environment
Clean out your kitchen and food pantry and get rid of unhealthy snacks and keep only healthy ones at home. Do the same at work especially if you are storing snacks at your work space.
Plan your meals and snacks for the week ahead so you won’t have to stop at fast food restaurants or vending machines and end up with unhealthy foods.
No need to join a gym to exercise. Get a few exercise DVDs or use free exercise programs on your television.
Damayanti is a registered dietitian at Sutter Gould Medical Foundation in Modesto and San Joaquin County.
This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Bee Healthy: Keys to successful weight loss."