How to lose weight?

It seems to me that awareness is the key. At least, it is for me.

I haven?t gone on any sort of formal ?diet? in the past year, but I have lost nearly 30 pounds. Diet programs don?t work for me, which is to say that I really don?t work with them; that sort of rigid discipline triggers all my rebellious impulses and I end up worse than before.

But if I pay attention, just make myself think about what I?m doing, I can stop myself from much of that idle eating-for-entertainment and curb those seemingly ungovernable impulses.

For instance, I?m not really hungry after dinner. I don?t need another meal. If snacking is a habit and doesn?t represent an actual need for food, I can change it. I can change what I snack on (carrots and not chips, celery and not cake), I can refrain from eating past a certain hour so I don?t go to sleep on a full stomach, and I can detach snacking from whatever my usual activities are. Making sure I have a supply of preferred snacks around (tempting myself less, buying grapes and not cookies, cottage cheese and not brie) is one kind of helpful environmental control.

I?ve also been conscious of how much I eat of what at mealtime: smaller helpings of meat, smaller helpings of starches, bigger helpings of vegetables?small changes that add up. Drinking more water is another beneficial practice.

One trick I?ve learned over the years for changing habits is to take advantage of a situation that arises naturally to interrupt my routine. When something interferes with my usual custom, I don?t have to go back to my former habit. The transition is already half made, and I have a choice of which way to go.

While I was on a road trip last summer, I had to get up early every day, and I didn?t have a refrigerator and cupboard full of food available every night. After returning home, I went back to my late night ? late morning hours, but I had changed my eating habits for the better. I simply let the change stick.

In all these examples, reminding myself to pay attention to what I?m doing?to think about it and acknowledge it to myself?and not just mindlessly put things into my mouth has made a difference.

Do I really need another dish of chocolate fudge ice cream in my life? I have eaten lots of ice cream over the years, and I remember very well what it tastes like. This too will be a memory in ten minutes, and I won?t be better off. So I just don?t have it in the fridge in the first place.

I also go ahead and have a treat now and then. I just make sure I?m doing it consciously.

And I do not jabber about food or dieting all the time, to anybody, even to myself. That kind of talk may make you think you?re doing something, but it?s a substitute for action. Just do it and shut up, I say.

I have to add that I have not been able to include much exercise this past year because of problems with my back, an old foot injury, and several other medical matters. Yet with dietary changes alone, I have dropped two sizes and am still going.

Success becomes its own incentive.

Source: http://www.fluther.com/154298/how-to-lose-weight/

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