Weight management ought to be a simple, rational, and straightforward undertaking. After all, it is a simple formula. Eat more calories than you burn in a day and the extra calories get stored as fat. Eat the same amount of calories you burn and you maintain your weight. Eat fewer calories than you need each day and your fat gets used and you lose weight. That does not seem too hard. Does it? Unfortunately, humans have a complicated relationship with food and it is not that easy to get how to lose weight fast.
Obesity On The News
Turn on the news or pick up any newspaper and you are bound to see a story on the obesity epidemic. More and more children are getting fatter and fatter, developing heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol all before they hit adulthood. The predictions for this generation are grim. Experts agree that this will be the first generation in a century that will not outlive their parents. Adults are fat, too. Around one-third of all adults can be considered obese. Clearly there is a problem.
The Struggle
People basically understand that being overweight is bad for their health. Carrying around all of that extra fat is hard on your body. Death could come early, sickness is a real possibility. In an effort to keep fat burning under control, some people have resorted to equally unhealthy practices, such as laxative abuse or bulimia. If we know that being overweight is bad for our health, why do we have such a hard time with weight management?
Resigning Ourselves To Our Fates
Is the struggle worth it? Should we just eat whatever we want, enjoy our food and accept the fact that we will probably go to an early grave or should we continue the battle with weight management? The answer lies on the middle ground. Stop for a moment and consider this before jumping on yet another diet plan. What are your expectations of yourself on your new diet? You expect to lose weight, right? You intend to be 100% faithful to your eating plan, exercise religiously and just lose weight once and for all. If that is your expectation of yourself, you are already dooming yourself to failure before you even start. Nobody can be perfect at anything.
Re-Thinking The Issue
What if we re-framed our expectations to something more reasonable? Let’s look at the issue from another angle. Percentages. Could you eat healthy foods 50% of all of your meals in a day or a week? What about 60% of meals? 75%? Could you eat healthy for 90% of your meals? What is the highest percentage of meals you think you could reasonably achieve with a minimum of stress and anxiety? Start there. Increase that percentage over time until you are eating healthy 90% of your meals. That means you ultimately have 10% wiggle room built right into your eating plan.
Now think about exercise in the same way. Could you see yourself actually doing some exercise for five minutes a day? What about 10 minutes or 30 minutes? Could you do this two or three times a week to begin with? Begin at the point you can physically and mentally handle and work your way up to exercising 30 minutes five days a week.
Acknowledging The Fear Of Being Deprived
Let that part of yourself know that you will take the whole fat burning issue one step at a time and that, while you may not be able to indulge every food whim you have, you will make sure that deprivation does not become part of the plan. Then if you keep that promise, you will have truly recognized how to lose weight fast.