It’s a destination that all of us would like to reach if we’re not already there; no, I’m not talking about Paris or Hawaii, I’m referring to the point of being slim, svelte and good looking to boot. There’s a certain pleasure in having your clothes fit well, the appreciative glances you get from strangers, and the compliments that pour in from friends, especially if you’ve worked really hard to lose a whole lot of weight.
But there’s a danger in reaching your goal, and that’s the risk of putting on all the weight you’ve lost so far. Losing weight is not a destination to be reached, but a journey that should continue for life. So if you want to take this trip or are already halfway through it, here’s what you need to know about the obstacles to effective weight loss:
- Being complacent
- Having unrealistic goals
- Being too strict
- Choosing boring exercises
When you think you’ve reached your goal, when you start to look exactly the way you dreamed of, you begin to rest on your laurels and forget the struggle that you had to undergo to get there in the first place. And when you settle down in a vague cloud of complacency, you tend to skip your exercise routines and eat more than your required amount of calories. You begin to feel that you’re entitled to eat all the foods you’ve been denying yourself all this time, and so you start to binge. And before you know it, you’ve gained back all the weight you’ve lost. The weight gain process sneaks up on you and adds up pound by pound till you suddenly realize that you’ve gone too far in being complacent.
You need to set realistic goals:
When you begin to work out and follow a healthy diet, you need to pace yourself so that you’re able to stick to the program you’ve chosen for a really long time, preferably for life. It’s no use staying in the gym and working yourself ragged and living on food like a rabbit for a month or so and then letting your goals fall by the wayside when the going gets too tough. You have to remember to set as schedule that’s easy to follow and which helps you achieve weight loss on a moderate schedule. This is one race that the slow and steady do win.
There’s no need to be very strict with yourself:
It’s hard to stick to an exercise and diet routine when you’re not used to doing either. So cut yourself some slack and allow yourself a day or two of rest a week so that exercise does not become monotonous and compulsory. You could also let yourself eat stuff that’s not too healthy, especially if you enjoy these foods. This keeps you from craving these foods and then binging on them to the point of nausea.
You need to make exercise fun:
When working out is not a fun thing for you to do, you start thinking of it as a chore that must be done, and none of like chores, so we start to look for every excuse in the book and some out of it to avoid them. You need to put the fun back in exercise and find something that you love to do so that you’re motivated to stick with it on a long term basis. You could either take up a game that you enjoy or include a loved one in a workout session to make it more interesting and enjoyable.
Losing weight is not something that you need to look at just for aesthetic reasons alone; it’s the way to lasting good health and a long and disease-free life.
About the Author:
This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of radiology tech schools at her blog The Heath Tech's Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.
