Day 666...Year 2
I read this great article tonight about the 10 worst habits for people trying to lose weight and I think I should share them, along with my take on the list...
#10 - Stop calling it a diet...
When we call it a diet you get it in your head that when you have something that isn't a part of your "diet" you have been bad and really the first three letters in Diet are DIE... So STOP calling it a Diet...
#9 - Overhauling your eating habits over night...
The fat didn't get there over night and the bad habits didn't start overnight... Think about it this way: imagine a snowball, it's about the size of a baseball... Now in order to make a snowman you have to start rolling it in the snow... As you roll it, it starts to get bigger because more snow is adding itself to your tiny snowball...And before you know it you have the base of your snowman ready to go...
You need to think of your eating habits in this way too... Start off small... If you drink 2% milk switch to 1% or switch to Almond or Soy Milk... Next start finding ways to incorporate healthier snacks into your diet... Instead of a chocolate granola bar, try an apple with a little peanut butter, or single packet of string cheese and a hard boiled egg...
#8 - Giving up certain foods all together...
Being healthy means being able to incorporate all the food you love, just in moderation... If over indulging is your problem than try portion control... If you are a dessert freak, you can't live without it... Instead of a huge bowl of ice cream, try a small container of fruit yogurt... Or if you love warm cake, try this recipe:
3-2-1 Cake
Take 1 Angel Food Cake Mix (dry) and Mix it with 1 regular cake mix (dry- we love lemon) in a gallon sized zip lock bag... Get them good and mixed together... Then take 3 Tbsp of the dry mix and put it into a microwave safe coffee mug... Stir in 2 Tbsp of water and mix until well blended... Put into Microwave for 1 minute and out will come the perfect piece of cake... Mom and I like to add a dollop of icing... Absolutely delicious!
#7 - Only caring about calories...
When you only focus on calories you end up depriving yourself of the food you need to sustain you throughout the day... Calories count but so does nutrition...
#6 - Focusing on the scale...
Many of us jump on the scale daily and then allow it to dictate how we are the rest of the day... Remember, the average body can fluctuate 1-2 pounds daily... It is actually better to weigh yourself less often... Usually a better determiner of size loss is a tape measure... Sometimes we don't see the number on the scale drop as quickly as we see the inches shed... Try measuring yourself once a month and weighing yourself bi-weekly, so you don't get frustrated when the numbers aren't budging...
#5 - Only dieting and not exercising...
Dieting can only do so much... If you aren't getting up and moving nothing will burn... You can only cut so many calories before you are feeling worse than you do when you first started exercising, except exercising usually makes you feel better in the end... ;)
#4 - Trying to eat as little as possible...
We have all tried it and it may work for awhile but the body has a way of thanking us for this behavior... It gives the weight back and sometimes in bigger numbers...Eating less can actually work against you... It can cause long term problems and it makes it much harder to lose weight and keep it off...
#3 - Giving up to easily...
I had a bad day, I ate out with friends and had two desserts, well I better just forget it because I am never going to lose the weight... We have all told ourselves something like that, but we can't let ourselves off the hook that easily... You have to remember that making new habits takes just as long as breaking old ones... On average it takes about 6 weeks to make or break a habit, so don't let a moment of weakness set you back even further...
#2 - Confusing "healthy" with "low calorie"...
Read labels!!! Manufacturers hire advertisers to use buzz words like "healthy", "Fat Free", Gluten-Free to draw our attention and reel us in... There goal is to get we the consumer to buy there product... Just because it's low fat doesn't mean it's low calorie AND healthy for you... Learn to read label on everything... Many ready made meals are actually way higher in fat, cholesterol and sodium then the same meal you can make at home...
#1 - Unrealistic Expectations...
It is great to set goals for ourselves but we need to set up two different ones... The first being long term... An example would be that I would like to lose 100 pounds by October 24, 2014... An attainable goal if you figure that I could lose 1-2 pounds per week over the next 52 weeks...
The second is short term goals... This could be that I want to lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving... Now when Thanksgiving comes around and I have only lost 2 pounds am I going to get mad at myself and eat an entire pumpkin pie??? No, I just need to set myself another short term goal and review what I could have done better or what habit did I find myself falling back into that I didn't lose the weight??? Or ask myself what happened over the course of the last month that prevented me from attaining my goal???
I think the best thing I can think of when breaking bad habits is turn them into good ones... I am still learning this but we all learning at different paces... ;)
Musicsongbird
#10 - Stop calling it a diet...
When we call it a diet you get it in your head that when you have something that isn't a part of your "diet" you have been bad and really the first three letters in Diet are DIE... So STOP calling it a Diet...
#9 - Overhauling your eating habits over night...
The fat didn't get there over night and the bad habits didn't start overnight... Think about it this way: imagine a snowball, it's about the size of a baseball... Now in order to make a snowman you have to start rolling it in the snow... As you roll it, it starts to get bigger because more snow is adding itself to your tiny snowball...And before you know it you have the base of your snowman ready to go...
You need to think of your eating habits in this way too... Start off small... If you drink 2% milk switch to 1% or switch to Almond or Soy Milk... Next start finding ways to incorporate healthier snacks into your diet... Instead of a chocolate granola bar, try an apple with a little peanut butter, or single packet of string cheese and a hard boiled egg...
#8 - Giving up certain foods all together...
Being healthy means being able to incorporate all the food you love, just in moderation... If over indulging is your problem than try portion control... If you are a dessert freak, you can't live without it... Instead of a huge bowl of ice cream, try a small container of fruit yogurt... Or if you love warm cake, try this recipe:
3-2-1 Cake
Take 1 Angel Food Cake Mix (dry) and Mix it with 1 regular cake mix (dry- we love lemon) in a gallon sized zip lock bag... Get them good and mixed together... Then take 3 Tbsp of the dry mix and put it into a microwave safe coffee mug... Stir in 2 Tbsp of water and mix until well blended... Put into Microwave for 1 minute and out will come the perfect piece of cake... Mom and I like to add a dollop of icing... Absolutely delicious!
#7 - Only caring about calories...
When you only focus on calories you end up depriving yourself of the food you need to sustain you throughout the day... Calories count but so does nutrition...
#6 - Focusing on the scale...
Many of us jump on the scale daily and then allow it to dictate how we are the rest of the day... Remember, the average body can fluctuate 1-2 pounds daily... It is actually better to weigh yourself less often... Usually a better determiner of size loss is a tape measure... Sometimes we don't see the number on the scale drop as quickly as we see the inches shed... Try measuring yourself once a month and weighing yourself bi-weekly, so you don't get frustrated when the numbers aren't budging...
#5 - Only dieting and not exercising...
Dieting can only do so much... If you aren't getting up and moving nothing will burn... You can only cut so many calories before you are feeling worse than you do when you first started exercising, except exercising usually makes you feel better in the end... ;)
#4 - Trying to eat as little as possible...
We have all tried it and it may work for awhile but the body has a way of thanking us for this behavior... It gives the weight back and sometimes in bigger numbers...Eating less can actually work against you... It can cause long term problems and it makes it much harder to lose weight and keep it off...
#3 - Giving up to easily...
I had a bad day, I ate out with friends and had two desserts, well I better just forget it because I am never going to lose the weight... We have all told ourselves something like that, but we can't let ourselves off the hook that easily... You have to remember that making new habits takes just as long as breaking old ones... On average it takes about 6 weeks to make or break a habit, so don't let a moment of weakness set you back even further...
#2 - Confusing "healthy" with "low calorie"...
Read labels!!! Manufacturers hire advertisers to use buzz words like "healthy", "Fat Free", Gluten-Free to draw our attention and reel us in... There goal is to get we the consumer to buy there product... Just because it's low fat doesn't mean it's low calorie AND healthy for you... Learn to read label on everything... Many ready made meals are actually way higher in fat, cholesterol and sodium then the same meal you can make at home...
#1 - Unrealistic Expectations...
It is great to set goals for ourselves but we need to set up two different ones... The first being long term... An example would be that I would like to lose 100 pounds by October 24, 2014... An attainable goal if you figure that I could lose 1-2 pounds per week over the next 52 weeks...
The second is short term goals... This could be that I want to lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving... Now when Thanksgiving comes around and I have only lost 2 pounds am I going to get mad at myself and eat an entire pumpkin pie??? No, I just need to set myself another short term goal and review what I could have done better or what habit did I find myself falling back into that I didn't lose the weight??? Or ask myself what happened over the course of the last month that prevented me from attaining my goal???
I think the best thing I can think of when breaking bad habits is turn them into good ones... I am still learning this but we all learning at different paces... ;)
Musicsongbird
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