Weight Loss Tips and Information.

Atkins. South Beach. Weight Watchers. The Zone. Jenny Craig.

What a marvelous bunch of diets that are available to any and all willing to pay to become a part of the program. What is the problem with them? They are programs that are designed for a generic human being, using a fixed set of principles to guide that generic human being through weight loss. Oh, the founders of said diets are also interested in making a buck. Or two.

Slim Fast (shakes and bars). Low fat food. Lite food (reduced calorie). Lean Cuisine. Whole grains. Diet Cereals. The Post Eat 2 Lose 10 system.

All of these products are supposed to be aiding we human beings in losing weight, but with the radically expanding ubiquity of such products, are we winning the war on weight? Not a chance. Diabetes is up. Obesity in children is up. Self-esteem is down.

So what is the answer? First we need to understand that we are not generic human beings. These diets and products surely do work for some people, but obviously not for everyone. We need to understand that we are unique and our bodies have different needs. No single formula is going to work for everybody.

Furthermore, we are a society (almost worldwide now) of people who are driven from a young age to stop listening to our bodies’ signals and to do what we absolutely must do to become some vision of perfect that is fed to us. So we NEED to be learning to listen to our bodies. Listen to that hunger. Feed yourself when you are hungry, eat at regular meal times, and for heaven’s sake, let’s treat food like something important, not a casual bother that must be tended to.

Years ago, almost the sole concern of many families was the food that they were going to eat. They worked for it and thus did not starve. Mealtimes were moments… long moments I might add, of eating, talking and communing. Let’s treat food like something important to us by setting aside regular eating times and developing some not at all difficult habits.

Buy a bag of carrots, a bag of celery, and any other raw veggie you like. Stick it in the fridge and use it as a snack. Don’t deny yourself sweet stuff! Denying it is bad. Controlling and moderating these urges will always be more effective than trying to get all firm and go cold turkey.

Finally, we need to exercise. This doesn’t mean Gold’s or 24 Hour or some other gym. This means exercise built into our day. Like walking to work. Parking a few blocks away from work, maybe even saving money that way, and walking those several blocks. We are a very busy, yet sedentary people. What on earth is more important than our health? How will we achieve and enjoy all of our wonderful ambitions and goals without maintaining good health?

In any case, with these commonsense suggestions, I lost one pound each week. Sometimes, when I hit a plateau, I had to work harder. However, with a little extra control, I always broke through those plateaus and kept at my goal. One pound a week with some fudging due to birthdays, holidays etc equals losing about 40 lbs. in a year. In a manner that keeps the weight off.