6 Tips To Losing That Extra Holiday Weight

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Okay. The holidays are over and you’ve added a pound or two (maybe more) but now it’s time to get back into shape. You really do need to lose that extra weight to maintain peak health.

We all know that excess weight can cause us to be at risk for many health problems. It is also a given that we need to need to take proper steps to achieve weight loss success to help avoid those risks and prevent disease.

Do you have long-term goals to measure your weight loss success? What about short-term goals to help you get there? Your chance for success in attaining your weight loss goals will be much greater if your plans are sensible and reasonable right at the beginning.

To assist you in planning, here are some tips for weight loss success suggested by the experts.

1. Set Realistic Goals

Don’t make your long-term weight loss goals too ambitious.

If you are currently 45 years old and weigh 170 pounds, it is not realistic to set your long-term weight loss goal to be your weight when your 16. Especially if your weight was 120 pounds and you have been leading a sedentary life-style for the past 29 years.

Start by checking your body mass index or BMI. This an accepted indicator of whether or not you need to lose the weight. According to the National Institute, the ideal BMI is between 19 and 24.9. A BMI between 25 and 29.9 indicates that you are overweight. A BMI greater than 30 indicates obesity.

2. Make Your Objectives Appropriate

No weight loss plan should be undertaken strictly for vanity’s sake. Your objective will be much easier to attain if you are losing weight to improve your health.

A good objective would be to start a weight loss plan that includes exercise and proper diet to help your feel better and have more energy to do the things you want to do in your life.

3. Focus On Doing, Not Losing

Plan on how much and what type of exercise you will do this week rather than on how many pounds you will lose. Keep in mind that you cannot completely control you weight within the span of a week, but you can control your behavior.

4. Build Little By Little

Your short-term weight loss plan should not be “pie-in-the-sky.” Start slow and take it easy. If exercise is new to you, start by walking. Find a short route, say 1 mile, and walk it three times the first week. Then increase a little at a time.

5. Self-encouragement Is Important

Don’t adopt an all-or-nothing attitude. It only sets you up to fail. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fail to meet a goal, just plan to try again next week. You do not need to be perfect. Self-encouragement should definitely be a part of your plan for weight loss success.

6. Goals Have To Be Measurable

Simply saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to be more serious next week is not a goal. If you cannot measure it, it will not help you achieve weight loss success. You can count minutes of exercise or repetitions of a routine but not your thoughts or good intentions. Add measurable exercises to your plan to help assure weight loss success.

The greatest tip in planning for weight loss success is that you have to do more than plan. Planning is easy. Taking action is where it’s at and is vital to achieve success and to stay motivated.

One of the best ways to loose that extra weight and keep it off is to diet every other day. This really breaks the routine. To discover the secret of how two “fatties” succeeded doing this after everything else failed go to The Every Other Day Diet Review.