Lose It — And Never Find It Again
Controlling weight means having to learn two sets of behavior: weight loss and weight maintenance. According to many health professionals, weight maintenance is the more difficult. Less than a third of the people who lose weight are able to keep it off. Long-term success depends upon continuing the good eating and exercise habits you developed while losing weight.
It will take time to make these new habits a permanent part of your life. Continue to modify your behavior by:
• accepting the fact that you will still be tempted by "fattening" foods
• realizing you can eat tempting foods in moderation, so you won't feel deprived
• increasing low-calorie and low-fat choices
• trying new forms of exercise (by making exercise fun, you will likely stick to it.)
Know your eating habits. Do you overindulge when eating your "favorite" foods? Do you eat when you're depressed or worried? Do you use food as a reward? Keeping track of your eating habits in a food diary may help you cut down on how much you eat.
Don't let a temporary setback get you down. Go right back to your winning ways!
Stay motivated — focus on your goals. Seek help if you cannot do it alone. Join a weight-loss organization or a health club. Your local hospital may even offer a weight loss clinic. Also ask friends and family for support.
Controlling Weight Made Easier
Eating can still be fun! With the variety of low-calorie and "light" foods and beverages available today, watching your weight no longer means eating carrot sticks and rice cakes. More and more good-tasting, reduced-calorie dinner entrees, desserts, diet soft drinks and other foods are now available. Also, the development and use of a wide variety of low-calorie ingredients known as fat replacers are making many new reduced-fat and light foods and beverages possible.
Low-calorie sweeteners, as part of an overall weight-control program, can help you reduce calories and therefore reduce weight. Recent studies show this to be true. Also, low-calorie foods and beverages can help make managing weight easier.
They can:
• satisfy the natural desire for sweet taste without extra calories;
• provide more choices when juggling calories. Weight can be maintained by saving calories, which you may or may not "spend" later in the same meal or the same day. As long as the calories are not overspent, you will maintain your weight;
• help you stay on your weight-control program by keeping your diet interesting and enjoyable.
Low-calorie and reduced-fat foods and beverages can easily be made part of a lifelong, sensible weight-control program. Recent surveys indicate that many people are consuming these products as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
Also see ...
• 10 Tips to Reshape Behavior
Contributors Gail Becker, R.D., is recognized for communications expertise on diet, nutrition and fitness. She is president of Gail Becker Associates in Great Neck, New York.
John P. Foreyt, Ph.D., is a leading authority on obesity, dieting and behavior. He is director of the Nutrition Research Clinic and Professor, Department of Medicine, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.