5 Days To Go

Have you made your new years resolutions yet. Lots of people - mostly women - do, and the main resolution is to lose weight.

Well, 2011 is the year you're going to do it.

But you've got to start plannnig now.

I've been advising you in several posts to start a journal, in which you record everytyhing. This is gong to help you when you start on your quest to lose weight - and then maintain the healthy weight that you achieve.

By keeping a journal in which you record how you feel aftr you eat a meal, or even a snack, you can learn about yourself. What foods give you a "sugar high" and then lead to depression afterward, if any. Can you eat "just one" potato chip, or is this impossible. Are there any snacks that you can eat that don't cause you to crave even more of them, and so on.

Do you feel sluggish after eating any particular foods? Carbohydrates are important, but too many and you feel tired.

ONce you learn how your body reacts to food, the easier it will be for you to lose and maintain weight.

HOw many pounds overweight are you? Let's say you're 100 pounds overweight. Well, you can only safely lose 2 pounds a week. So to lose 100 pounds, it will take you 50 weeks, or a whole year.

But it will take more than that, because when you first start changing your eating and exercise patterns, you won't see any changes for at least two weeks. Indeed, if you start weight training, as I advise you to do, you may even initially gain a couple of pounds, because muscle weighs more than fat. But, once you improve your musculature, and achieve your desired weight, you can eat a bit more than normal - because muscles burn more calories than fat.

Losing 2 pounds a week is ideal. You don't want to lose more than that, because you don't want your body metabolism to change. If you lose weight too quickly, then start eating the same foods in the same quantities that you had done previuously, you'll find yourself gaining weight back much more quickly, because your body won't burn calories as quickly as it once did.

So, it's time to start preparing yourself mentally for your resolution to lose weight. You're going to aim for two pounds a week. You're not going to starve yourself - you're going to eat all the foods you want, just in smaller portions. YOu're going to increase your exercise - biking, walking, tennis...whatever it takes. If it's too cold to go outside you'll walk up and down your stairs while listening to music. No stairs, build a stair stepper - jut get a few pieces of wood which you nail together, so that you have to lift your legs at least four inches.

Don't let yourself be guilted into losing weight. After every Christmas, the ads from Weight Watchers and Slimfast and so on seem to triple. Women, in particular, are never allowed to be comfortable with themselves. "Oh, cover up those skin flaws with this product." "Can you pinch an inch! You must lose weight immediately!" Ya da ya da.

You're going to lose weight because it'll be healthy for you, and for no other reason. Keep that in your mind at all times.