Sunday, July 27, 2008

Tom's 10 Tips for a Successful Diet

1. Before making any changes in your diet or exercise routine, consult your physician. You never know what your blood pressure or cholesterol levels could be, and it might actually be dangerous for you to take on intense workouts.

2. Keep a diary, A study done by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that those who kept a record of what they ate from day to day lost twice as much, reference

3. Exercise, even if it's minimal. If you can get your heart rate up and break a sweat, you will be doing a lot to toning your physique and burning off some of the stored fats in the muscle groups you focus on

4. Drink water, lots of water. Hydration is very important to your health. The easiest thing is to bring a small 500ml bottle of water and keep it close to you, whether it be on your desk at work or your coffee table at home.

5. Read the label. This should go without saying but check the label of any questionable foods, you would be surprised to see how much fat is in a cheesy puff.

6. Prepare your own lunch. This will not only save you a ton of money each week by not going out for lunch, it's a lot healthier than most things that can be cooked in under 3 minutes.

7. 3 meals a day. Don't try to fast, eating only two meals a day can actually increase your chances of GAINING weight because your body will try to retain fat in order to survive. Trust me, your body is smarter than you, so listen to it!

8. Never eat before bed. This can be bad for many reason, including tough on your heart due to stomach acids refluxing during digestion while you're lying down. You also cannot burn the food off while you're asleep, so the fats sit there unused for about 8-10 hours.

9. Don't throw away the lessons. A lot of trouble people have is keeping the weight off when they lose it. This seems to be a general reaction usually sounding like "well I've met my goals, now i just have to retain this weight, so I can eat whatever I want as long as I exercise" WRONG! Eating habits come first, exercise comes second, not the other way around. You may find from time to time you want to treat yourself, which is fine, your diet should not feel like an angry guard at the Russian Gulag Just don't fall back into your bad habits, you've worked to hard.

10. Don't expect miracles. This may be the most important point because dieting in general is a challenge of the mind. A lot of people expect a diet to drop their weight dramatically within days. The only way for this to happen is typically very dangerous. The amount of damage that can be done to your heart through rapid changes in your weight is catastrophic. You should be looking for a long term solution, a diet that is sustainable, that will drop your weight and make you healthier. Different people will find different success rates. A thinner person with a low body weight doing minimal exercise will have smaller results than an obese person, doing full cardio and muscle tone workouts.

Bonus: Your diet should not cost you your house. If you are using meal supplements than those meal supplements should not cost more than what a regular meal costs you.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

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