Monday, August 22, 2011

Obesity - Weight-Loss Programs and Strategies


What helps one person lose weight may not work for you. You need to find the right balance of eating and physical activity that you can keep doing or a program that works with your lifestyle.
A recent study suggests that the type of diet you follow is less important than choosing one that you can stay with. Most diets or programs can help you lose weight at first. But you will lose more and have more health benefits if you can keep with it for a longer time.

Tips to help with your weight-loss program

  • Set realistic goals. Many people expect to lose much more weight than is realistic. See questions to think about when setting weight management goals to help you define clear, healthy goals.
  • Find what works best for you. If you do not have time to cook and hate to prepare meals, a program that offers meal replacement bars or shakes may be better for you. Or if you like to prepare meals, finding a plan that includes daily menus andrecipes may be best.
  • Get family and friends involved to provide support. Talk to them about why you are changing your diet and physical activity and how important losing weight is to you. Ask them to help by doing exercises and having meals with you, even if they may be eating something different.
  • Identify obstacles to losing weight. Look at your food journal and try to find things that cause you to overeat, such as stress or depression.
  • Remove food temptations such as high-calorie snacks, and replace them with healthier foods such as fruit and low-fat yogurt.
  • Get enough physical activity to burn calories and maintain your weight. To find out how many calories are burned during various activities, see the Interactive Tool: Calories Burned  calculator

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