BEST RULES FOR LOSING WEIGHT PERMANENTLY
Alex Simring gives some great ideas to consider for permanent weight loss.
FOLLOW ONLY ONE DIET AT A TIME: There are so many diet plans out there, and most of them will work if there are followed. The biggest problem is when a diet plan is not followed out completely. It is tempting to mix and match dietary plans. For a diet plan to be effective, it must be carried out 100%, with NO EXCEPTIONS.
STICK WITH THE PLAN FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH: It takes at least 4 weeks before genuine weight loss has started to occur. Early on during a diet, the weight lost will represent mostly fluid shifts from the body. True fat burning really only occurs after several weeks, particularly once the body has had a chance to adapt to the new dietary measure. So stick with your diet for a minimum of 4 weeks before making any further decisions.
TAKE SOME MEASUREMENTS BEFORE STARTING: It is a great idea to take some measurements before embarking on your quest for weight loss. Alex recommends at least measuring weight and waist circumference. Sometimes taking a photo can serve as a timely reminder of what you want to leave behind and gives you that extra motivation. Keep a photo plastered in strategic locations around the house… such as on the fridge door!
HAVE A REALISTIC GOAL: It is important to regularly set goals that can be measured and achieved. Losing about 1/2 kg weight per week should be readily achievable. Remember that it can take several weeks before starting to lose weight, so I don’t recommend taking the first 4 weeks into account. Your first serious review should be in 2-3 months time, and hopefully you will have lost some serious weight!
BIG EFFORT AT THE BEGINNING: The best time to achieve weight loss is in the first few months of starting a weight loss program. During this time, motivation levels are sky high! Utilise this time to fulfill significant weight loss goals. If takes a lot of effort to lose 10-20kg, and fortunately the motivation early on will help you.The focus is really on watching the diet rather than on huge levels of exercise to lose weight.
WEIGHT LOSS MAINTENANCE FOR THE LONG TERM: This is the part where most people will fail. It is inevitable that motivation will fade after a period of time. For some people that time will be a few weeks, for others a few months. The key when the initial motivation fades is to have developed a long term weight loss maintenance plan. At this stage is will be important to be eating a healthy balanced diet. There should be no extremes or excessive deprivation. Having breakfast everyday is essential. Regular exercise is also important in helping to maintain weight loss. Remember, the aim here is not to keep on losing weight, rather to maintain the weight that has already been lost. It will always be possible to lose more weight in the future, particularly during further periods of motivation.
HEALTH CHECK WITH FAMILY DOCTOR: Make sure to discuss your eating plan with your family doctor before embarking on any diet or exercise program. This is particularly the case if age >40 years, or for any pre-existing medical conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, asthma and diabetes. Remember to take things slowly, particularly in the early days. The key is to lose weight and maintain it long term!
- Alex Simring Weight Loss Tips
- Alex Simring has provided some great information on ways to lose weight. There is a lot which has been published about the latest and greatest ways to lose weight. It is true, unfortunately, that most of these strategies fail. I think that the main reason these weight loss plans fail, is that they are generally over ambitious. Human motivation follows an ebb and flow, natural ups and downs. Although there are certain periods of extreme motivation, there are also many times when we get to busy with other lifestyle events to continue to focus on our goals. Understanding this natural cycle of motivation plays a key role in developing a useful strategy to losing weight effectively.
There are many different diets which have been promoted as a magic bullet, and Alex has studies them all! Most of the main stream diets will work, its just a matter of sticking to the diet for long enough and maintaining these changes. People will often start to follow a diet when there is a great degree of motivation, and this can certainly lead to some great short term weight loss. Unfortunately, soon enough the motivation will fade, and the old eating habits return. As the old eating habits return, so does the weight….pound by fat laden pound!
Understanding your motivation levels can help you to choose a suitable diet plan… one which you can carry into the future. Simring suggests starting of your diet plan by focusing on how you plan to eat in the long term, rather than how you will be eating to lose weight. After the weight loss has occurred, there should be an emphasis on making sure that the weight stays off, but the eating plan must be one that you are happy to stick to long term. There is no way that a fad diet can be continuously sustained over many years, and often after following a fad diet people will take in an abundance of all of those foods which they denied themselves, and their weight will rebound with avengence!
Simring recommends starting by looking at your current eating plans. Make a food journal for a few days. The next step is to plan how you want to eat in the long term – after most of your excess weight has been shred away. Be realistic about this. Here are some common themes for balanced, long term weight loss:
- portion control
- reduce sugar and refined carbohydrates
- reduce saturated fat intake
- moderate carbohydrate restriction
- organic foods
The next step that Simring recommends is to find a suitable program for weight loss that appeals to you. It should be one that you feel comfortable following and one where you understand the principles behind how the weight is lost. Do some research in this area, but remember that there is not just one diet to lose weight, but many will be effective. Once you choose a particular diet, then make sure that you stick to it.
Alex has found that this next step is often overlooked.
Start off your eating plan, but keep in mind how motivated and disciplined you are feeling currently. Think also about how successful you might have been at previous attempts to lose weight. You will need a sustained campaign to lose weight, and this phase of weight loss is far more intensive than the weight maintenance phase. You will need to follow a fairly strict regime for 3-6 months before good results are obtained.
Simring states that discipline is like a muscle which must be built up before being effective. You wouldn’t walk into a gym hoping to bench press 200 pounds if you have never set foot in a gym before. Discipline with weight loss works in a similar fashion. Make sure that you assess where you are with regards to current motivation and discipline levels.
One thing that Alex has found to be very effective is starting off by focusing on one food group to cut out completely. Remember that this will only be a temporary thing, maybe for 4-6 weeks. The important thing is to choose something that you have most days. This needs to be something that is a bit painful to miss out on, but not so painful as to lead to failure. Whatever food group you choose, may sure that you are completely abstinent 100% of the time, for a period of at least 4-6 weeks.
I chose breads, because excessive bread can lead to weight gain. I like eating bread a lot, but I could face the prospect of doing without it for a month or two. I had to be 100% strict about not eating bread. I was trying to reduce other foods from my diet at the same time, but I didn’t have to be completely strict about reducing these foods, at least in the initial phases.
What I found was that as I became more disciplined with following bread abstinence, my overall discipline levels improved and I was able to stick to my diet with much better control. My willpower miraculously improved out of sight!
So, to summarise a few of Alex Simring’s main points regarding weight loss:
1. Start with the end in mind – choose the diet plan that you wish to follow long term. This should be based around what your current eating habits are like right now.
2. Find a suitable short term diet plan which appeals to you, and make a commitment to follow this single diet straight through to the very end.
3. Assess what your current motivation levels are and honestly review where you have failed in the past.
4. Choose one food group which you will absolutely exclude, 100%.
5 Once you are approaching your target weight, then slowly transition to the permanent eating plan. Cruise at the same weight for many months or years. If you ever feel the need to shed some more pounds, then follow steps 1-5 again!
CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR
Always make sure to consult with a doctor before starting any health and fitness regime.