How to Stop Dieting Forever!

If you have had problems with being overweight you probably have either used or explored a variety of diet and weight reduction programs. The truth is that there is a magical formula which is the answer to managing weight and it is: Calories in must be no more than calories out. What this formula means is that you must maintain a balance in your life between what you eat (calories in) and your level of activity (calories out). If you are tired of trying one diet after another and are tired of yo-yo dieting then the following steps are meant for you. These steps are based on the Coping.org program: Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle (see resource below).

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Be realistic in the goals you set. Do an honest appraisal of what your weight ought to be based on your body, muscle and bone size. You need to be realistic and understand that you have a genetic and physiological foundation which will not allow you to become a “twig-size” person, but rather a person with some curves to the main frame. Do not set out to lose more weight than your body can sustain. Rather set goals for a weight which will be able to be maintained by a balance between the calories you put in it and the calories you out put through everyday exercise and activities.

2. Affirm your commitment to change your lifestyle (see Tips below). It is imperative that you recognize that you must have positive self-talk daily to encourage you to take the steps necessary to get your weight management and life in balance.

3. Choose an exercise program that works for you and do it frequently. Once you have begun to think positively about the change in lifestyle, pick a program of physical activity and exercise which works for you. Have a look at the activities listed in the Tips below to see that you do not have to go to a gym daily to get such exercise. You will need to increase your physical activity for a total of 30 minutes daily to begin with so that you can have a good amount of caloric output to balance your daily caloric input. Once you have an exercise program in place you are ready for the next step.

4. Eat enough to live and stop living to eat. You need to recognize that you will need to change the way you eat if you are to get your life balanced. You can make simple rules (see tips below) which will insure some major changes occur in your eating habits.

5. Overcome your food addiction. You might find it difficult to change your relationship with food because you are actually addicted to food. This is a major reason why many people fail in diet programs because once they go back to eating regularly again they fall back into their obsessive relationship with food and compulsive intake. See tips below on how to deal with food addiction before you go to the next step.

6. Work on your body image. See tips below for a Body Image Quiz. Learn to accept your body once it reaches its correct weight as it is rather than how you think it should look.

7. Get help for yourself if you get stuck. We know that often people cannot handle balancing their lifestyle without the support of a counselor or support group. If you find that you are getting nowhere in your efforts to change then seek out help for yourself.

Tips & Warnings

• Affirmations you need to balance your life: You need to give yourself some of the following messages daily which affirm the balanced lifestyle formula •I am willing to spend the time, energy and resources needed to change my lifestyle. •I am willing to do what is necessary to change my lifestyle so that my beauty will shine more. •I will change my lifestyle without using guilt as a motivator. •I will lose weight by developing a new relationship with food and increasing the exercise and physical activity in my life. •I will work at keeping my body's bank account balanced. •I will balance the deposits of calories and fat grams into my body's bank account with the withdrawals of exercise and physical activity. •I will exercise in order to keep my body balanced. •I am able to have patience to face the tasks ahead of me to put balance into my life. •I will let go of the need to be self-critical in my efforts to balance my life. •I will accomplish more in changing my lifestyle by being self-loving and self-forgiving. •I will overcome my "Achilles heel" of embarrassment over my body. •I will do what I need to do to accept my body as worth being seen and heard. •I am a human being and do not expect myself to be perfect in changing and balancing my lifestyle. •It is healthy for me to reach out to others for support as I make changes in my life. Put messages like these on 3-by-5 index cards and place them around your house, on your refrigerator, bathroom and bedroom mirrors, in your car and at your office desk to remind you daily of the positive thinking you will need to develop to be successful in finding a balance in your life.
• Physical Activities to consider: You can get the physical activity you need to increase caloric burning through such simple means as: •walking thirty minutes a day •parking your car as far away from the building as possible •using stairs instead of elevators or escalators •walking or riding your bicycle to work or to do errands •walking to and around the mall •walking along the shore of an ocean, lake, or river •biking or hiking on the weekends for family outings •ice skating, in-line-skating, roller skating or bike riding for family fun •swimming in ponds, lakes, rivers, pools or ocean instead of just looking at them •cleaning your house on your own instead of hiring a maid to do it •try jumping rope in between chores at home •taking care of your own lawn and garden instead of hiring someone to do it •playing racket ball, handball or tennis for fun and not for competition
• Rules for eating to balance your life: •Only eat food when sitting at a dining table and not while on the run, in the car or on the couch •Eat only enough food to satisfy your hunger--once you feel filled, stop eating •Make tradeoffs in your food choices. Chose high energy low calorie alternatives to low energy high calorie choices. For example for snacks eat vegetables with low calorie dips rather than chips and dip, candies and cakes, etc. •Do not prohibit any foods from your diet, rather limit the amounts of the foods so that you do not feel like you are being deprived of what you like to eat. •Smaller portions are the way to go and when you go out to eat ask for a “to go” container to put half of your entre into it before you begin to eat. This way you eat half of the oversized portion they serve you and you then have your favorite food for dinner the next night.
• To deal with food addiction you must do these things: 1. Overcome your sense of helplessness which is exhibited in a statement like: "I can't change it. There is nothing I can do to help myself." 2. Become more responsible for yourself, your health and balancing your life so that you can counter statements like: "It's too hard and I want someone else to do it for me. So in the mean time since I can't do anything about it, I am just going to relate to food as I always have." 3. Overcome your sense of hopelessness which is exhibited in a statement like: "No matter how much effort I exert, nothing is ever going to change. Since I've never been successful in dealing with food before, I will never be able to handle it now or in the future." 4. You need to develop a new self-script like: "I may be powerless over food, but there are responsible actions I can take to address how I can deal with this reality so that I might effect changes in my life to gain a balanced lifestyle.” This involves getting outside help and support so that you are not facing these demons alone. You can get more information on dealing with food addiction at Addressing Resistance to Change (see resource below).
• Body Image Quiz-Answer the following questions: 1. Do you have a problem in being able to unconditionally accept your body as okay as long as it is alive and well? 2. Are you concerned about looking at images of yourself? 3. Do you have a problem accepting your body just the way it is? 4. Do you have a problem with your body being seen in public? 5. Are you bothered about being seen or looked at when you are trying on clothes in a clothing store? 6. Do you have a problem looking at your naked body in the mirror? 7. Do you hate having your picture or a home video taken of you? 8. Do you hate seeing your body's image in a shadow? 9. Do you avoid looking into large street side windows to avoid seeing your body's reflection? 10. Do you avoid being captured on the camera in a store window so that you do not see your body on the TV monitor? If the answer is yes to all or most of these questions, then you probably have a poor image of your body and are in need of extensive work to get more rational, realistic and healthy when it comes to your body. You will need to change the way you think about, feel about, and act towards your body if you are to be successful in balancing your lifestyle. You will need to accept your body the

Resources

• Coping.org: Tools for Coping with Life's Stressors
• Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle
• Strategies for Success in Weight Management
• Getting Started on Your Balanced Lifestyle
• Exercise to Live
• Eat to Live
• Addressing Resistance
• A New Look at Body Image
• Strategies for Success in Weight Management Program