Thursday, January 22, 2009

Beautiful Me...beautiful You...in No Time At All

By Ferda Shinsky

Imagine a healthier you, fast, and without investing very much time in your day. It's possible with just a few small changes to your life. All you have to do is truly decide to reshape your body, and this article will give you some information as to how to do it. The first step is to start gaining good habits.

So many people just sit and eat without thinking about it at all when they are lonely or bored. When you eat for entertainment, you eat things you body doesn't need, and sometimes in dangerous amounts . Eating when you are bored or lonely also trains your body to think it is hungry when you're really just bored. If you sit around and eat, all you do is store fat from the foods that you eat, a big cause of obesity. These signs and others, such as Diabetes, heart conditions, cholesterol problems, and breathing problems are distress signals from your body that indicate that it is high time you made a change in your life.

Your brain is the biggest ally and your biggest enemy in gaining a healthier you. Your current poor health is an obstacle that you need to over come on your path to becoming a newer, healthier person. You have to cover your current habits with newer, healthier thinking. Self-esteem is important, because self-esteem will eventually drive you toward your goal. Don't wait for someone to pat you on the back when you do a good job; do it yourself. Learn to reward yourself for good behavior with small rewards that keep you on your path.

The first change you need to make to find a healthier you is to reduce your consumption of high calorie food, and replace them low-calorie, nutrient dense foods. If you were going to have a cheeseburger and fries, you can skip the fries and have a garden salad with low-calorie dressing instead. If you like chicken nuggets with creamy pasta, try having chicken breast with vegetables and a high-fiber bread, or replace that creamy pasta with a low-fat marinara sauce. Instead of take out pizza, try some oven baked fish with rice and a small salad instead.

Somehow, you have to train yourself to exercise when you are bored, instead of eating. Give sports a shot. You need to go outside and get some fresh air; plan some physical activity with your best buds instead of sitting in front of the television or computer. If you're stuck inside, get a stationary bike and pedal like crazy while you watch your favorite shows. You can even try to explore your local mall, or if nothing else pace around the house; any kind of moving around is way better than sitting.

Write down everything you eat so you are sure of what's going in. Lots of people gain weight by noshing in front of the television with a big bucket of chicken. Portion your food and write it down. Because it's a lot easier to keep track of how many calories you are taking in if your food is portioned. It's time to get out of denial about how much food you really eat. Lots of overweight people claim they don't really eat much food, but sometimes they eat a lot without knowing it.

To keep yourself in track, make a log of your physical activities so you can be aware of your exercise progress. There are books that help you log your activity, and also many websites that help you log your activities and count the calories you burn.

Never fear failure; expect it. You will probably fail multiple times before you reach your goal; that's just the way it is. Those failures are the loss of small battles in an overall war for your longevity and health. You must stay the course on your path to health in order to win the war. We all have bad days. If your boyfriend yells at you, and you get angry and plop down in front of the TV and eat too much chocolate or slurp down a whole gallon of ice cream, it is absolutely not a reason to beat yourself up about it and quit. Slipping up is just a signal that you aren't there yet. Throw out the rest of the gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough and pick yourself up and right get back on track, instead of making excuses and falling back into the pattern that got you sick in the first place.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment