Take Control of your weight

Post 2
By Trafford R. Cole PsyD
Weight Loss

One area of our lives that we need to control is our eating habits. Millions of Americans are struggling with their weight. I you search through the blogs and forums, however, what you see most is a search for the “magic pill” or the “magic solution.” Everyone is talking about Oprah’s green tea solution or Beyonce’s maple syrup diet. If you are a novice to dieting, I can forgive you. But for all of you who like me have been dieting for years, you should know two things by now.

First, there is no magic solution to weight loss; it takes hard work. Second it is not losing the weight that is the hard part. Any, and I repeat, any low calorie diet will allow you to lose weight over time. Then what happens? You hit a plateau, you stop losing the weight, you get discouraged and after just a few weeks or months you have gained back all the weight that you had lost, and for good measure you gain a few more pounds. Sound familiar?

Losing weight permanently means first of all changing your attitude. There are ten attitude changes that must occur for you to take control of this aspect of your life. The first and foremost is: There is no magic pill. There is no magic solution. You must change your life style. That is you must start doing things differently. Dieting is not a temporary solution. You must change the way you do things for the rest of your life. You must start exercising, you must give up certain foods, you must change your priorities. The obese person is like an alcoholic – you are addicted to food and to comfort and you feel out of control. This is the way I have spent much of my life. Let’s take control the right way. We will explain the other attitude changes in the next blogs every Monday.

Meanwhile here is weight loss tip #1
Get 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night

It sounds counter intuitive, because people say if I am up more hours I should burn more calories. It doesn’t work that way. All recent studies are showing that a good night’s sleep charges up the metabolism, increases the energy level and allows weight loss. Those who sleep less than 7 hours and those in particular who are sleep deprived at less than five hours per night gain weight more readily. There is a direct correlation between sleep and metabolism. So get a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow is stress management day.