Drop 30 Pounds

An awfully lot of people would dearly love to lose thirty pounds or so; in fact, at any given time, an amazing number of folk are trying their best to do exactly that. Some of them are motivated by the thought of an upcoming school or family reunion; some by their doctor’s words at their last checkup; some of them just want to go shopping, and ‘smaller’ sounds wonderful. Whatever the reason, losing those pounds would be a dream come true.

So – how does one do that? Every conceivable sort of advice is advocated by someone, somewhere; how does one know which voices to listen to? Well, perhaps we can sort them out. Your best friend who has been thin as a rail all her life probably doesn’t have the answers you need; your doctor, however, may. Someone selling diet supplements on the internet wants your money, so perhaps he isn’t too reliable, but non-profit health and wellness sites such as the American Heart Association should be trustworthy. Applying these sorts of criteria, one can easily come up with the basics – sound advice that is repeated over and over by people with solid credentials. Here is some of it:

-> Crash diets and extreme exercise are not the route to fitness; rather, the body responds best to slow and gradual changes in food and exercise habits. Overdoing is a ticket to injury; a semi-starvation diet may cost you your good health.

-> Learn the basic equation and put it into practice: the most effective way to lose weight is to eat less than your body needs and to increase your level of activity.

-> Forget the ‘quick fix’ diets; find ways to permanently change your habits, because the result you want is to be able to sustain your good habits and resulting good health for the rest of your life.

-> There are no shortcuts. Any fast track plans you think you’ve found are going to turn out to be either unhealthy or unreasonable; probably both. Plan on being in it for the long haul; you’ll love the results even if they’re six months down the road.

-> Be aware that it is better for your body to lose smaller amounts and to sustain that loss over time than it is to lose a bunch and then regain much of it; yo-yo dieting is way too hard on your body.

-> Make a plan. Get the help you need, whether from your doctor, a dietician, an online tutorial, or a good book or two, then set about figuring out what will work for you. Write it all down. Fine tune it as you go along. Plan on keeping a food and exercise journal, and make yourself accountable to you – after all, who cares more about the results than you do? And don’t forget to celebrate your successes along the way.

-> Everyone falls off the wagon; you will too. Get back on.

-> A safe and reasonable weight loss is one to two pounds a week, not more than three. That works out to about three and a half to seven months. This is the time to be glad you’re not on a fad diet, eating impossible combinations of foods that were never meant to be long term; be glad, instead, that you are spending the time investing in your good health and making important lifestyle changes.

Now you know the good stuff, or at least enough to get you going. You probably already knew some of it, and you will for sure learn more as you go along. You’re ready: it’s going to be a great ride!