4 Things You Can Do To Avoid Weight Loss Failure

     Did you make a New Year's resolution to lose weight like millions of other Americans? How's it coming? Are you slim and trim yet? Chances are your diet fizzled out just like it did for the majority of people who started one. Why is it so difficult to stick to a diet and keep the weight off? Here are four things you can do to increase your odds of success.

Set Realistic Expectations

Are your expectations realistic? Most people's are not. The problem is that everybody's solely considering quick fixes where they need not move a limb and still be thinner. That approach almost always backfires. Sometimes a lot of weight may be lost initially but it quickly comes back when the diet is topped. If that happens to you, you need to be more realistic and stop hoping to lose weight so fast. After all, it may be entirely possible to lose ten pounds in ten days but why put yourself though it if you only gain the weight back in a couple of weeks? That is hard on you mentally and physically. Think of long-term benefits and it'll change the way you see things.

It is just human nature to have a lot of difficulty if you try to change too many bad habits at once. Your will power may hold out for the short term, but after a couple of weeks you give up and relapse. Here is what you can try instead.

Come up with four to six good habits you want to establish that will help you lose weight in a healthy way and keep it off for good. This could be things like:

Exercising at least three days per week
Eating a healthy breakfast every morning of foods like fruits and eggs
Practicing portion control so you don't overeat
Drinking more water and other zero calorie beverages so you don't drink calories
Eating a low carb supper of meat, healthy fat, and veggies
Eliminating alcohol or limiting yourself to one drink

Pick a couple of the good habits you want to adopt from your list.

For the next couple of weeks, focus your attention on cultivating these habits until they become engrained.

Put your other habits and goals on hold during this time.

Once your initial two habits are deeply established, then choose two more and start over.

It won't take long till you develop healthier habits intertwined with your lifestyle to ward off the fat. This approach is a little slower than you may like, but it is an approach for lifelong health and fitness. Besides, consider how well your quick fixes have worked in the past. They probably failed and you didn't lose weight or you did but gained it all back. Focus on losing your extra fat once and for all this time rather than trying to lose it so quickly.

Write Down Your Goals

Writing down your goals is very powerful and can help you make big changes in your life. Back in 1953, Yale decided to do a study on the graduating class by asking them about their goals for the future. Almost all had zero specific goals but they sure envisioned a lot of good things for themselves. The other 3% had clear goals and even had them written down. Twenty years later, Yale revisited these graduates and found that the 3% that had written goals were worth more than the other 97% put together.

Measure Your Results

To track your progress and assess your efforts, you need to measure your results on a weekly basis. This helps you stay focused on your goals and holds you accountable. It only takes a couple of minutes to weigh yourself and measure your hips and waist but the data you get is very important to helping you reach your weight loss goals. So make a commitment to measure yourself weekly and compare your results with the previous weeks.

Create A Workable Plan

Achieving your goals will be a lot easier if you have a plan worked out to help you get there. You plan should include a workout schedule and dietary menu so you always know what is expected of you and you will have a less chance of veering away from your goals.

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