Weight Loss – Those Last Ten Pounds

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————————– Weight Loss – Those Last Ten Pounds

Title —– Weight Loss

Those Last Ten Pounds

————————–

Weight Loss – Fighting off those last 10 pounds can bring up
mixed feelings. On one hand, you’re happy and proud to be just a
step away from the weight you’d wanted to reach. On the other
hand, you face the potentially depressing prospect of having to
unload yet another 35,000 calories (otherwise known as 10
pounds).

Weight loss is all about changing behavior, and that is most
true when you’re fighting off those last 10 pounds.

“There is evidence that the individual has to have a great
desire to get to their goal weight, and that desire has to be
backed up with real changes in behavior to maintain a healthy
weight over time,” says Catherine Fitzgerald, RD, a dietitian in
the weight-loss program at the University of Michigan Health
System.

Here are seven tips to help you through the home stretch of your
diet. And get support year-round when you sign up for the Weight
Control Newsletter.

Lift weights

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You can’t beat muscle mass when it comes to losing weight and
keeping it off, says Nancy Spaulding-Albright, RD, a
nutritionist and dietitian at the Sunrise Outpatient Center of
the HealthSouth hospital group. “Everyone knows muscle burns
more calories, even at rest, than fat or other tissues,” she
says. If weight lifting isn’t for you, try swimming, yoga, or
Pilates. It’s true that muscle weighs a bit more than fat, but
it also burns more calories. In the long run, you’ll stay
trimmer with muscle than without it.

Focus on better health, not fewer pounds

————————– Sure, dropping weight will, by
itself, improve your health. But if you want to stay motivated
while you’re losing weight and beyond, think long term. “Tell
yourself, ‘I want to live to see my grandchildren,’ rather than
‘I want to look good at my class reunion,’” says
Spaulding-Albright. The approaching class reunion may motivate
you to lose weight today, but it may also set you up to fail
later. “Patients who can stay focused on better health tend to
reach their weight goals and keep weight off over time,” she
says.

See a dietitian

————————– When you sit down with a trained
dietitian or nutritionist to look at your diet, “you may be
amazed how many hidden calories you eat,” says Fitzgerald. “I
see patients who forget to add those half dozen tablespoons of
sugar they put into their coffee each morning or don’t realize
how many calories their three-sodas-a-day habit adds up to. And
those are the kinds of calories, the ones you don’t even think
about, that make weight loss harder.” Contact your doctor or
local hospital to get a list of dietitians or nutritionists in
your area.

Know your metabolic rate

————————– Do you know how many calories you
need to eat each day for your body to function? The
government-mandated food content labels you see in stores assume
you have a need for 2,000 calories a day. But that’s an average,
and it’s not specific enough for someone working to lose weight
or keep weight off. “Your size and gender have a lot to do with
your calorie needs,” says Spaulding-Albright. “Dieters don’t
want to be eating 2,000 calories when they only need 1,800.”
Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is simply the minimum number
of calories you need each day to support your body’s functions.
If you get a lot of exercise, your calorie needs may be much
higher than your RMR. So how do you estimate your RMR and your
real-world calorie needs? The best way, says Spaulding-Albright,
is to contact hospitals or clinics in your area; they have
sophisticated equipment that can give a good assessment. You can
also sit down with a dietitian or personal trainer, who know how
to make reliable estimates by calculating your age, height,
gender, and other measures. You’ll also find many free RMR
calculators on the Internet. These are helpful, but not the most
accurate. If you chose this route, try several RMR calculators
to get a good approximation.

Eat a bigger breakfast

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The idea here is to get your major calorie load in earlier in
the day rather than later,” says Spaulding-Albright. “There’s
that old saying, ‘Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a
prince, and eat dinner like a pauper,’” she says. “That’s
actually a help for dieters.” When you eat more of your daily
calories earlier, it gives your body a better chance of burning
those calories over the course of a day. Eating a really heavy
dinner is a bad idea, she says, because those calories have
little chance of being used.

Eat five small meals a day

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Eat small, eat often. You may have heard this bit of advice
before, but it is one of the dieting maxims most easily brushed
aside in the course of a busy day, says Spaulding-Albright.
“When weight loss plateaus, which is not unusual when you’ve
lost a significant amount of weight, this can sometimes help
kick in some additional weight loss,” she says. “It makes you
feel more satisfied and helps deal with cravings.”

Think positive thoughts

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“Always go with the dieting positives, rather than the
negatives,” says Fitzgerald. “You’re actively adding good things
to your life. You’re eating more good foods, which improves your
overall health. You’re getting daily exercise, which improves
your mood, burns calories, and makes you stronger.”

Source: WebMD

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