The need to change our behaviour

Weight has become an important health issue over the last few
years, being overweight brings a number of health problems such
as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Weight is
a funny thing, for some who need to lose weight because of
health they simply do not recognise the need while there are
others who want to be thinner for cosmetic reason and just do
not need to lose weight.

A person’s confidence and self-respect can be affected by their
weight. Unfortunately excess weight is highly visible and can
evoke some powerful reactions, however unfairly, from other
people and also from others who are also over weight. To improve
your health, you might find that you need to lose a lot less
weight than you wish to lose overall. Your initial weight loss
target for improvement to health is suggested to be between 5 to
10 percent of your starting weight. This initial goal of 5 to 10
percent of your starting weight is both realistic and valuable.
Once this goal is reached it does not mean that you have to stop.

To lose weight and maintain you need to change your behaviours.
Firstly you need to set the right goals, most people who try and
lose weight concentrate on just weight loss; you need to focus
on dietary and exercise changes. Successful weight losers are
those who take on two or three goals at a time. Effective goals
are: 1) detailed; 2) achievable; and 3) tolerant. This means to
set a goal for example to walk for 30 minutes a day, for five
days a week, this a detailed, achievable and tolerant goal as it
does not dictate certain days or specific times.

You also need to break down large goals into smaller, quicker
goals, which build up to the ultimate goal for example cutting
down the amount of fat intake from 40% of calories to 35% of
calories and later to 30% or building up the amount of time you
exercise from say 10 minutes to 20 to 30 minutes.

Give yourself rewards for achieving your goals, especially for
the more difficult to attain ones. Make your rewards ones that
you desire and are dependent on meeting your goal. It is better
to have a lot of small rewards for achieving smaller goals than
to have a larger reward that can take a lot of effort to obtain
and can lose its desirability. The rewards only need to be
simple such as a new music CD or a movie or an afternoon off etc.

Another behaviour to acquire is to self-monitor, to keep a
record of calorie intake and exercise sessions. By keeping a
record this helps this will help you to understand what works
and what does not. Keeping a record of your weight is also
necessary, although you do not need to weigh yourself every day.
How well you have exercised or eaten one day is not reflected in
your weight the next day. The reason why you weigh differently
from day to day is because part of your body weight is made up
of water, which changes from day to day unlike body fat.

Avoid situations that encourage or provide temptations such as
sitting and eating in front of the television (do not allow
yourself to eat whilst watching television), avoid places where
food is on display whilst socializing as this encourages
unplanned eating.

Changing the way that you eat can make it easier to eat less
without feeling deprived. It takes about fifteen minutes for
your brain to get the message that you have been fed, so by
slowing down the rate that you eat can allow the brain to
receive a full signal by the end of the meal. Including lots of
vegetables can also help you feel fuller. Another way is to use
smaller plates so the smaller portions do not seem too small.
Something else that can be useful is schedule meals especially
if you tend to skip or delay meals and then over eat later.

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