Weight Loss, Diet and Fitness Program

To be successful as the dieters spotlighted here, you’ll need to know how to diet right! Here are ten real world “Do’s” and ten real world “Don’ts” that will help you on the winning track.

DO…
1. Monitor your progress. Weighing yourself once a week, logging your food and activity, and monthly sessions with a tape measure record your progress to keep you motivated.
2. Choose to eat healthful, wholesome foods from all the food groups. That’s the only way you’re getting the essential nutrients you need.
3. Exercise. While a recommended goal for weight loss is about an hour a day of moderate activity, anything more than what you’re doing now is a plus.
4. Eat breakfast every day.
5. Take a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement that provides about 100 percent of the Percent Daily Value.
6. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, low- and non-fat dairy products, and whole grains. They enhance weight loss, provide eating satisfaction, and provide lots of health benefits.
7. Learn positive coping skills so that you don’t turn to food for comfort.
8. Drink at least 6 cups of water every day.
9. Eat the foods that satisfy you. Some people are satisfied with a piece of chicken, while a baked potato satisfies others. Find what satisfies you and include it in your food plan.
10. Benefit from the experience of other. You can never have too many tips and strategies in your weight-loss tool kit.

DON’T…
1. Forget that calories count. With all the hype about weight loss, eating fewer calories and exercising more calories away is the bottom line in losing weight.
2. Follow a diet. Learning and sticking to healthy habits is what ultimately gets you to and keeps you at a healthy weight.
3. Risk your health to drop a few pounds. Losing weight improves your health – but not if you do it with a crash diet or one that promotes depriving yourself of essential foods.
4. Go it alone. Getting support from others – family, friends, or a weight-loss group – makes the weight-loss journey less lonely.
5. Be duped by the latest fad. Find what works for you and stick with it.
6. Obsess. The most successful weight losers have learned the skill of flexible restraint – limiting what they eat, but doing it in a way that allows for the ups-and-downs of daily living.
7. Drink your calories, eat them. Solid food provides greater eating satisfaction.
8. Let others tell you what’s right for you. You need to lose weight for yourself, at your own pace, and in your own way.
9. Set unrealistic goals. Shoot for an initial weight-loss goal that’s about 10% of current body weight and expect to lose one to two pounds per week.
10. Get distracted. Losing weight takes time and it’s easy to let life derail your efforts. Take the time to recommit yourself to losing weight on a regular basis so that it stays on your “A” list of priorities.