How do I start losing weight

By Brent Fairbanks

On 4/17/2011

No matter how hard you try you just can't eat perfectly all of the time. I cannot do it and I don't know anyone who can. Getting started on a diet plan, working a diet plan, and actually getting long term results is about little changes. Each time that we eat something we are making a choice, you choose. You get to choose when to eat, what to eat, where to eat, how much to eat, and why you eat. There are a few common areas where most people can improve upon.

Improvement 1: Not eating because you're bored. Using food to cure boredom is a very sneaky issue for many people, myself included. It is important to use food as your body's fuel, only feed it high quality products and in the amount that it requires. Planning your food intake and properly preparing will help, see next point. If you do find yourself about to mindlessly pop something in to chew on you need to get active. This doesn't mean that you need to run a mile, it may just be to go and read or empty the trash. If you're bored you need to get active with something other than your mouth.

Improvement 2: Planning your meals. Plan your food according to what your bodies requirements are. This simple step will get you more results than you can imagine. I know that it seems like a really complicated task. What to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a whole week could take forever to make up. Actually, most people don't have a significant variety when it comes to their meal planning. If you do food types for 1 week at a time it can ease things. Let's take breakfast for example. What I mean is, do cold cereal for a week, eggs and toast next week, oatmeal the following. The important thing is to measure your quantities, put them in separate baggies by meal and day if you want to really be organized. If you have this plan with you when you shop for food you will be less likely to purchase impulse items that you don't need to spend money on or need the calories.

Improvement 3: Eat more meals at home. When you do go out to eat we have a tendancy to get more that we need and the restaurants deliver more than they should. Their menu items are designed by marketing people who know how to sell. They entice you with large portions. Generous helpings of minerals that we should do without (salt) and all for a price that is incredibly low. The price you pay is not for the food, it's the aftermath of years consuming this product; that's where the price is. Eat more meals at home and spend time with your family, this will improve health and family togetherness!

Improvement 4: Make sweet a treat. We are consuming sugar at an alarming rate in this country. It has actually become difficult to find a manufactured food product that does not contain added sugar. We have become so addicted to this substance that it is used to manipulate behavior in customers. Pizza places add sugar to the dough in childrens pizza to make them like it more. Sugar also plays a large role in triggering hunger in humans. A can of soda has more sugar in it than you are able to disolve in liquid without processing. Sugar is everywhere and it has calories that you don't need in abundance. Take steps to reduce the sugars that you consume and only use sweets as a very special treat.

Improvement 5: Eat more whole foods. Processed foods are not the healthy counterpart to whole (natural) foods. Whole foods, like an apple, or squash, or oatmeal are designed by nature to be consumed by living things. Processed foods are designed to provide a pleasing experience on the palate while maximizing company profits. Nutrifying your body is NOT on the list of objectives when creating processed foods. This is how we are able to have humans that weigh half a ton (literally 1000 pounds) and are suffering from malnutrition.

When trying to start a diet just a few better choices over time will add up to a healthier you. You just read about 5 simple things that you can start to incorporate into your life. If you like the sound of this the you'll love my 'weight loss myths' book.

Thanks for listening, leave me a comment.
Brent