Budgeting For Healthy Weight Loss

Imagine for a moment that you've been given a $1,000 gift certificate to spend as you wish.

Now that I have you excited, think about how you would spend that money. Would you buy a single expensive item or a number of less expensive items?

Would your purchases reflect your "needs," such as items for your home and family, or would you treat yourself to some "wants" that you've had your eye on?

More than likely, you would end up with a mixture of all of the above. This would be a result of some careful planning, price checking and prioritizing so that you are ultimately satisfied with your purchases.

Our financial friends might call this budgeting. Certainly this kind of conduct wouldn't fit under the term "impulse buys."

The budgeting concept can be applied to our daily caloric intake. Each of us has a daily budget of calories required to maintain a healthy body weight and in order to stay within our budget we must carefully balance our "wants" and "needs" through planning, label reading and prioritizing.

Why is it so hard to budget our daily calorie intake?

The greatest challenge is that our caloric bank account has, for lack of a better term, substantial overdraft protection.

Thus, exceeding our daily budget usually goes overlooked until our clothing feels a bit snug or the scale has increased another few pounds. Add to this the availability of calorie expensive foods, huge portion sizes and lack of regular deposits in the form of physical activity -- no wonder many of us are well over our calorie budget.

So if it comes down to budgeting calories, why is it so difficult to lose weight or prevent weight gain? The answer is two-fold.

One, the invention of labour-saving devices has reduced our caloric budget to extremely low levels. Think of the amount of physical labour you perform in a day both at work and at home with that of your grandparents when they were your age. Our generation doesn't have to do physically intensive jobs in order to survive, so our budget of calories is much lower. Secondly, we are surrounded by foods that are calorie expensive.

Being stingy with our calories is nearly impossible when eating at restaurants, eating on the run or choosing prepackaged foods. Thus even our best intentions can be thwarted by the temptation of taking the elevator and having a sweet snack with our coffee.

Much like spending money can be increased with opportunity, so can eating of calorie-dense foods. Think of the last time you made an "impulse" buy. Was it during a period of high or low emotional circumstances? Was it in response to something negative that happened in your life, such as a stressful event or argument with a friend or family member?

This concept also applies to eating. For example, during an office meeting you may rarely be tempted by the doughnuts brought in by coworkers, however, if you feel pressure or anxiety because it's your turn to present at the meeting that day, your ability to say no to the temptation may be diminished or distracted.

Determining triggers and chains of events that lead to overeating are an important part of a healthy weight loss program.

So what can you do to bypass these temptations?

First, you have to become aware of what you're eating. Ask yourself before succumbing to that temptation, Am I hungry? Is this going to fulfill my needs?

Does this food fit into my daily nutritional plan? Is this what I want to spend my calories on or is there something better?

It's perfectly fine to determine that a temptation or treat is warranted. If you decide a food or treat fits your budget then savour it and enjoy every bite. Take your time, chew every bite, do whatever it takes to slow down.

Developing a plan to deal with temptations and managing your food and physical activity budget is not something you have to do on your own. Programs that provide support, encouragement and education can make this process much more enjoyable and ultimately more successful.

Decide if you are a solo or social "changer" and develop your plan using any resources you see fit.

Drew Harvey is the founder and director of Healthy Weights.
He is a kinesiology professor and has helped thousands at his research and weight loss clinic.
http://www.healthyweights.ca