Motivation for Sustained Weight Loss

Here are the useful steps for motivation for weight loss and sustaining it:

• When you want to go on a diet/exercise program, do it for YOUR WELL BEING, YOUR HEALTH and not just because you want to impress somebody, or your partner insists that you do so, etc.

• Because if you go in for the wrong reasons, you tend to take up extreme quick fixes fad diets that works short term but cannot sustain you for long term. And when your diet plan failed to deliver the desired results, remember, it's not that you have no willpower- it's likely the plan's impractical or unrealistic to follow.

• But still, initially, cut down as much as you can on sugar and refined carbs: especially if you tend to suffer from constant fatigue, lethargy & mood swings from bad eating habits for long.

• But you can take your sugar sources from fruits. When I started, I bring a Tupperware to work filled to the brim with fruits- I was snacking the whole day on fruits- that makes me feeling less deprived.

• At home, arrange fresh fruits in nice plates/baskets and place at a highly visible place. Put chocolates and cookies at places where you cannot see them.

• Start an exercise program at the same time. If it is not convenient for you to join a gym, then get into an exercise program- buy DVDs, exercise bikes, daily brisk walks, check out YouTube for exercise videos. Any activity to get you going- start small and the well being that you feel will make you slowly increase.

• Weight training really helps- you built up muscles (and if you are a woman, need not worry, you will not bulk up) which in turn increases your endurance during cardio activity. Ultimately this makes you burn up more and more calories per workout. During the time you are not exercising, you also feel less tired, your metabolic rate goes up and carrying things becomes much easier than it used to.

Continuous Sustenance:

• After your body stabilizes and you regain good health (from exercise & sensible eating), you can squeeze in a cookie or a piece chocolate after a meal- but try to keep the portions real small. I believe if we were to totally deprive ourselves of our favourite foods, we are setting our self up for failure because we will end up binging and hate ourselves afterward.

• Accompany your little indulgence with lots of citrus fruits (especially grapefruit)/raw vegetables preferably taken before the indulgence. If you do that, it reduces your sugar blues (mood swings, dizziness that happens as the result of rapid rise and drop in blood sugar levels). The fibre and low GI index of the fruit/vegetables helps stabilize your blood sugar levels. With this, I do not mean eating a packet of M&M and then eat an orange. It's more that limit yourself about 3 M&Ms and a grapefruit. Do not worry, after a while, it becomes a habit- you would incorporate any indulgence with fruits/vegetables.

• Learn also to eat with more mindfulness and awareness. Note how your body feel after the food. After a while, you will be conscious that your body are not that well when you start shoving unhealthy, fatty, greasy and highly processed food into it. And that will make you put down your spoon after the first few bites.

• Learn to conquer emotional eating ie eating food for comfort. Have courage to confront underlying issues that may be bothering you or making you unhappy. Filling your self with junk because you feel 'empty' will not solve your problems- in fact, it will end up making you feel much worst and you will likely resent yourself after that. Bottled feelings/ stress, coupled with bad eating habits can led to many diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes and cancer- these cases are evident and most of us would have personally known people who suffer from these illness.

Yin Teing takes health and well being seriously. She does lots of research, and most often, uses her own self as a subject of experimentation. She genuinely love to share her discoveries with others and hope to help others through her research and writings.

For more of her research & writings, you can visit her blog at http://teingdesign.blogspot.com or http://goodbyesugar.blogspot.com