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5 steps to help you lose weight

By: James English We all know that some people always find it hard to stick to their diets and over time consistently fail to lose any significant amount of weight. These people have tried every conceivable new dieting idea which is thrust into the limelight, hoping that this new one is the one which will really work. But of course the miracle never occurs. These people often blame the diet and tend to overlook the mistakes which they made and fail to truly understand what has prevented them from losing their weight. It is human nature to often forget and ignore things that you don't want to face. People often forget about or ignore things they have eaten or failed to do while being on their diet.
If you are one of these people you need not worried, there are ways of working around these problems and hopefully the rest of this short article can help you achieve your goals. Firstly you need to make eating a conscious act, by doing this you can keep a track of what you are eating and also avoid caving into compulsions and temptations. One of the easiest things you can do is to begin to carry around a small notebook and a pen and write down everything you eat for the day. This means everything. At the end of the day, go back over the list and you may be surprised at how much you actually do eat in a day. You should also write down temptations in your book which were offered or you had the opportunity to eat but declined, such as chocolate or soft drinks. You will begin to see how many calories you stopped yourself from eating and this will boost your motivation and confidence in yourself.
Eating and drinking for the most part are acts which we carry out with little thinking, but like we stated before you need to make them a conscious decision. Every time you reach out for some food or drink you need to take a second to ask yourself "why am I about to eat this?". Perhaps you're thirsty, hungry or perhaps bored, lonely or stressed. You should only be eating if you're hungry or thirsty. If you're not hungry you need to put the food back into the cupboard. Ask yourself "do I really need this". If you crave sweets because you're thirsty, go and get some sleep, or have a lay down instead. If you're lonely or bored don't eat, go and visit a friend or go for a walk, read a book, listen to music. You have to realize there are other options other than eating.
Another important step in losing weight is that you must never starve yourself. This is probably the single largest mistake people make while dieting. If you starve yourself you will eventually crack and often binge eat or at the minimum let yourself go and eat things you shouldn't. Starvation will make it harder for you to lose weight as the body will begin to slow its metabolism and begin to store energy and hang onto to excess fat as it cannot tell the difference between such dieting and actual starvation and it needs to protect itself from danger. You need to eat at least 3 meals a day and also eat snacks such as fruit or vegetable between these meals. This will work a lot better than starving yourself.

Another important step is that you shouldn't go cold turkey and completely remove your favorite food even if it is a little naughty. The key to weight loss moderation, it is not denial. If you absolutely love mars bars then have a mars bar every Sunday afternoon. Take a break from the day and go and relax and eat a mars bar. You're not cheating your diet but simply rewarding yourself for being so good through the week. Having forbidden food once a week can keep your motivation high so enjoy the moment and don't feel guilty.