One of the main reasons why many people cringe with the thought of losing weight is they think the food they will be forced to eat must consist of only lettuce and water. First and foremost let me throw out this fallacy and set the record straight. We are not rabbits nor turtles so naturally we need much more in our daily diet.
Another myth in regards to weight loss is that while you are trying to lose weight you may only eat one small meal a day. Again, this is completely absurd especially since depriving your body of healthy nutrition throughout the day will do more harm than good. Those who have tried this before may have found themselves binge eating at the next meal since their body was literally starving for food.
A person who is concerned about creating a healthy life with weight loss as the top priority will still eat actual food. Great tasting, healthy food to be more specific. Your body is an engine that needs fuel. The type of fuel you put into your engine is what matters most. When you put small amounts of nutritious foods into your body throughout the day, everything runs smoothly and weight gain is not an issue.
You Don't Have to Abandon All Your Favorite Foods For Months When You're On A Weight Loss Mission
Scratch the thought of only having to eat lettuce when you are trying to lose weight. Throw out the notion of starving yourself and only eating once a day. This is not what you are supposed to do when you are trying to improve your health.
Depending on how your eating habits have been, improving the quality of your drinks, snacks, and meals may or may not be difficult. Just remember that taking on a commitment to eat in a healthy manner doesn't mean abandoning everything you currently enjoy eating forever. If you do take pleasure in eating pizza, bacon cheeseburgers, cookies, crackers, cakes, potato chips, ice cream, pies, etc., don't feel as though you can never enjoy these types of foods again just because you are attempting to lose weight and eat healthy.
Use the 90-10 approach when it comes to the healthy eating component of the weight loss process. 90% of the time you should be eating, drinking, and snacking in a nutritious manner, 10% of the time treat yourself to something you cut out of your diet. In other words, 9 days in a row you eat extremely healthy, on the 10th day have some pizza and a couple sodas if you like.
Think of it as your reward for sticking to your healthy eating plan for the past 9 days. If 9 days of eating healthy is too large of a commitment at first when starting out, make it 9 meals in a row and then the 10th meal is your treat.
However, do show restraint and don't go hog-wild with this 10%. You want to treat yourself to something a little special not eat an entire XL pizza and drink a 12 pack of soda all in one sitting.
It's imperative that you remember this treat is your reward for eating completely healthy for 9 days (or 9 meals) in a row. If you know that you didn't stick with your plan the entire time, then you haven't earned that reward plain and simple.
By starting out thinking in this manner, you will be more inspired to stick with your agenda since your "favorite" foods will be your tangible reward. Just be sure not to cheat yourself because the only person losing is you. Eating healthy and getting regular exercise is the formula for weight loss success, and the better you stick with a concrete plan the more success you will have.
The more you get used to eating in a healthy manner, the unhealthy food choices will slowly become a thing of the past. Soon you won't crave the potato chips or soda any longer, especially when you realize how unhealthy they are for your body.
Once you change your past eating habits and develop new healthy ones, you will see a change in how you view nutrition and health. This is when the internal struggle over what you should eat is over and you will now be living and eating in a healthy, nutritious manner. Soon you won't have to worry about rewarding yourself with the unhealthy stuff anymore because you just won't want it any longer.
