Ten Simple Ways to Help Keep the Pounds Off
Guest post by Melissa Tamura
Maintaining a healthy weight requires vigilance and wise choices made on a regular basis. There are simple habits that a person can put into practice that can prove helpful in maintaining their ideal weight.
1. Place a photograph of yourself at a healthy weight or size, on the refrigerator door. This simple tactic serves as a well-placed reminder of the physical appearance you want to achieve or maintain. A few moments spent studying the photo may persuade you to skip an unnecessary snack.
2. Be sure to have an appealing selection of healthy snacks stocked in the kitchen at all times. If you never run out of healthy snack options, you will not have the excuse to eat an unhealthy one because there is no alternative.
3. Arrange to walk a dog on a regular basis. Owning a dog is a great way to get out and walk. The responsibility of giving a dog regular exercise serves to ensure that you get some too. If you don’t have a dog, ask a friend if you can go along on his or her dog walks.
4. Reward yourself each week for your efforts to lead a healthy life. Making the choice to eat in a healthy way and exercise regularly is well worth a reward each week. At the beginning of the week, decide what the reward will be. You may want to see a particular movie, go to a concert, or attend a baseball game. Use this reward as incentive to monitor your eating habits throughout the week.
5. Take healthy snacks along with you when you leave the house. When you are at work or out shopping, it may be tempting to buy an unhealthy snack. Taking some healthy snacks along with you wherever you go will afford you one less reason to purchase a high-calorie snack.
6. Park your car at the far end of the lot. If you work in a building that has a large, safe parking lot try parking a reasonable distance away to add to your exercise that week.
7. Establish a daily reminder of your accomplishments in pursuing healthy habits. Write down three things that you do each day to stay healthy as well as keep the pounds off. Next, post them on your refrigerator. It can be a big effort or a little one. Seeing all of your successes at the end of the week will help encourage you for the next week’s pursuits.
8. Mix healthy snacks in with the treats. For instance, if you are eating some potato chips have a sugar free drink with them. Alternatively, if you’re eating a piece of pie have low fat topping with it instead of regular whipped cream.
9. Drink water before a meal or a snack. A person needs to drink water each day anyway, so why not use it to fill you up a little bit before a meal or a snack? Drinking water can help to quiet your hunger before heading out to a place where there’ll be plenty of opportunities to eat.
10. Make simple substitutions at meals. Depriving yourself of everything you love to eat is not a recipe for success. Compromising and substituting are ways of allowing you to eat things you love and still pursue healthy habits. For example, instead of having a large hamburger, large fries, and a sugary soft drink try a regular-size burger, small fries, and a sugar free drink. Alternatively, if you usually have soup and a sandwich for lunch try a low fat soup with half a sandwich. You are still enjoying the foods you like, but in different ways.
Melissa Tamura writes about online schools for the Zen College Life blog. She most recently wrote about weird scholarships.
