| Losing Weight by Finding Time |  |
By David Junno Psy.D.
I have had a number of people ask me, how can they make changes
in their diets when they have such busy schedules and so many
things to do. The answer is- you cannot make successful changes
to improve your health, without devoting time and effort to the
task. We've all seen the advertisements for programs, diets, and
devices that will help us lose weight and get in shape- even
while we are sleeping! The unfortunate fact is, there are no
quick fixes that are going to help us meet our goals and
maintain them over time.
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One Hour a Day
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Ann Mary Kearney-Cooke Ph.D., a psychologist specializing in
weight loss and control, estimates that we need approximately
one hour a day to do the work necessary to successfully lose
weight, and maintain the loss over time. One major reason
people are not successful with diet plans, is that they are
not devoting enough time to preparation and carrying out
their plans.
What this means is that before we can even consider starting
a diet to improve our health, we first need to find the time.
Skipping this step is not optional if you wish to be
successful. Tim Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Work,
observes that we can not manage time, we can only manage the
things we use our time to do. So if changing our diet is
important to us, we need to change some of the things we do
to create the time necessary to be successful.
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Where might we find the time?
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* Look at what you spend your time on now, are there things that
actually make your efforts at dieting less successful you
could eliminate? For example, what about shaving off some
couch potato time in front of the TV and devote that time to
menu planning for the week or doing a physical activity.
* If you eat out a great deal, think about spending one hour a
week meal planning and one hour a week shopping for those
meals. These two hours will result in big time and money
savings over the course of a week.
* If you have a lot of people putting demands on your time,
maybe you can delegate tasks to others or let people know you
are no longer available to do certain things.
* Sit down with a friend and brainstorm your schedule and the
demands on you. Others can often see areas of potential
flexibility we do not.
* Simply set aside an hour each day, for the different tasks you
need to do to maintain your diet program, and see what gives.
Chances are you will discover a few low priority tasks in your
schedule that you can put off.
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Things you will need time for to successfully make diet changes:
1. Researching the foods you can eat, and how much.
2. Menu planning
3. Shopping
4. Meal preparation
5. Exercise
6. Periodic review of what is and isn't working about your diet
program and making adjustments.
7. Reading, talking to people who are supportive to your efforts,
or participating in group programs to help you continue to
develop your knowledge and sustain your efforts.
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This may feel like a lot of work, and it is. However, if we want
big results we need to put in a big effort. Over time these
efforts will become habits and take on a life of their own. So
take the time to get it right, you are worth it!
Remember, having the right diet and getting
enough exercise will not only improve your
health- IT WILL IMPROVE YOU LIFE.
Until next time,
Dave Junno Psy.D.
David Junno Psy.D. is a personal coach and author of:
Lower High Cholesterol, Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease-
READY OR NOT! an e-book program for living a healthier
lifestyle. You can e-mail him at: djunno@d... or
visit his website and sign up for the free newsletter at:
http://lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or-not.com
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