Weight Loss and Picking a Lifelong Weight Loss Program

It is so important to pick a plan to help you eat for the rest of your life as you are trying to lose weight. On my lifelong journey to lose weight, I have tried several programs (and pills - I wonder if the pills had anything to do with the MS I eventually found out I had (see www.mylifewithms.com) as I am sure that you have, too. I lost 75 pounds with Weight Watchers which is obviously a fabulous program but here I am up almost 30 pounds. When I look back I think the reason my weight loss plan didn't stick 4 years later is because it was not about eating for life, it was about going without in the short term for a potentially long-term benefit.

The problem with this way of losing weight is that once you have reached your goal (or been so excited to be so small as I was) you are relieved to finally be off the program that you have been following. You were going without and it was hard work. In essense you killed yourself to get the weight off. Here's what happens next...

You are so relieved to "be done" losing weight that you slowly begin to enjoy the things you gave up. Just a little bit at first, you slowly pull back on your rules. You lost the weight you need, you may actually need to eat a little more so you don't continue losing weight, right? Before you know it, your weight is back up again, possibly more than before. This is shown time and time again through various studies. The problem with this (other than the obvious weight gain) is that the weight you typically lose is both muscle and fat. The weight you typically gain is fat. Therefore, this constant yo-yo dieting we all do makes us fatter over time as we are losing some of our muscle and only gaining fat.

Isn't is time to stop this trend of weight loss? We see it all around us. My brother has been on Adkins for years. He can't stop as he knows he will immediately gain weight. I question what position he is putting his health in. My friends have all tried South Beach. They lost a lot, then gained it back. I see it over and over.

So, here's the takeaway. Find a plan that you think will help you change your eating habits for the rest of your life -- not a short-term fix. My friend just recently lost a lot of weight using a program called the Abs Diet. This works by focusing your eating on 12 power foods. It is not all you can eat but you want to include a couple of these in each of your six meals per day. It is an interesting concept because you are not excluding your favorite foods all of the time. Each week you enjoy one meal where you eat what you want. It is an interesting concept that gets you think about eating for your health and not just to lose weight. Of course, the side effect is that you lose weight!