5 Essentials For Losing Weight

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Author: Julia Griggs Havey

Article source: http://www.ediets.com/. Used with author's permission.

Do you know what it takes to lose weight, get healthier and realize your dreams?

Awareness, Education, Determination, Action, and Motivation!

That's it! five simple tools in your tool belt of success and you are on your way.

Awareness is essential in that oftentimes we really don't know that some of the little things we are doing are contributing in big ways to our excess weight. For example, do you drink one or more soft drinks in a day? ONE soft drink (approximately 10 ounces) is 120 calories, takes 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a DAY to burn it off AND is filled with unnecessary chemicals! Switching one's soft drink habit for water can amount to considerable weight loss over the course of a year.

Or are you cleaning morsels off the kids' plates? ONE bite may not seem like much, but many "one" bites add up to ONE HUGE bite over the course of the day. It all counts!

I speak with so many people who swear to me they have fairly healthy habits. I think we kid ourselves a lot. Do you kid yourself? Is the joke on you?

Open your eyes and take a long hard look at your actions, and look for ways you can easily, and without much effort, improve upon your actions and make them a bit healthier.

Education is essential in that we need to know what is healthy. Today, that is perhaps harder than at any other time in history! There are so many confusing and mixed messages about what is healthy: low carb, low fat, low glycemic and bears, oh my!

I don't know what is the right way to eathonestly, I don't. I am not a nutritionist, doctor or expert on food, but I am the undisputed expert on what NOT to eat! YOUR vices!!! I don't care how many times you have heard "You can eat what you love and still lose the weight" -- you CAN'T!!!! If you LOVE food, that in and of itself is part of the problem! I think you should love life, NOT food! Educate yourself on the foods you will eat that are healthy and that work within YOUR lifestyle!

Determination! YOU must be determined to succeed at this and really want to change your lifestyle! It is NOT enough that you just want to LOSE WEIGHT.

What then? you guessed it -- the weight comes back on! You must, must, must make your goal to have a permanently healthy lifestyle and be determined to realize it!

Action! Once you have educated yourself as to what is unhealthy, are aware of unhealthy actions, and are determined to change, all that is left is to take action! Make sure every day that you are taking action -- that is a step in the right direction!

Motivation! Sometimes the going gets toughthat is when the motivated get buff! Make some goals: short-term and longplan some rewards you are going realize along the way AND make it fun! For example, buy a terra cotta planter and some small tiles, mirrors, large beads or stones -- and then EACH day you stick to your plan, bust your vices and reach your daily goal, glue an item on the planter. By the end of the year, you will have the most gorgeous planter (grout over it, wipe down, let it dry and it will be fabulous!!) AND you'll be, oh, about 100 pounds thinner!

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