Losing Weight and Keeping It Off - A System For Success

As the New Year slowly approaches, now comes the time that those that have neglected their health and fitness start setting some new goals for better health and fitness in the New Year. However even with goals set, usually before January is over, the goals have been forgotten or pushed to the side. If you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off, you need to implement a system for success and not just short term success but long term success.

Being in poor physical form puts you at risk unnecessarily of being susceptible to various diseases and conditions. Being more cognizant of your health and the fact that most of it depends on the lifestyle that you adopt, allows you to prevent sickness and disease and avoid any health risks.

There are many tools and resources that will help you maintain proper health and fitness. Here are a few pointers to remember as you seek to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

1. Set Realistic Goals

We are not all meant to be a size two or zero. You should seek to establish a goal that works for you and your body type. Get the image of the models in magazines out of your head. Most of them practice unhealthy eating and fitness habits anyway in order to maintain that size zero. Do not set an unattainable goal for yourself otherwise you will lose hope and give up on your weight loss program.

Setting realistic goals should start by reviewing your body mass index (BMI) which is a great tool to show you how much weight you need to lose. An ideal BMI is between 19 and 24.9. Anything above this up to 29.9, is considered being over weight and a BMI over 30 is considered obese.

Setting a realistic goal will mean that you want to get to a BMI between 19 and 24.9 based on your height which is one of the factors used to determine your BMI.

2. Objective for Weight loss Should be Empowering

If you are simply losing weight in order to look good at your upcoming reunion or for a wedding or some other vain purpose, the weight loss will only be short term. If on the other hand it is to maintain your health, you realize that exercise and fitness is a lifetime commitment. If you are at risk for diabetes or have the disease, exercise and diet should have a whole new meaning for you because you realize that your life is at risk.

3. Focus on Action

Instead of saying that your goal is to lose one or two pounds a week, state how much you plan to exercise per day or per week. This will allow for a sensible weight loss plan and allow you to disregard the weeks that your weight loss may hit a plateau and keep you pressing forward with your weight loss program.

4. Self-Encouragement

Be objective and fair when you evaluate yourself. Avoid beating yourself up if you miss a day or two, a week or longer of your workouts. Simply look ahead and not backwards to keep you motivated with your weight loss program. You do not need to be perfect. Life happens sometimes and as long as you can get back to your fitness program, you are on the right track.

At the same time reward yourself when you achieve your short term goals. Spend a day at the spa getting pampered, buy a new outfit, etc. Toot your own horn every now and then to keep yourself motivated.

Set a plan and go for it by setting realistic goals, creating the goals for the right reasons, focusing on consistent action and encouraging yourself when you meet your goals and also when you fall short.

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