Ten pounds by summer?

First and foremost, I have to address the question as posed. How to lose ten pounds by summer?  This is the exact type of thinking that has the entire nation in a never ending cycle of yo-yo dieting. Ten pounds on me wouldn’t even be noticed, whereas ten on my wife would be a huge deal that would certainly cause clothes to fit differently. So rather than put out a non-personable goal for a very personable subject, let’s tailor make that goal for everyone. Rather than give a pound, let’s set a goal in percentage weight loss. 5% body weight loss in 5 weeks is healthier & even sounds better in a title of an article.

LOSE 5% in 5 WEEKS!

A 200 lb (90.72 kg) man would then have the goal of cutting 10 pounds (4.54 kg) in 35 days! Likewise, a 120 lb (54.43 kg) woman would have a goal of dropping 6 lbs in the same time. When looking at the goal this way, it is proportional to the challenger & much healthier physically & psychologically. Then progress of achieving the goal shouldn’t be checked too repetitiously. Dieters then usually want to check the scale daily or multiple times a day! This is an unhealthy behavior that leads to irrational expectations followed by illogical over compensations. Many go without eating until after weighing or increasing energy output when continuous losses are not realized. Compounded by erratic blood sugar levels from this type of behavior soon leads to a spiraling effect of chasing numbers & poor dietary or prolonged exercise sessions. Once a week at the same time of day with the same clothing is more than sufficient to monitor one’s progress without getting sucked into the pitfalls of negative thinking.  In fact, this entire process should not be stress inducing physically nor emotionally. The stress hormone, cortisol, is a huge obstacle of those wanting to lose a few percentages of body weight, which causes catabolic & fluid retention effects. Both of which will make the scale do crazy things, therefore making the mind do crazy things.

Next is the obvious. Eliminating simple sugars & fats in the diet from greasy & fried foods & sweets! Next, hydrating with water constantly throughout the day! Sipping from a straw leads to more water intake, which cuts hunger & flushes toxins from the system, while gets one’s sodium levels to reduce. Doing this will help eliminate fluid retention, lower blood pressure, dropping pounds & inches. Then the most important is increasing activities & exercise that burns stored calories & increase core temperatures, making one sweat! The key is finding an activity that is enjoyable & can be shared with family or friends on a routine basis. The importance of having a busy body buddy is accountability & motivation during times when one might be prone to blow off the regiment if alone.  Guilting a partner or having them egg you on when not feeling like doing it makes the difference in just starting the process & getting into the healthy habits. Usually, doing the behavior or routine consistently for 2 or 3 weeks is how long it takes to become a habit. Ideally, this is what needs to be rewarded more so than the numbers on the scale, inches, or percentages achieved toward your goal! Positive healthy behaviors should be acknowledged & rewarded once a week with what I call a splurge day! That is when you have made a list of the sweets or fried fatty foods abstaining from that you allow yourself to have! Within moderation, of course. This gives you something to look forward to while making it easier to keep away from the rest of the week. Life isn’t ignoring what you like or feeling ashamed when one indulges a bit but learning to control those behaviors and using them to make this a positive experience. 

Once one has this foundation established, the goal needs to be switched from the 5% body weight that was the shallow original goal to maintaining this plan for the rest of your life. The lesson is 5% body weight loss is the start of preventing disease & promoting health for yourself & more importantly for your family members. The key to solving the nation’s healthcare crisis is teaching our children these healthy behaviors so that they are treated like brushing one’s teeth or showering daily. 5% is the start to spark the trends of future generations!