A weight on our minds? (General Weightloss & Healthy Eating Tips)

Name: woolley710

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Product:	General Weightloss & Healthy Eating Tips
Date:	03/06/03 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lose weight sensibly, Feel and look good

Disadvantages: Can take time

Everywhere we go, whatever we read or watch, there is always the pressure to look ?right?. For women, in summary, this means a nice flat stomach, toned limbs, pert breasts and the right sized derriere. For men, a nicely toned six pack, again, toned limbs, and again, a perfectly formed rear.

Of course, we all know that this (unfortunately, in some cases) only applies to a small minority of our population. Hence, we are now living in a society dominated by fast/crash diets and daily doses of images of the perfect body.

As we are all aware this has caused several population-wide problems, especially in young teens, who are constantly striving to look the part. With the increase of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, what is being done to kerb this problem and promote healthy living. Of course there is also the other end of the scale, where people are ?comfort? eating, believing that they have no possible chance of ever ?fitting in?.

As someone who has lost a reasonable amount of weight, (just over 4 stone, doesn?t sound much to some I know), I can sympathise with just about every kind of person out there, those who are overweight, those who are struggling to maintain a healthy diet, those that have/are trying crash diets, and those who comfort eat. However, I am constantly concerned that every type of media is still, after several years of this issue, pushing people from all walks of life to risk their health to look the part.

I have managed to lose the weight, but how long did it take and how did I do it? Two weeks? Three months?? Using various crash diets?? No, it took nearly eighteen months, of reasonably sensible eating. This did not mean that I only ate ?rabbit food? or starved myself for days on end. I simply replaced some snacks with fruit (both fresh and dried), treated myself with the treats I did like if I felt I had done a good job of it, and nearly every weekend, treated myself to a meal out, or
a takeaway. The rest of the time, I ate smaller meals, achieving this in stages, and did not have any crisps or chocolate in the house (difficult when you have children, I know). You may say that this is why it took so long, but I never had intended to lose the weight in the quickest way possible. I wanted to lose it in the healthiest way. I now feel more confident, and am able to still have my treats. Also, due to the fact that I took my time losing the weight, as long as I am reasonably sensible, the weight won?t pile back on again.

A typical day is to start with toast or cereal (I don?t really like having breakfast, but as they say, it is the healthiest start to the day). Mid morning, I will have either fruit, (again, dried or fresh), or one of those muesli or health bars. Some can be really nice, and not taste like hamster food. I am fortunate enough to be able to arrange to have my main meal at lunch time, so it would either be pasta and sauce that I had prepared in batches, or jacket potato, or during the summer, various different salads. I wasn?t overly strict though. I had a little butter on my jacket potatoes, would have some bread with my pasta or salads, and I didn?t use the low fat salad cream alternatives, I just didn?t have as much as usual.

If I was peckish in the afternoon, I would possibly have a small handful of mixed nuts, or if I wanted something sweet, I would have a yoghurt, not necessarily the low fat kind either.

For dinner, I would either have a salad, or sandwiches, followed by a chocolate biscuit, if I had been good during the day.

At first this was difficult, but over quite a short period of time, it got much easier, and I found that as long I could have treats, now and then I was able to continue eating sensibly without feeling the need to binge.

Why am I writing this now? In just one day, I have watched one program and read two separate articles on how to look good for summer
. Sounds familiar, doesn?t it? Every year, especially at this time, there are promotions for losing weight the fast way. Follow this diet and you will lose 14lbs in 10 days. Follow another diet, and you could lose even more! ?Great?, you might think. However, as we are all made aware these diets may or may not work, and even if they do, they may make you feel good for a short time, but what happens when you go back to normal eating habits?? You guessed it, the weight comes back and in some cases you can put even more on.

I know that this is information we already know, but I felt that putting this at the forefront of peoples minds, like I said, especially at this time of year will hopefully make people realise that there are easier and healthier ways to lose the weight, and make sure that it stays off.

So here?s to a healthy, hopefully sunny, and diet-stress free summer!

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