Setting Realistic Weight Loss Goals

If losing weight has been a lifelong struggle, you may get to the point when you are ready to throw in the towel. No matter how overwhelming the fight against those excess pounds is, you can’t give up.

 

When you take off the extra weight, not only will you feel better about your appearance, but more importantly, you will feel better physically. Taking care of your body is the best health insurance policy. Setting realistic weight loss goals and finding a way to reach them can happen if you know where to begin.

Set Realistic Goals for Yourself

As you begin your journey to significant weight loss that lasts, you need to be reasonable about your goals. You didn’t put your weight on overnight. It’s not going to go away in a day either.

 

Crash dieting, diet pills, and extreme fitness regimens may result in rapid weight loss, but you won’t be able to maintain such a pace. Worse yet, you could do considerable damage to your health. A safe amount of weight loss is an average of one to two pounds a week.

 

If you drop significant amounts in a short period of time, you will be placing a strain on your body. You’re also more likely to lose muscle along with the fat. As you replace muscle, you’ll gain weight. As you gain weight, you’ll go back to the old habits that put you in a difficult situation in the first place.

 

Instead, set realistic weight loss goals. For example, shoot for eight to ten pounds a month. As the weight starts to come off, you’ll be motivated to keep at it for the long haul.

 

Be prepared for those times when you may seem to plateau and be stuck at a certain weight. It means it’s time to make adjustments in what you are doing. You’ll get there. Slow and steady will win the race in the end when you are finding a way to reach your realistic weight loss goals.

 

Begin with Baby Steps

 

Go easy on yourself. Start with small, manageable changes that you can handle. If you try to bite off more than you can chew, you are setting yourself up for failure.

 

When it comes to exercise, start with walking. It’s low impact and you can do it inside or outside. Your first walk might only be ten minutes long. Give yourself credit. You are doing something about your weight and your body is moving.

 

Try adding ten more minutes to your walk each week until you put in an hour a day. See if you can squeeze in two hours a day. It’s a form of exercise that relieves stress, isn’t too intense, and is easy to do. You can pick up the pace, carry water bottles or hand weights, and try inclines when you are ready for a challenge.

 

Squeeze exercise into your day in surprising ways. It could be as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Get up out of your office chair every fifteen minutes or so and walk around the office. Park your car a few blocks from your workplace. Walk the dog. Call up a friend and go for a hike. Be open to invitations to go out dancing. Do anything that will get you on the go.

 

While you’re busy moving, stay hydrated. If you drink eight to ten glasses of water a day, you’ll help yourself when you’re finding ways to reach your weight loss goals. Make it ice water for even better results. You’ll feel full and you’ll put your body to work warming up, burning calories along the way.

 

Practice portion control and try having four to six meals that are small, filling your plate with healthy options. Fill up on fresh vegetables and fruits. Don’t have a bedtime snack and get a solid eight hours of sleep each night. You’ll see the pounds start to melt away.

 

Explore All of Your Weight Loss Options

 

When you’ve had it up to here with exercise videos and diets that have failed you, you need to look into other alternatives. If you are considerably overweight and nothing else is working, you can opt for weight loss surgery when finding a way to reach your weight loss goals.

 

You have choices when it comes to surgery, from Lap-Band surgery, to a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass. Each option has advantages and disadvantages. You need to do your homework to decide which is most practical for you. Your doctor will help you to decide as well.

 

Your medical history, and risk factors, and your current health will all be taken into account. In most cases, physicians will want to start with the least involved procedure, such as the Lap-Band, which places an adjustable band around the upper portion of your stomach to reduce the amount of food you’ll eat at one sitting, while also making you feel full.

 

This option is ideal if you are not willing to permanently alter your stomach or your body is not strong enough to handle a more involved procedure. Your bariatric surgeon will help you identify the right procedure for you. If you’ve consistently set realistic weight loss goals for yourself that you are having trouble meeting, it may be time to explore surgical weight loss options.

 

Contact Olde Del Mar Surgical to discuss all of your options with the compassionate team of professionals who want to help you in finding ways to reach your weight loss goals.

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