Food Restrictions?
- POSTED ON: Jul 27, 2012

One dieting issue to be faced is the question of whether or not blind restriction is a personally sustainable, long-term strategy.

My own experience says that it isn't, 
and there are many "dieting experts" who say that blind restriction,......
...the belief that if you're trying to manage weight you simply don't eat
nutritionally bereft, but hedonically wonderful foods, (i.e. junk foods), …
...........is one of the reason why there are so many failures in dieting.

For me, personally, thinking that I'm going to live a life where I'm not allowed to take pleasure from food, is unrealistic. I'm working toward the healthiest life that I can enjoy, not the healthiest life that I can tolerate.  This means I work toward eating the smallest amount of bad-for-you-indulgence that I need to enjoy my life, but ….for me…that amount is definitely not "none".

Thus far, all of my efforts to do otherwise have always wound up being an extremely temporary state of being. I admire people who are able to get themselves to successfully function with food in this manner, and I'm open to the possibility, but after a lifetime of dealing with overeating, obesity, and experimenting with every different form of dieting I've ever heard about, I feel fairly certain I'm never going to be one of them.

Here's an amusing video about the difficulties involved in many common food restrictions.

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Time, Patience, and Consistent Effort
- POSTED ON: Jul 25, 2012

Losing weight needs time, patience, and consistency in eating less food than one's body uses. Maintaining weight-loss also requires time, patience, and consistency in eating ONLY the amount of food that one's body uses. The sad fact is that most people give up before they've even barely begun. There are always lots of people starting and giving up diets, and many more coming up behind them to do the same thing.

We are now so used to the instant gratification that comes in so many areas of our modern life, that a part of us can't help but expect it to also apply to the size of our bodies, so we become disenchanted when the first few days of a diet doesn't bring much by the way of a result on the appearance or size of our bodies. It has been such hard work, why hasn't it made any difference?

Dieting needs Time, Patience, and Consistent Effort, three things that are in short supply nowadays. Regrettably many people are just not inclined to participate in the long run, they want results, and they want them NOW. That's just not going to happen.

We can be successful at losing weight, and at maintaining weight-loss
…but only with Time, Patience, and Consistent Effort.

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Perfectionism
- POSTED ON: Jul 22, 2012

 

Perfectionists are those people who strain compulsively and unceasingly toward unobtainable goals.
Pressuring oneself to achieve such unrealistic goals inevitably sets the individual up for disappointment. Perfectionists tend to be harsh critics of themselves when they do not meet the standards they set for themselves.  Negative thinking surrounds perfectionism, in particular the "all-or-nothing" thinking in which a person believes that an achievement is either perfect or useless.

Perfectionism is:

* an all pervasive attitude that whatever you attempt in life must be done letter perfect with no deviation, mistakes, slip-ups or inconsistencies

* the irrational belief that you and/or your environment must be perfect

* a rigid, moralistic outlook that does not allow for humanism or imperfection

* the striving to be the best, to reach the ideal and to never make a mistake

* a habit developed from youth that keeps you constantly alert to the imperfections, failings, and weakness in yourself and others

* a level of consciousness that keeps you ever vigilant to any deviations from the norm, the guidelines or the way things are "supposed to be"

* the underlying motive present in the fear of failure and fear of rejection, i.e., if I am not perfect I will fail and/or I will be rejected by others

* a reason why you may be fearful of success, i.e., if I achieve my goal, will I be able to continue, maintain that level of achievement

* an inhibiting factor that keeps you from making a commitment to change habitual, unproductive behavior out of fear of not making the change "good enough"

* the belief that no matter what you attempt it is never "good enough" to meet your own or others' expectations

Irrational beliefs that contribute to perfectionism:

* Everything in life must be done to your level of perfection, which is often higher than anyone else's.

* It is unacceptable to make a mistake.

* If I have a failure or experience a set back in my efforts to change then I should give up.

* You must always reach the ideal no matter what.

* The ideal is what is real; unless I reach the ideal I am a failure.

* You are a loser if you cannot be perfect.

* It is what you achieve rather than who you are that is important.

* I have no value in life unless I am successful.

* There is no sense in trying to do something unless I can do it perfectly, e.g., "I don't attempt things I can't do well."

* There are so many roadblocks and pitfalls to keep me from succeeding. It is better just to give up and forget my goal.
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Serving Sizes Around the World
- POSTED ON: Jul 21, 2012

I find the information in this graphic: "Serving Sizes Around the World"
to be interesting enough to share here.

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Making Choices
- POSTED ON: Jul 20, 2012

                             
Just as a student should limit extracurricular activities so their schoolwork doesn't suffer,
we need to pick the food we eat carefully so that we don't eat too much.

We live in a society of overabundance.
We have a million choices to make every day.
We need some sort of internal guide or compass to guide us in those choices or we'll get lost.
We must FOCUS and use self-discipline as we make our choices in life.
In the case of eating, we must remember that we can't eat EVERYTHING we desire.

We must prioritize and pick fewer items or smaller portions of the food we want to eat
if we're going to lose weight and maintain that weight loss.

 It's called self-discipline and it's just a part of being a mature adult.

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