Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 9-4-20

Health
1. You think of yourself as “on a diet.”
If you’re on a diet, you can go off it. This is a major reason diets don’t work: They are tem-
porary. Eating right is for a life- time. You can lose weight eating only cabbage soup, foods that aren’t white or low-calorie, low- fat meals, etc., but if you think that once you lose the weight you can go back to your old ways, you’re sunk.
Fix: Turn your weight loss diet into a learning experience so you can maintain your healthy weight. Learn portion control, for example. Practice creating your own healthy and delicious meals to learn how sat- isfying they can be.
2. You deprive yourself of food.
Unlike booze and cigarettes, which you can live without, you need food for survival. Your body is hardwired to avoid hunger and you can get anxious if you’re, for example, cutting out whole food groups, skipping meals or eating less than 1,200 calories a day. When you’re try- ing to lose weight, stress is not your friend. Studies have found that the hormones your body produces under stress, such as cortisol and insulin, actually make you eat more. Stress also makes you reach for “comfort foods” that are full of fat and sugar... which can be the reason you’ve found that diets don’t work for you.
Fix: Simple: Don’t deprive yourself. All your favorite foods—even your comfort foods—can be tailored to fit on a weight loss diet. Experiment with recipes that scale down fat, sugar and calories on all your fa- vorites for your flex meal options so you’re armed when you’re in
your lifelong maintenance phase. Also, consider learning to meditate or practice relaxation.
3. You try to go it alone.
Self-help is a noble under- taking, but you’ll lose more weight if you do it with the help of others. One study found that people on a structured commer- cial weight loss program lost three times more weight than those who tried to do it solo. Having a cheering section or someone with whom you can share problems and tips can not only help you stay the course, it can help reduce the stress that can cause you to overeat. Plus, if you’ve already convinced your- self that diets don’t work, having a positive buddy along for the ride can be a major boost.
Fix: Support groups and nu- trition counselors are an option to encourage you, offer you good advice and cheer you back on the wagon if you fall off. It's easier to stick with a weight loss plan when you have support, can share tips on diet and exercise
and have an exercise buddy.
4. You aren’t exercising.
While studies have shown that exercise isn’t as important as cutting calories in losing weight, it’s one of four major fac- tors in weight maintenance among the thousands of suc- cessful losers in the National Weight Control Registry, an on- going study of how people keep off the weight they’ve lost. An- other bonus for exercising? Reg- ular low-intensity exercise like walking reduces the stress hor- mone cortisol, which has been linked to overeating... a precur- sor to the whole diets don’t work theory.
Fix: Find an activity you enjoy doing and do it every day. Walking is one of the most con- venient exercises: You can do it anywhere, from your neighbor- hood, the local track or the mall. It requires only one piece of equipment: A good pair of sneakers.
The important thing is to find something active that you love doing so it’s not just an- other dreaded task on your to-do list.
5. You’re a diet perfec- tionist.
Successful maintainers ex- cuse a slip-up now and again and just pick up their healthy choices afterwards. For perfectionists, one extra slice of chocolate cake is a catastrophe that makes them berate themselves for their weakness and quit dieting alto- gether. That “all or nothing” atti- tude is a weight loss killer. It sabotages your efforts in many ways, including convincing you that you can’t possibly lose weight and also eat chocolate, leading to a death spiral of dep- rivation. It’s no wonder these folks assume that diets don’t work.
Fix: Give yourself a break. One mistake is not a catastro- phe. Accept that you’ve strayed a bit from plan and move on. One small slip-up won’t derail your diet but if you throw up your hands in defeat and allow it to escalate to a full-blown binge, it certainly will. Seeing what you’ve eaten every day is a great way to hold yourself accountable.
PAGE 8-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2020