Weight Management

Five Ways to Keep

Those Kilos Away

Compiled by Merilee Kern

As health seekers strategise their diet and fitness approach for the gluttonous holiday seasons and those inevitable New Year’s resolutions beyond, there are a few simple but key considerations that can make all the difference between a successful and even profitable weight loss endeavour, and one that falls far short. Here are a few tactical tips from the experts at HealthyWage.

MAP OUT GOALS You are far more likely to achieve your diet resolutions if you spend a few minutes thinking them through. Sit down at your desk and dedicate a mere 10 minutes of your life to strategise your resolutions. Put pen to paper; or better yet, send an email to a friend or family member with a list of the things you’re going to do to change your weight.

Simply stating ‘I’m going to lose weight’ is not specific enough but it makes a good headline. Write down a date when you will achieve your first goal. This date should be in the near future – one month is a good bet.

Now, make a specific and realistic goal. Most experts agree that you’re more likely to succeed if you don’t starve yourself and plan on losing between half to one kilogramme each week. In fact, setting a modest goal – say, a kilogramme or so a week – can spare you a lot of hunger and stress.

You might even forget you’re on a diet! Suppose you choose three quarters of a kilo every week and a one month deadline, your goal will be about three kilos. A piece of cake (so to speak!). Put that goal and date on your calendar – for example: ‘Weigh 70 kilos on 30 April.’

Go back to your piece of paper or email. Under your goal and date, write down the word ‘food.’ Ask yourself, what exactly is your eating plan? Are you going to follow a particular diet? If so – when are you going to start? Your answer should be ‘right now.’

Don’t be afraid. This is going to be great! If your diet requires that you purchase something or register on a certain website, go and do that right now! How about exercise? What specific days and times will you commit to exercising? Whom will you exercise with? If possible, call a friend now and set something up.

Review your resolutions frequently as you work your way to the goal. When your goal’s date arrives, call a friend either to brag about your achievement or confess that you didn’t achieve it, and tell them what’s going to be different for the next goal date. Now, sit down again (pen to paper or fingers to keyboard), and set a new goal and date. And keep going!

REWARD YOURSELF After you’ve written out your specific goals and dates, your best bet is to build a little structure into them. Enter: prizes and rewards. A significant amount of academic research shows that you are much more likely to achieve your resolution if you include a double financial incentive such as cash to lose if you fail and money to win if you succeed!

The reason money works better than the natural motivators of vanity and health is that it can be tied to specific measurable goals and deadlines. In other words, financial incentives help to avoid procrastination by setting a firm starting date and prevent quitting by establishing a firm goal date. Financial incentives also make weight loss a lot more fun and exciting by transforming the process into a game.

There are fantastic tools and resources available online for setting up financial incentives. For example, HealthyWage allows participants to make various kinds of personal weight loss wagers and win cash payouts of up to US$ 10,000. The double financial incentive is an incredible motivator and a source of structure that most winners say is indispensable.

ONE AT A TIME Trying to stick to more than one resolution creates a willpower diffusion that is almost always a recipe for failure. Your weight loss resolution requires time, planning and lots of action items.

The winding road from plump to sexy is made of many cobblestones that you have to lay down one at a time with lots of small, frequent decisions such as ‘this morning, I am going to skip that second donut.’ With all the good judgement and willpower those little decisions require, you simply won’t have the time and energy for other resolutions. You’re booked solid! If you think your weight loss resolution isn’t that big a deal, you might be off track.

TELL EVERYONE Or at least, tell a few friends or family members about your endeavour. If you’re not willing to tell someone about your diet resolutions, you might not be committed enough to succeed.

When you tell other people about your plans, a magical thing happens. You know that your supporters are waiting to hear news of your success and don’t want to let them down. Some researchers believe that the social element is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.

Plus, it’s important to have support – people to brag to when you succeed and others to talk to when you feel like overeating. Talking is a great antidote to the desire to binge or eat things that could get in the way of your success.

If you’re really determined to achieve your resolution, you should consider taking the social element even further. Try writing a blog about your progress. Not only will your readers help keep you seriously accountable but you may also discover that being a great teacher is one of the best ways to learn and improve your own success.

SEEK FELLOWSHIP Be on the lookout for a dieting partner or group of partners when you tell people about your diet resolutions. When you work on your diet resolutions with a buddy, group of friends or family members, you’re even more likely to accomplish your goals.

You get all the benefits of accountability plus the comfort and fun of knowing there’s someone waiting for you to exercise, compare food and restaurant experiences, and share the ups and downs of dieting.

One study shows that participants who do a weight loss programme with friends are more than twice as likely to keep their weight off as those who try to do it on their own.

With a little bit of planning, some monetary motivation and an accountability-based support system, the next diet you embark upon hopefully will actually lead to healthy lifestyle changes, as well as choices fostering weight loss in the short term and sustained weight management over the long haul.

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