You know that excess weight puts you at risk for serious health problems. To help avoid those risks and prevent disease you may need to set some weight loss plans.
Yes, I hear you ask “But what should my long-term goal be? And what short-term goals should I set to help me get there?” Here’s one thing I do know: you have a way better chance of reaching your goals when you make sure that the weight loss plans that you will use are sensible and reasonable right from the beginning.
Want to know what a number of experts say are guidelines to follow in choosing your weight loss plans and goals.
1. Take a Dose of Realism
Beware of making your long-term weight loss plans more ambitious than they have to be.
For example, if you weigh 170 pounds and your long-term plan is to weigh 120, even if you have not weighed 120 since you were 16 and now you are 45, that may not be a realistic weight loss goal for you.
A good indicator is your BMI (body mass index). It will guide you on how much you need to lose to move closer to an ideal BMI range. That ideal is betwen 19 and 25. Over 25 is POverweight while over 30 is Obese.The higher the number, the more weight (and risk) you carry.
With the BMI you can only change two things: your height and your weight. Your height we’ll assume is poretty well fixed so your option is to change your weight to get back into acceptable BMI range. To do that, you need a sensible weight loss plan that will not jut lose the weight but keep it off, forver.
2. Set appropriate objectives
Using a weight loss plan just for vanity’s sake is psychologically less helpful than losing weight to improve health.
You have made a big step forward if you decide to undergo a weight loss plan that includes exercise and eating right so that you will feel better and have more energy to do something positive in your life.
3. Focus on doing, not losing
Rather than saying that you are going to lose a pound this week, say how much you are going to exercise this week. This would definitely make up of a sensible weight loss plan.
Keep in mind that your weight within a span of a week is not completely in your control, but your behavior is.
4. Build bit by bit
Short-term weight loss plans should not be “pie-in-the-sky.” This means that when you have never exercised at all, your best weight loss plan for this week should be based on finding three different one-mile routes that you can walk next week.
5. Keep up the self-encouragement
An all-or-nothing attitude only sets you up to fail. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fall short of some goals, just look ahead to next week. You do not need to have a perfect record.
After all, self-encouragement should definitely be a part of your weight loss plans. Otherwise, you will just fail in the end.
6. Use measurable measures
Saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to really get serious this week is not a goal that you can measure and should not be a part of your weight loss plan.
This is another reason why you should incorporate exercise on your weight loss plan and focus on it. You should be able to count up the minutes of exercise in order to be successful in your plan.
The bottom line is, people should not make weight loss plans that will only remain as it is, just a plan. They have to put it into action by incorporating goals that will motivate them to succeed.