Dieting Is Not Easy

Dieting is not easy. It is not fun and can be extremely frustrating. Then why are more than 45 percent of women effectively dieting all the time?

For me, dieting has always been a “phase.” One day, I’ll wake up and be really
motivated to lose weight. I’ll proceed to join the latest fad diet bandwagon and
workout five times a week. That will last for about a month, maybe two, and then
I’m back to eating fast food and lying on the sofa watching Oprah.

Unfortunately, that seems to be all too similar for other women wanting to be
super-model slim. The media pushes an unnatural body type, making it difficult for
us to accept our natural beauty. Did you know that the average American woman is
5’4″ tall and weighs 140 pounds, compared to the average American model, who is
5’11″ tall and weighs 117 pounds? No wonder approximately 7 million girls and
women are struggling with an eating disorder.

Luckily, I have never been one of those women, unless you count feeling the need to
completely clean your plate of food as a disorder. When I was growing up, it was
instilled in my brain. We never ate until we were full; we would eat until we were
completely stuffed and about to pop. Buttered bread? Sure, why not! Dessert? Of
course!

Fortunately for me, I feel like I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel when it
comes to how to diet. Now, I’m not a dieting expert, but the truth is, the best way to
diet is to NOT diet. It’s all about changing your lifestyle. You can’t completely cut
out carbs, sugar or fat, but you can moderate your intake. Get your sugar from an
apple or banana instead of a candy bar, or your carbs from whole grain pasta
instead of a croissant. It’s all about choosing the right food to eat and sticking to it.
Sure, I love the occasional hamburger or chocolate shake, and I’ve learned that I
shouldn’t feel bad for that. If you deprive yourself of the things you love to eat, then
one day you’ll just go crazy and over-indulge in those things.

Exercising has to be the most important part of the lifestyle change. Fifty-nine
percent of adults do not engage in ANY exercise whatsoever, and only 26 percent of
those who do exercise, do it more than three times a week. My main problem with
exercise was that I would get bored with what I was doing. I’ve learned that you
can’t stick to one routine every time, and the best thing to do is to mix it up. One
day I’ll do the elliptical machine; the next I’ll take a yoga or Pilates class. Sometimes
even throwing something simple into your routine like going for a walk or jog is just
what you need to change it up. It’s also great having a workout buddy so that you
both can motivate each other to get out and stick to your exercise plans.

In the end, it all comes down to feeling good about yourself. If you want to know
more, a nutritional expert can help you develop a personal action plan for improving
your eating habits while keeping the fun in food. Personal trainers can also devise a
workout plan that is fit to what you want out of your workout while still keeping it
interesting. The most important advice I can give you is to stop thinking about how
you should go about loosing weight and get out there and do it!

Sarah Anne, a contributor of http://www.AlterMyLife.com

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