The 10 Forgotten Rules of Weight Loss

                                  

     Written by: Tony Schober, CPT (Founder, Coach Calorie)
    
                                                  1st Rule: Don't Diet

    It sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, 
but the key to successful long-term 
weight loss is to not diet. Diets have 
end dates. They conjure up images of 
flavorless food, and feelings of hunger 
and deprivation. Don't get me wrong. 
I'm actually a big fan of diets. I think 
they teach you a lot about nutrition, 
and even about yourself. They teach 
you how to determine proper portion 
sizes. They teach you how to count 
calories. They teach you how to deal with your relationship with food.

     However, diets are short-term solutions to long-term problems.

What happens when that diet is over? Are you as lost as you were

when you started? Did you even make it to the end of the diet? Do you

think you could be on this diet for the rest of your life?

The only way to successfully lose weight for the long-term is to

undergo a lifestyle change. It was your lifestyle that got you to where

you are now, and it's your lifestyle that's going to get you to where you

want to be.

     Stop looking at nutrition as a "what am I going to eat on Sunday,

Monday, Tuesday, etc" thing, and start looking at it as a "is this a good,

healthy food choice" thing. Proper nutrition comes from making the

right food choices. Once you get rid of all the processed food in your

diet, the weight loss is a pleasant side effect.

     That's right, weight loss is a sideeffect. Focus on having a goal of

being healthy. Treat nutrition as fuel for your body. Fuel to exercise.

Fuel to build muscle. Fuel to ward off disease, and fuel for every other

1,000,000 functions your body completes.

     Once you start making good food choices and forming healthy habits,

and stop thinking about eating right as an act of restriction, you can

start seeing the bigger picture, and your body will react in kind by

ridding itself of the extra fat and calories it no longer needs.

It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change.