| Patrick Henry once said, "I have but one lamp by | | | | what you eat, especially when you have excess |
| which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of | | | | fat to burn. Keep your furnace burning from |
| experience. I have no way of judging the future | | | | morning to night by spreading the day's calories |
| but by the past." Fortunately for us, there are | | | | out over the course of the entire day. |
| millions of people who have gone before us | | | | Mistake #6: Being unaware of what you are |
| attempting to lose fat and/or weight, each with | | | | eating. Be familiar with the ingredients and the |
| varying degrees of success. We can learn from | | | | way your food is prepared. A fried chicken |
| their collective experiences and gain enlightenment, | | | | breast, skin on, breaded and fried can yield about |
| or insight, into our own weight loss plans. | | | | eleven grams of fat. The same chicken breast |
| Over the next several paragraphs we're going to | | | | with the skin removed and no breading - but still |
| review things that have been reported as "weight | | | | fried - yields only two and a half grams of fat. |
| loss mistakes". Take some time to read each one | | | | The battered breast has about 220 calories, while |
| and compare/contrast them with your own | | | | the non-battered skinless version has less than |
| personal weight loss plan. | | | | 100. That's an amazing difference! Over two |
| Weight loss and fat loss success is the result of | | | | times the number of calories and four times the |
| making the right adjustments and living with them. | | | | amount of fat! |
| Quite possibly some of the adjustments you've | | | | Mistake #7: Making candy and snack foods a part |
| made may need to be reconsidered. | | | | of your hospitality. Bowls of M&M's are my |
| Mistake #1: Expecting to lose weight too quickly. | | | | personal weakness. I used to work in an office |
| We've talked about this in earlier issues. We can | | | | where my administrative assistant would keep |
| spend years messing up relationships and expect | | | | bags of the variegated nuggets of pleasure ready. |
| them to be healed or repaired after sincerely | | | | Every pass by her desk was rewarded with |
| saying, "I'm sorry." What is it about humans that | | | | another handful of the miniature waistline |
| we think that things should be a certain way just | | | | destroyers. In retrospect, I can visualize a change |
| because we want it to be? It takes years to get | | | | taking place in my own physique. Make sure you |
| out of shape and overweight. It will take a long | | | | aren't subverting your own attempts to control |
| time to lose the weight and get back into shape. | | | | what you eat. Even seemingly innocuous snack |
| Patience is a key to making life-long changes for | | | | foods can cause a world of damage. Try to keep |
| the better. | | | | fresh fruit available. Apples, bananas, oranges, |
| Mistake #2: Adopting a plan that is not sustainable | | | | pears, peaches and others are typically available |
| over the course of your lifetime. This mistake is | | | | nearly year around. |
| two-fold in nature. The first aspect is creating a | | | | Mistake #8: Relying upon "fat free foods". A |
| habit that is unreasonable to continue long term. | | | | common mistake is to assume that "fat free" |
| Some examples would be the tabloid diets you | | | | means that the item is good for you, healthy, or |
| read about in the line at the grocery store. | | | | low in calories. Fat free simply means that there is |
| Grapefruit diets, cabbage diets, chicken soup diets. | | | | no fat. Fat is usually pleasant in taste and adds a |
| We need variety in our lives. Thinking that we can | | | | nice texture to food. If it has been removed, |
| forego that variety forever is a recipe for failure. | | | | pause for a second to consider what has been |
| The second aspect is thinking that the lifestyle | | | | put in its place. Is the fat replacement high in |
| that we are adopting is only short term and that | | | | calories? Is it a chemical? Will my body be able to |
| we'll go back to our previous lifestyle when our | | | | metabolize it? |
| weight is gone. Our previous lifestyle IS the | | | | Mistake #9: Dressing up the "right" foods with the |
| problem; the new lifestyle is the solution. We need | | | | "wrong" things. The classic example is the salad. |
| to adopt a lifestyle that will become, literally, a | | | | The seemingly innocent plate of assorted greens |
| style of life for us. | | | | couldn't possibly do any damage. Ah, but then we |
| Mistake #3: Neglecting to be quantity-conscious. | | | | blanket it with mayonnaise or oil-based dressings, |
| This is really a huge issue. At every meal we | | | | cheese, croutons, or bacon bits, and voila... we |
| need to scrutinize the amount of food we serve | | | | have created a monster. Salads are not the only |
| ourselves and limit ourselves to a single serving. If | | | | well-intentioned meals that can stick around longer |
| we put too much food on our plate, chances are | | | | than we have planned. Low calorie sandwiches can |
| we're going to eat it... whether we need it or not. | | | | become high-fat meals with the addition of only a |
| Using smaller plates make it easier to avoid | | | | modest amount of mayonnaise. A tablespoon of |
| serving up too much food. Don't let someone else | | | | "light" mayonnaise can have as much as FIVE |
| serve for you. Make sure you serve yourself so | | | | grams of fat! |
| that you can control the quantity. | | | | Mistake #10: Not eating enough. This mistake is |
| Mistake #4: Choosing the wrong places to eat out. | | | | saved for last for a reason. Most of us are not in |
| Eating out is the "mine field" in the battle of the | | | | this category. We are not talking about skipping |
| bulge. Every step you take needs to be | | | | breakfast here; we are talking about starvation |
| measured and selected carefully. If you select a | | | | diets. This insidious type of dieting is both |
| fast-food restaurant, make sure they have low | | | | dangerous and counterproductive. The person |
| calorie options available. A grilled chicken sandwich | | | | using this method will typically see a quick loss of |
| without mayonnaise, or a salad with a very light | | | | mostly water weight and get the feeling that |
| dressing and water can be a safe fast-food meal. | | | | they are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, the |
| Treating yourself to the "mega-burger" dripping | | | | health risks are very severe. This kind of dieting |
| with sauce and a small diet soda can set you | | | | can bring on cardiac damage, gout, gallstones, |
| back an entire week or two. Avoid a buffet or | | | | anemia and not only that... it actually slows your |
| smorgasbord. It's human nature to overeat at | | | | metabolism. When the starvation dieter finally |
| one of those places. Enough said? | | | | gives up, the weight typically comes back with a |
| Mistake #5: Avoiding eating breakfast. Your body's | | | | vengeance! |
| metabolism goes to sleep at night when you | | | | Hopefully we've touched on something that you |
| sleep. While the alarm clock may wake you up, it | | | | can identify in your routine that needs to be |
| is breakfast that wakes up your metabolism. It's | | | | adjusted or, at the very least, contemplated. |
| easy to justify skipping breakfast if you think only | | | | Mistakes can be rather helpful, as long as we're |
| about total calories over the course of a day. | | | | not making them ourselves! |
| Unfortunately, what you burn is as important as | | | | |