Your Guide to Long-Term Weight Loss

Losing Weight the Right Way

The road to weight management is a long-term commitment. Many people looking to drop weight hope to do so quickly, regardless of the length of time it took to put on the pounds. Losing weight safely and effectively, however, requires time, patience, and dedication. The number of pounds you can safely lose at a time depends on your current weight. Making modi cations to your diet along with increasing your daily physical activity can help you safely achieve and maintain your ideal weight. Before embarking on a weight-loss journey, discuss your goals with your doctor. He or she can also explain some of the big bene ts of reducing your amount of body fat, especially around your middle.

Fitness for Your Heart

A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease. Fortunately, you can do something about it. Regular exercise, especially your heart, but for your bones, balance, and overall well-being. Below are some cardio-friendly exercise ideas.

1. Brisk walking. If it's been awhile since you've been physically active, you'll want to start slow. minutes at night is a great beginning. Research shows that walking for just a couple hours a week can decrease your risk of heart attack or stroke by as much as 30 percent, though many experts recommend building up to a 30-to-60-minute walk health. 2. Jogging. Once you're ready for a greater challenge than a brisk walk provides, jogging is probably the next logical step. A study out of Stanford University School of Medicine reveals that running but can also push back the hands of time, allowing their inactive peers.

3. Jumping rope. but there are plenty of reasons to include skipping rope in your workout routine. For strong. And it can help strengthen your lungs, too. 4. Bike riding. Leave your car at home when running an errand, and ride a bicycle instead. An hour-long excursion on your bike can burn allows you to sustain an elevated heart rate over an extended period of time. The Importance of Stretching With any type of physical activity, stretching is essential. Warming up before helps prepare your muscles for movement and may help prevent injury. Cooling down allows your body to recover and for your heart rate to return to normal. Regular stretching also helps over the long-term.

Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Circumference:

Waist Circumference
This measurement assesses your body weight relative to your height. It's a useful way of measuring body composition because it correlates highly with body fat in most people. To calculate your exact BMI value, multiply your weight in pounds by 703, divide by your height in inches, then divide again by your height in inches. For adults, a body mass index: Over 40 is ned as extremely obese. Over 30 is considered obese. People with BMIs of 30 or more are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. People with BMIs in this range have an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. Between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered healthy. Under 18.5 is considered underweight. Some people with dense muscle mass may have a high BMI score but very little body fat. For them, it may be more accurate to choose waist circumference or another direct method to measure body fat. To measure your waist circumference, place a tape measurer around your waist, at the level of your navel. Your w aist circumference is an indirect indicator of visceral fat. If your BMI is greater than or equal to 25, your goal for waist circumference is less than 40 inches if you're a man and less than 35 inches if you're a woman. A large waist circumference is associated with an increased risk of disease.

Keep Moving
Regular exercise is an important part of long-term weight management. Exercise uses excess calories that would otherwise be stored as fat. Everything you eat contains calories, and everything you do uses calories, including sleeping, breathing, and digesting food. Any physical activity in addition to what you normally do will help burn extra calories, thus decreasing your BMI and waist circumference.

The Right Road to Weight Loss

Now that you understand the importance of physical activity for successful weight management and improved overall health, its time to talk about calorie intake. Reducing the amount of calories you ingest each day can help you reach your goal weight. Try skipping one high-clorie indulgence a day. For example, cut out that bowl of ice cream you normally eat while watching TV, and replace it with a cup of tea, in addition, increase your consumptio of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Also emphasize plant sources of protein, such as beans and lentils. For other sources of protein, choose lean meats and seafood. Slow down. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal that your stomach is full. If you quickly down your food, you may think you're still hungry well before that 20 minutes is up, making it much too easy to keep eating. Try putting your fork down between bites. Not only does slowing down give the brain a chance to catch up to the stomach, it also helps you enjoy the taste and texture of what you're eating. When you enjoy food, you'll be more likely to be satis Spice things up. ful spices, herbs, and garnishes such as basil, cilantro, mint, cinnamon, garlic, pepper, and ginger. The reason? Foods that are intensely stopping after one portion. Spices and herbs are a great alternative to salt, too.

being smart about calories and fat: Go for volume. It may seem counterintuitive, but you can eat more of certain foods and still shed pounds. Foods that get a lot of their volume satisfying than smaller portions of foods packed plate.

The Food Journal Commitment

Its one thing to commit to these dietary improvements, but following through on these promises to yourself can be dif cult. Thats where a food journal comes in.

Why Journaling Works

Experts believe that journaling works for several reasons. According to Linadria Porter, author of Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, journaling helps people become fully aware of the amount of food they are actually consuming in a given day, hour, or week. "So often, eating is an unconscious act. Keeping a log helps bring awareness to the act because now theres a factual document along with accountability. Its a valuable tool, especially for the emotional eater." Be complete, says Alison Massey, RD, CDE, a Registered Dietitian at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. "How the food was preparedwhether it was fried, baked, or grilled makes a big difference when it comes to total calories consumed," she says. "We often forget to count the three tablespoons of oil that we put in the pan to roast the vegetables that we ate for dinner." The calories in foods such as toppings and condiments add up quickly, too, she notes. Accurately document portions, Massey says. People tend to underestimate how much food they are putting on their plates. This might be a good time to get out the measuring cups to double-check your accuracy. And don't just write down chicken or broccoli. Indicate in your journal how much of these you consumed. Pinpoint and review trends. If you don't review your journal, it's really not worth keeping it. Look over the past day, week or month, and youll start to see patterns in your hunger, satiety, and changes to your mood. If you see that youre snacking too often on high fat, high-carb foods, take the time to prepare some healthy snacks that you can eat instead.

Find your very own Food Journal on the next page!

Weve provided a weeks worth of entries for you to ll in, but youre encouraged to print multiple copiesremember, a healthy behavior like keeping a food journal should be considered a long-term habit because long-term habits reap long-term results. And remember these important tips:

My Food Journal
How Does a Food Journal Work?
A food journal, or food diary, is similar to a regular journal or diary. Instead of writing down everything you did on a given day, you enter what you ate that day. The most effective journals are the most comprehensive and include the food (or drink) consumed, the time it was eaten, the amount eaten, calories, and grams of fat. Recording your daily activity is key as well. Remember, even basic chores get you moving and can burn calories. Heres an exerpt from an effective journal entry.

Time
Breakfast 7a.m.

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

4 egg whites, whole-wheat English muffin, 1 cup of coffee, 1 glass of water 1 oz whole, raw almonds Turkey sandwhich on whole wheat, with reduced fat mayo, lettuce and tomato, 2 glasses of water

Calories
68 calories + 120 calories + 2 calories = 200 calories 164 calories

Grams of Fat
0.1g of fat + 1g of fat + 0g of fat = 1.1g of fat 14.4g of fat

Morning Snack 10 a.m. Lunch 12:30 p.m.

450 calories

15.5g of fat

Daily Activity: 1-hour workout at the gym, work, grocery shopping, cooking, 1 hour jog

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity

My Food Journal
Day
Time
Breakfast

Meal, Serving Size, Water Intake

Calories

Grams of Fat

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

Dinner

Evening Snack

Daily Activity