Secrets to Successful Weight Loss - Part 2

Secret #6: Turn off the TV
Time spent watching TV is time spent being completely sedentary (and thus expending minimal amounts of calories) and often eating as well. Most people mindlessly consume snacks while mesmerized in front of the television, not noticing the rapidly multiplying calorie intake. Case in point: The successful NWCR “losers” watched less than 10 hours of television per week.

Secret 7: Retrain Your Brain
Interestingly, most people who have lost and kept off the most weight tend to be “lower left” brained, meaning they are organized, controlled, methodical and disciplined. This is not to say that those of us who thrive on spontaneity or embrace clutter are doomed- it’s just a matter of retraining our brains. Become better organized by writing a grocery shopping list and sticking to it! Plan your workout schedule for the next week and make a promise to stick to it. These efforts will help solidify your lifestyle change and make permanent weight loss more of a reality.

Secret #8: Start Today and Don’t Cheat
It’s easy to put off starting a serious lifestyle change to a later date. Likewise, it’s easy to “cheat” and eat an extra piece of cake her, a pizza there. It’s important to be diligent when attempting to lose weight, because people who don’t cheat on a regular basis are 150% more likely to maintain their weight loss. Adopt a “doable” healthy lifestyle that you can stick with; this will reduce those compelling urges to unwittingly sabotage your weight management success.

Secret #9: Know that Birds of a Feather stick together
A study of 12,067 people followed over 32 years concluded that obesity spreads through social ties. That is, obese people tend to have obese friends. Pairs of friends and siblings of the same sex seem to have the most profound effect on each other’s weight loss. Some researchers suspect that the spread of obesity has a lot to do with an individual’s general perception of the social norms regarding the acceptability of obesity. The logic works like this: If my best friend and my sister are both obese and I love and admire them all the same, then maybe it’s not so bad that I gain a few pounds. You can reverse this psychological phenomenon by inviting pals to work out at the gym or go for a bike ride with them to stay or get fit.

Rebecca LeSaffre is the owner of Lynnfield Boot Camp, and is an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, a Fitness Nutrition Coach and a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. She is qualified to assess what types of exercises will be most beneficial for meeting personal fitness goals, while also helping assure that you use proper form for maximum results and injury prevention. You can contact her via her web site www.lynnfieldbootcamp.com