Dieting, Fitness and You - Can All 3 Live Together?

You may have read all kinds of things about how you can lose pounds in no time at all if you go on this diet or that weight control program. You may even have been on several different diets, with varying degrees of success (or failure). But it is very unlikely that you have been on a diet, lost weight and maintained your new weight for any length of time.

The problem is there are so many diets out there that it is difficult to pick one that is suitable for your own personal circumstances. In any case, a diet that involves eating only very small portions of any kind of food is going to be difficult to keep to in the long term.

Instead, what you might do is make gradual changes to the types of food you eat with the intention of sticking to them for the rest of your life. The diet most likely to work is one that includes lots of things you like along with a wide variety of foods with sufficient nutrients and calories to both make and keep you healthier. 

And dieting is usually only one element of the problem. Another striking feature of modern society is how sedentary we have all become. Many people with weight problems also need to move around more. The best solution to the problem of overweight is to combine a diet you can live with, with a regular exercise program. And one of the easiest ways to exercise is by adopting a more serious approach to an activity everyone takes so for granted they never even think of it as exercise. And that is walking. Walking is easy, can be done anywhere, can make you feel good and can even be a source of inspiration.

You may need to make changes to your eating habits because you eat too much, or because you eat too much of the wrong things. If you consume convenience foods to the exclusion of most other things, these changes will need to be more far reaching.

There are a number of ways walking can complement your dieting and help you lose weight:

1. While you are out walking, you are preoccupied with your surroundings and thinking less about food 2. It is more difficult to walk and eat at the same time 3. If you feel your walk is doing you good, you will be more inclined to want to eat things that also do you good 4. Walking will help you build a healthy appetite

The connection between weight and fitness cannot be overstated. Whilst the test of fitness applied to your walking plan is not the same as that for success in sport, there are some tips you can take from professional sportsmen and women. For example, no-one in training for an important athletics campaign or a tennis championship would allow sporting success to be hindered by unhealthy eating. It is accepted without question that what you eat is an important part of your preparation.

So if you are going to benefit from any fitness program aimed at losing weight, you have to build it around regular routines in a disciplined kind of way that involves healthy eating. This does not mean you cannot eat convenience foods at all. It just means you eat less of them and start eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. And drink less tea and coffee and more water.

Draw up a walking plan and build it around things you enjoy doing, the places you enjoy walking. If you want to lose weight, but have not done any serious exercise for a number of years, start gradually, making sure you can feel your muscles stretch without working them too hard. Then increase the pace gently over a period of time.

In the early days it may be better not to think about losing weight at all. Instead, concentrate on establishing a basic walking plan and get into the walking habit. Then, when you have achieved your early targets, you should feel confident enough to go to the next stage.

Do not expect to lose weight immediately. If the changes you make to your diet are going to be permanent, you need to make those gradually as well. It will take time to acquire new habits and to reach a basic level of fitness. Once this has been achieved, you can demand more of your body knowing it will respond, and it is at this point that you should begin to lose a few pounds.

Who knows, you might even find that you, your diet and a fitness program, can all co-exist in harmony!

Tony Dunne has long been dedicated to helping people combat weight loss and fitness problems. His research has led him to finding one proven weight loss program that is being used with great effect across the world. To get a trial of it, and lose weight without any diet or fitness plan, visit http://www.newweightlossremedy.com

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