Help In Preventing Your Diet Discouragement*
One of the biggest failures of the weight loss industry is that many plans don’t teach participants how to make lifelong changes. They focus on rapid shedding of pounds, often triggering an inevitable nosedive back into forbidden foods – hence, the lost weight is simply regained, leaving the dieter feeling disillusioned and discouraged.
No matter what type of diet plan you are following (or plan to follow in the near future), it is vital to approach it from a balanced, realistic
state of mind. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you can follow a magical plan, drop the weight, and then return to your former eating habits. That’s a sure recipe for failure.
Instead, view your diet as a lifelong process of making wiser choices that will benefit your body in many positive ways, including shedding excess fat.
Below are a few helpful ways to do that:
1) Avoid making radical changes all at once.
As tempting as it may be to empty your kitchen cupboards and start from scratch, most people don’t have strong enough willpower to instantly change their eating habits from totally bad to perfectly good. Instead, strive to make more moderate changes gradually. If you are following a specific diet plan that doesn’t allow modifications, at least cut yourself a little bit of slack for the days when you might backslide into old habits.
2) Don’t worry about tomorrow and the next day.
Rather than worrying about how you will ever stick to your diet tomorrow and the next day and the next day and beyond, try not to put yourself under so much pressure. As tempting as it may be to control every little aspect of your weight loss journey, it’s not possible to do it all right now. Even more importantly, it’s impossible to predict and plan for the challenges you may face in the near future, so there is no sense worrying or obsessing about them.
3) Focus on what you can do right now.
Today is the only thing you have the power to change. Today, you can do your best to stick to your diet plan. Today, you can make sure to squeeze in that workout, even if you are busy. Today, you can feel proud of yourself for making some positive lifestyle changes that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Everything else will take care of itself.
These three small steps can do wonders in preventing diet discouragement, and help you to stay committed to your weight loss goals for the long haul.
The key lies in moderate changes, patience, and unwavering belief in yourself.
* http://tipstoburnstomachfat.com/dieting/help-in-preventing-your-diet-discouragement
Good News For Discouraged Dieters?*
CDC Research Says Maintaining Weight Loss Is Not All That Uncommon
(WebMD) Finally, some good news for disheartened dieters led to believe that the pounds they lose are destined to return: Far from being impossible, new research from the CDC suggests that maintaining weight loss is not all that uncommon.
Almost six out of 10 people who reported losing substantial amounts of weight successfully kept most of the weight off over a year's time in the study, published in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The finding is encouraging, and it suggests that weight maintenance is doable, CDC medical epidemiologist Edward C. Weiss, M.D., tells WebMD.
The CDC researchers used data from an ongoing national health study in an effort to better understand why some people who shed pounds maintain their weight loss and others do not. The new analysis included 1,310 adult study participants who reported weighing at least 10% less than their maximum lifetime weight a year before being interviewed. It was not clear from the data if the weight loss was due to dieting.
The researchers found that nearly 60% of the participants maintained their weight loss, gaining 5% or less of their weight back, while 33% reported more than a 5% weight gain.
People who lost the most weight tended to gain more back, with those losing 20% of more of their body weight more likely to regain than those who lost less than 15% of their highest weight.
One possible explanation is that those who lost larger percentages of their maximum weight may have had to make greater lifestyle changes that are difficult to incorporate and sustain, the researchers write. Another possibility is that those who lose larger amounts of weight may not be as concerned about relatively small regains.
Not surprisingly, people who didn't exercise regularly or who reported spending more leisure hours in front of a television or computer were associated with a higher likelihood of regaining weight. And Mexican-Americans were more likely than non-Hispanic whites or blacks to regain the weight they lost. A larger percentage of Mexican-Americans are
overweight or obese than non-Hispanic whites (72% vs. 63%), but the CDC study is the first to suggest a difference between the two groups with regard to regaining lost weight.
Because Mexican-Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity compared to non-Hispanic whites, more research on the factors influencing weight regain in Mexican-Americans is needed, the researchers write.
Weiss says many of the findings in the new report are consistent with those from the National Weight Control Registry, a database of more than 5,000 people who lost large amounts of weight and kept the weight off for at least a year.
Annual surveys of registry members offer important clues about how to maintain successful weight loss. Among the key findings from different surveys:
1. Successful maintainers tend to make changes to their diets that they can live with long term, rather than making major changes that are harder to sustain, and most combined calorie restriction with regular exercise.
2. Most registry members report eating breakfast every day.
3. More than half reported that they limited TV watching to less than 10 hours a week — less than half the TV viewing time of the average American.
4. Most reported weighing themselves regularly, either daily or two or three times a week.
*http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/05/health/webmd/main2890202.shtml
Overcoming Discouragement by Francis Frangipane* (Edited)
The Jews had been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar and, because of their long and extended rebellion to God, the Lord allowed them to be exiled to Babylon. Yet, now their appointed time of judgment had passed; it was time for the Lord's promise to be fulfilled. Indeed, He had assured them, "After seventy years...I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place" (Jeremiah 29:10 KJV).
Initiated by the fasting and prayer of the prophet Daniel, Israel had entered a season of divine visitation: men with both integrity and vision were raised up and financial provisions came. The display of divine grace had created an atmosphere of awe and excitement among the people of God - He was "causing [them] to return" to Israel!
It was a time of great miracles, supernatural provision and fulfilled prophecy. Yet even as the exiles resettled in Jerusalem and engaged in the work of restoration, we read: "Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia" (Ezra 4:4-5).
Incredibly, in spite of the miracles, signs and provisions, simple discouragement neutralized their progress. Unbelievably, scholars say that their work stalled for nearly 20 years! Beloved, discouragement is an enemy that is both subtle in its attack and powerful in its ability to stop us. We must discern it when it comes and refuse to accommodate its influence when it speaks.
How Discouragement Enters- Every person with a vision from God will have serious opportunities to become discouraged as they reach for the fulfillment of their vision.
Indeed, just as Israel was given a promise from God and provisions to help their return, so the Almighty has given promises and provisions to us. Your vision may be for your personal transformation, or it may be a God-inspired desire to see your family or church brought into spiritual renewal. Yet, like the Jews, we can be just as vulnerable to discouragement and its effects.
How does discouragement gain access to our souls? The answer is simple: We start evaluating our lives based upon information compiled by our senses instead of assessing our position based upon the promise and help of God. However, I don't mean we are unaware of the difficulties of our faith assignment, but that God is good and He is not hindered by our present limitations.
Consider: when God promised Abraham a child in his old age, the Bible says he "contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb." Abraham didn't deny the facts of life; without growing weak in faith, he "contemplated" his situation. "Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God." He was "fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform" (see Romans 4:19-21). Discouragement comes when we only look at our circumstances without looking to the faithfulness and integrity of what God has promised.
Still, discouragement has infiltrated the minds of many. Knowing mankind's vulnerability to discouragement, Jesus taught His disciples a parable that, "at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1). The parable concerned a widow desperately seeking legal protection from an adversary, but she received no immediate help from her judge (see Luke 18). In spite of his resistance, however, she refuses to be discouraged from her quest; she persists until she gains her breakthrough.
The goal of Christ's teaching was to immunize His followers from discouragement; to "lose heart" is to become discouraged. Jesus assures us that God will hear us as we turn to Him in persistent prayer.
True Faith Takes Courage - We also need to know Christ is not just our Savior, but He also is the "author and perfecter" of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). In order for faith to mature, it needs situations where faith alone can sustain us. "Faith" is not merely a proper understanding of doctrinal issues; faith is the spiritual "substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1 KJV). We must not only possess accurate doctrines about faith; we must live by faith as well.
Indeed, there are times when, for faith to develop, we must trust God in spite of how things appear. Jesus often told people to take courage, for their faith had saved them (see Matthew 9:2; 9:22; etc.). There will always be times when, against the glaring face of a negative reality, true faith arises, appropriates courage and locks into the integrity of God's promise. We must let faith arise in the context of resistance. This is the faith that touches God's heart.
The enemy comes to discourage or remove the courage from our hearts, and thus causes us to withdraw into unbelief. To win our fight of faith, we must not surrender to discouragement. Yes, times will come when we will ask God for greater wisdom; certainly, we will adjust our attitudes and become both flexible and wiser as we process the faith assignment destiny has set before us. But we must not give up. We must fight. You say, "But Francis, I'm weary."
Yes, there are times when we all get weary. But we have the help of God with us. Consider His promise:
"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations...He will not be disheartened or crushed..." (Isaiah 42:1-4).
Christ will be not "disheartened or crushed." Why? The Spirit of God "upholds" Him, and the Spirit of God upholds Christ in us as well. Are you God's servant? Then turn to Him and find new strength. You may be wounded or struck, but as we abide in Christ, we too will be neither "disheartened or crushed."
Dear one, there is a spiritual war raging, whether it is over the future of our world or the future of our souls, we cannot shrink back into unbelief. Let us be strong and of good courage. Let us seek God and find new strength in prayer. And let us never give in to the voice of discouragement.*http://www.intercession.addr.com/teaching/005_francis_frangipane.php
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