The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) has something to report about successful dieters. These 5 secrets will help you to understand what successful dieters do to keep it off once they get it off.
GOAL
People who have achieved lasting weight loss have a deeper goal. They often have a hope beyond looking slim in the mirror. It may be to avoid chronic health issues, to live longer to enjoy children and grandchildren, to compete in a health competition, to transform for an upcoming milestone birthday. Whatever it is, identifying an intrinsic goal helps dieters succeed in the long-term.
BREAKFAST
The NWCR says that people that have lost at least 30lbs. and kept it off for a least a year have one important daily habit that they share - they have a morning meal every day. So many people skip breakfast and it's always amazing to me. It's like getting in your car and attempting to drive it all day on a 1/8 tank of gas. Research says that changing this one thing and adding this one habit to your routine each morning is a healthy strategy for controlling insulin and jump starting your metabolism.
TV
In order to allow for more time to move, stretch, and walk, NWCR says that long-term losers watch less than 10 hours of television per week.
WEIGH
Tweaking their eating and exercise habits comes easily to them because they weigh themselves about once per week in order to maintain if their weight starts to creep up.
DAILY
Successful losers registered in the NWCR that have kept the pounds off for five years or longer move a lot after losing weight, exercising for about 60 minutes a day on average. The most common exercise is walking and the key is every day.
TIP: Walking gives you great benefits whether you do all 60 minutes at once or break it up into smaller chunks throughout the day.
Here in Eureka Springs, there’s plenty you can do to switch up your day-to-day walk, whether it’s popping into the shops downtown, taking the stairs all over town, exercising by walking your dog or collecting your children from school or daycare .
Try to change the variables of your walk, too by adding intervals one day (alternating periods of high and lower intensity effort) or go for a longer walk at a steady pace the next day, or add in some weights that you can carry so you increase your calorie burn and challenge different muscles.
Whatever you choose to do, consider these five secrets and be sure to move for at least 60 minutes each day.
If you rest, you rust.