Dieting is a process as much to do with the mind as with the body. When you body is to be reshaped, remember that many of your attitudes, ideas and thoughts have also to be reshaped. Some facts have to be learnt, some realities faced, some myths discarded and some new attitudes adopted.
First, while dieting, it is important to remember that it is always appetite and not hunger that has to be controlled. What is the difference between the 2? Suppose someone offers you your favourite sweet or ice-cream when you have had a full meal and you jump at the offer. Here it is your appetite that tempted you and not your hunger.
Hunger is when you have missed a meal or it is much delayed and you’re feeling very weak and beginning to hear your stomach rumble demandingly. Hunger refers to this basic need of the body – so don’t try to ignore it.
But appetite has to be controlled. One good idea is to make a list of the appetizing foods (from your viewpoint) and keep them out of the house while dieting.
Also try to keep them out of your sight when you are out shopping or walking – especially along streets lined with bakeries, restaurants, fast-food centers or eateries. They are all danger points! Don’t even look to see from where those aromas are coming!
Women are vulnerable to certain temptations during their dieting efforts. It may be just an unconscious habit, but they have the tendency to help themselves to tidbits while cooking, while feeding children or while laying or clearing the table.
So if you are a homemaker trying to slim, tell yourself strictly that no food will go into your mouth unless you are sitting at the table with your meal before you.
Another tendency is for women to eat what the baby has left or what is left if a special dish – after all the party guests have left because “you can’t bear to waste food.” This is a mere excuse. You are only deceiving yourself, by rationalizing your behavior.
Again people – men and women – tend to excuse their eating of that extra food, that second or third helping at someone house, because it was offered by someone who would feel bad or hurt if they didn’t accept it. This kind of rationalization only harms you.
It is important therefore to be fully sincere, to accept responsibility for yourself and to act accordingly instead of making excuses and shifting the blame onto someone else.
Binge eating
Something to be very careful about while dieting is binge-eating. What’s binge-eating? Your dieting is going along fine, you’ve fallen into a well-disciplined routine. Then suddenly one day your self-control slips. You find yourself eating not just that extra spoon or just one small helping of that ice-cream or cake or kheer, but after that you start on all the appetizing foods in sight. Sudden uncontrolled eating of large quantities – this is binge-eating.
Generally, this happens when you are feeling frustrated or depressed – maybe because your dieting is not showing the results you want, or you are angry about something, or just because you are alone and bored. In any of these moods you may start binge-eating.
So when you see warning signals of these moods overtaking you, take precautions. One good idea is to go out and indulge in some rigorous physical activity. Or you could go for an outing or take up some work like gardening or reading. You could play some game, indoor or outdoor too. It’s important that the work should be something that is enjoyable, something that will absorb your attention and bring you out of the dangerous mood that might lead to the binge. Psychologists say that mood-changing tactics are the best solution in such situations.
Eat consciously
One means of successful dieting is to slow down your eating. This is because the faster you eat during the course of a meal, the more food you‘ll consume. Also eat consciously, i.e. concentrating on what you’re eating. For instance, if you rapidly gulp down food while watching TV, it is likely that you won’t remember what you’ve eaten at all! As a result, you might go and get yourself some more food!
Take small helpings of food when you are eating at someone’s house or at a wedding. Then you can have the luxury of a second or even third helping, without feeling any guilt.
If you have a craving for certain foods – buy them in small packets. If you buy a big pack, you won’t be able to stop eating until the whole pack is over. But when a small pack is over, there is an interval of time before you buy the next pack. And maybe the effort of having to go and buy another packet might put you off the whole idea.
An important psychological factor in dieting is – compliments. When a friend or relation who hasn’t seen you since you began dieting meets you a few days or weeks afterwards, he/she might compliment you on your reduced weight. That compliment will really boost and encourage you and make you feel that all your efforts have been worth the while. So, when someone you know is dieting and you use the slightest results – don’t forget to compliment the person and keep on the encouragement till he/she has reached his/her target.
To succeed in anything, you must be consistent. A few days of crash dieting or sudden bursts of vigorous exercise are ultimately of little help. Sometimes it may happen that even when you re gong along fine, suddenly for some reason, your self-control slips and you go on a binge. Or at a party or wedding you acquiesce, as someone keeps piling food on your plate.
When you fail
The first reaction a little while later after the event is to feel guilt, anger and a sense of failure. You think that what has happened is disaster and that it means the end of all your slimming efforts. No – that’s the wrong attitude. We’re all human and are prone to give in to temptation. Especially in as sensitive an area as food and drink. Being a perfectionist will only lead to disappointment.
Therefore, instead of throwing up your hands in despair after such an episode, just scold yourself well, try to make up for your mistake and firmly determine not to slip again.
Above all, learn to be realistic and practical before setting up your targets and time-frames. The number of kilos you want to shed and the kind of figure you want, should be possible to achieve without any detriment to your health. After a certain limit, if your body can’t reduce, then happily accept it as it is, instead of becoming unhappy or disappointed.
It is important to note that while slimming that what matters is not reducing the number of meals but the total calorie intake over each 24 hours. If you can split up that intake into a routine of meals that is convenient for you, that is fine.
Above all, have a positive attitude and optimism throughout your dieting period. Don’t worry about minor setbacks. Learn to wait with patience for results to appear. And when the long dreamt of results come in the form of slim, new figure, learn to maintain it that way.
Also read : Dieting- Myths and Facts / Will yourself slim
(Contributed by K.T. Shastry)
First, while dieting, it is important to remember that it is always appetite and not hunger that has to be controlled. What is the difference between the 2? Suppose someone offers you your favourite sweet or ice-cream when you have had a full meal and you jump at the offer. Here it is your appetite that tempted you and not your hunger.
Hunger is when you have missed a meal or it is much delayed and you’re feeling very weak and beginning to hear your stomach rumble demandingly. Hunger refers to this basic need of the body – so don’t try to ignore it.
But appetite has to be controlled. One good idea is to make a list of the appetizing foods (from your viewpoint) and keep them out of the house while dieting.
Also try to keep them out of your sight when you are out shopping or walking – especially along streets lined with bakeries, restaurants, fast-food centers or eateries. They are all danger points! Don’t even look to see from where those aromas are coming!
 |
| Keep appetizing foods out of the house while dieting. |
Women are vulnerable to certain temptations during their dieting efforts. It may be just an unconscious habit, but they have the tendency to help themselves to tidbits while cooking, while feeding children or while laying or clearing the table.
So if you are a homemaker trying to slim, tell yourself strictly that no food will go into your mouth unless you are sitting at the table with your meal before you.
Another tendency is for women to eat what the baby has left or what is left if a special dish – after all the party guests have left because “you can’t bear to waste food.” This is a mere excuse. You are only deceiving yourself, by rationalizing your behavior.
Again people – men and women – tend to excuse their eating of that extra food, that second or third helping at someone house, because it was offered by someone who would feel bad or hurt if they didn’t accept it. This kind of rationalization only harms you.
It is important therefore to be fully sincere, to accept responsibility for yourself and to act accordingly instead of making excuses and shifting the blame onto someone else.
Binge eating
Something to be very careful about while dieting is binge-eating. What’s binge-eating? Your dieting is going along fine, you’ve fallen into a well-disciplined routine. Then suddenly one day your self-control slips. You find yourself eating not just that extra spoon or just one small helping of that ice-cream or cake or kheer, but after that you start on all the appetizing foods in sight. Sudden uncontrolled eating of large quantities – this is binge-eating.
Generally, this happens when you are feeling frustrated or depressed – maybe because your dieting is not showing the results you want, or you are angry about something, or just because you are alone and bored. In any of these moods you may start binge-eating.
So when you see warning signals of these moods overtaking you, take precautions. One good idea is to go out and indulge in some rigorous physical activity. Or you could go for an outing or take up some work like gardening or reading. You could play some game, indoor or outdoor too. It’s important that the work should be something that is enjoyable, something that will absorb your attention and bring you out of the dangerous mood that might lead to the binge. Psychologists say that mood-changing tactics are the best solution in such situations.
Eat consciously
One means of successful dieting is to slow down your eating. This is because the faster you eat during the course of a meal, the more food you‘ll consume. Also eat consciously, i.e. concentrating on what you’re eating. For instance, if you rapidly gulp down food while watching TV, it is likely that you won’t remember what you’ve eaten at all! As a result, you might go and get yourself some more food!
Take small helpings of food when you are eating at someone’s house or at a wedding. Then you can have the luxury of a second or even third helping, without feeling any guilt.
If you have a craving for certain foods – buy them in small packets. If you buy a big pack, you won’t be able to stop eating until the whole pack is over. But when a small pack is over, there is an interval of time before you buy the next pack. And maybe the effort of having to go and buy another packet might put you off the whole idea.
An important psychological factor in dieting is – compliments. When a friend or relation who hasn’t seen you since you began dieting meets you a few days or weeks afterwards, he/she might compliment you on your reduced weight. That compliment will really boost and encourage you and make you feel that all your efforts have been worth the while. So, when someone you know is dieting and you use the slightest results – don’t forget to compliment the person and keep on the encouragement till he/she has reached his/her target.
To succeed in anything, you must be consistent. A few days of crash dieting or sudden bursts of vigorous exercise are ultimately of little help. Sometimes it may happen that even when you re gong along fine, suddenly for some reason, your self-control slips and you go on a binge. Or at a party or wedding you acquiesce, as someone keeps piling food on your plate.
When you fail
The first reaction a little while later after the event is to feel guilt, anger and a sense of failure. You think that what has happened is disaster and that it means the end of all your slimming efforts. No – that’s the wrong attitude. We’re all human and are prone to give in to temptation. Especially in as sensitive an area as food and drink. Being a perfectionist will only lead to disappointment.
Therefore, instead of throwing up your hands in despair after such an episode, just scold yourself well, try to make up for your mistake and firmly determine not to slip again.
 |
| After a certain limit, if your body can’t reduce, then happily accept it as it is |
It is important to note that while slimming that what matters is not reducing the number of meals but the total calorie intake over each 24 hours. If you can split up that intake into a routine of meals that is convenient for you, that is fine.
Above all, have a positive attitude and optimism throughout your dieting period. Don’t worry about minor setbacks. Learn to wait with patience for results to appear. And when the long dreamt of results come in the form of slim, new figure, learn to maintain it that way.
 |
A positive attitude and optimism can easily result in the long dreamt of slim, new figure. |
(Contributed by K.T. Shastry)
Great post! Personally I believe portion control is key
ReplyDeleteDining while viewing can make you take in 40 percent more calories than usual
ReplyDeleteAnd texting, driving, or any other distracting activity during a meal can also result in your eating too much. Instead, make each meal something you put on a plate and sit down to, even if you're eating solo.
Fruit has no fat and is mostly water, so it'll fill you up while leaving less room on your plate (and in your stomach) for high-cal fare. Don't freak about fruit's carb count — we're talking the good kind of carbohydrates that contain lots of healthy fiber.
ReplyDelete