Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to lose weight, the whole world seems to be against you? Fattening food seems to be everywhere, often offered to you for free. Physical activity seems to be a luxury you can hardly afford to fit into your daily schedule. Sometimes it just seems so unfair, doesn’t it?
To be honest, I’ve never been very overweight. But as the years have sneaked by I’ve accumulated a few extra pounds here and there, and I realized that if I didn’t arrest the trend a few extra pounds added on each year could eventually add up to and unhealthy me.
So when I started a new job about a year ago that offered me a free gym membership and paid time off to exercise, I had no excuse not to try and get a little healthier. So far I’ve lost about 10 pounds in a little less than a year by following a pretty simple plan – eat less and move more. The idea is a simple one, but you’d probably agree that the execution is anything but.
We live in a world that is awash in food, and most of it seems to be high in calories and low in nutrition. Walk through a grocery store and it seems like the chips, cookies, ice cream, and red meat just jumps into your cart. Every restaurant menu seems to be loaded with delicious, fattening food that comes in oversized portions. And any time you go to a social gathering there seems to be a spread of stuff you really shouldn’t eat, but it would be rude not to have a little something.
As for moving around, well, who has the time? There aren’t many places you can safely walk to, so we drive everywhere. Most of us work in jobs that require us to sit most of the day. And once we get home we have to watch our favorite TV show, surf the Internet, or fire up the Playstation. Sometimes I wonder if we even need our legs anymore.
The deck is definitely stacked against you if you are trying to eat right and be more active, but the situation is not hopeless. There is a difference between something being difficult and being impossible. Losing weight is merely difficult. Okay, maybe I should say it is very difficult. But it’s not impossible.
What you really have to do is commit yourself to going to war with the world around you. We live in a culture that promotes sloth and gluttony, and if you are going to overcome those bad influences you need to recognize them and actively resist them.
Look for opportunities to get up and move around. Walk whenever possible. Park in the back of the lot instead of looking for that spot near the door. There is always some project around the house that needs doing – tackle it. The more strenuous it is the better.
Start thinking about what you eat. We tend to consume food mindlessly, while we’re doing other things. Pay attention to your appetite and only eat when you are really hungry. When I was a kid and I wanted a snack, my Mom would tell me to eat some fruit. If I said I “wasn’t hungry for that” and asked for junk food, she said I wasn’t really hungry. She was right.
We are habit-forming creatures. That works against us a lot of the time, because bad habits are so easy to fall into. But it can work in your favor, too. Good habits, once they take hold, can drive you to do the right things.
Once you get used to exercise it becomes addictive and (believe it or not) you’ll find yourself eager to move around and do things. And fattening food becomes less desirable, over time, when you stay away from it.
The key is making up your mind, and taking action. No one ever loses weight accidentally. The world may be against you, but you are stronger than you think.
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