Have you ever tried to lose weight by deciding that you are not crazy about junk food? You finish the last 4 Oreos in the bag and then eat nothing but yogurt, chicken, and bland salads for the next three or four days. what happens then? You find yourself cracking open a new bag of Oreos because you feel like life isn’t worth living if you can’t be happy with what you eat.
Don’t worry. This is what happens to most junk food junkies because they feel that they can lose weight only with willpower and a sudden change in their diet. While this sounds great on paper, it doesn’t work for most people because the approach is what we call cold turkey. Change has to be gradual in order to work in the long run.
Face the facts first. You are crazy about junk food. You have been eating junk food for a long time and it is extremely difficult for you to eat carrots instead of those delicious McDonald’s french fries. It’s taken you years to get out of shape and sedentary. If it had happened overnight, you would have noticed it. One cannot easily break a long standing habit.
For anyone to lose weight and keep it off forever, a person must lead a healthy lifestyle. This is important to know as this is the ultimate goal for anyone looking to lose weight. Leading a healthy lifestyle involves exercising, proper nutrition, and a sense of well-being in areas of your life that bring you joy. All on a daily basis.
Your first thought is probably that it takes a lot of work to quit a junk food junkie habit and lead a healthier lifestyle. exercise every day? Who has the time and energy for that?! And proper nutrition will get you going back to those light salads again, won’t it? wrong! People who lead a healthy lifestyle eat McDonald’s french fries and Oreos. They don’t eat them all the time.
As far as exercise is concerned, a person needs only 30 minutes to keep himself fit and active. Walking, running, biking, dancing, roller skating, skiing… doesn’t matter. If you can’t set aside half an hour each day to ensure your body’s health, then you need to make more changes than just weight loss!
What does all this have to do with how you can become a junk food addict? Very Now that you know that leading a healthy lifestyle is the ultimate goal, you can create a road map to get there. Everyone wants to be there overnight, but setting realistic deadlines for achieving your goals is a more effective and productive approach.
Your parents probably told you to eat vegetables as a child. Somewhere along the way you decided to eat for yourself and replace junk food with what you always knew was a healthier option. The shock value of going back on those vegetables without continuing to eat your junk food won’t get you right. I say keep eating your junk food.
What? Do you keep eating junk food? Yes, this is my advice. But here’s the catch. Instead of eating junk food every time you sit down for a meal or snack, choose one meal a day that you’ll replace with better food choices. I told you it would be gradual. If you usually eat Cheez-Its for breakfast every day at 3 p.m., have a bowl of granola cereal instead.
After making this small change daily for a few weeks, discipline yourself to take it to the next level. Now that you’re okay with one good meal a day, go for two! It can be two snacks, two meals or one snack and one meal. I would go for this one time meal because it will accelerate your weight loss more quickly than changing your snack habits every day.
So after a month of this, you’re really not eating junk food all the time? You’ve probably lost some weight but still get to eat pizza every Friday night. Hmm…interesting how that works out. Now that you’re on your way to eating properly without giving up your favorite foods, it’s time to think about exercise.
We’ve already established that you don’t have 30 minutes a day to break a sweat on the treadmill. ok, how about 5 minutes? Everyone has 5 minutes to walk around the block. Spend 5 minutes doing this every day for a week. Once you start feeling better, which you do, you’ll want to do it more often. I can almost guarantee that you will definitely find 10 minutes out of your busy schedule.
Keep going at this speed. Increase your exercise time by 5 minutes each week. After a month and a half you will be up to 30 minutes and that’s it! Whether or not you want to continue improving your health is your own choice, but for the most part, people only need 30 minutes of continuous exercise a day to maintain a healthy weight.
Even if you’re reading this and you know you could do better eating more than once a day, or exercising more than 30 minutes, don’t do it. You’ll burn out just as you tried to lose weight. Keep at it slowly and eventually you’ll get to the point where you’re actually exercising and eating healthy most of the time without thinking twice about it.
This approach worked for me 15 years ago and I have lost 70 pounds since then. I had severe asthma and couldn’t exercise at first, but as my body recovered, I suddenly found myself off drugs and out on the cycle every day. Words cannot describe the fact that I am able to do this and breathe properly now.
To change things, you have to change. Just remember that junk food junkie habit doesn’t have to be dropped overnight. In fact, the more gradual it is, the more effective it will be in the long run.
Source by William Winch
