Weight management is a topic that a lot of people in Atlanta and elsewhere think about and discuss among each other. Health considerations and societal expectations dictate that those of us who have weight issues consider ways that we can change our future. It is rewarding to see how changes that we decide to make can not only improve our own health outcomes but can also create a great example for our children or those around us. People who get their weight under control often report not only that they have better health as a result but also more self-confidence and a happier outlook on life in general.
Understanding Your Weight Situation
The first step in the journey of weight management is to take inventory of your present situation. This is not just about stepping on the scale and jotting down the number that appears. Knowing what your current weight is does matter, but many nutritionists say that focusing too heavily on the number can be very self-defeating. Instead, it is wiser to understand how you got to the place where you are at with your weight and where you want to go from here.
Having an image in your mind of what you want your end goal to be is something that those who have successfully gotten their weight under control often point to as a great strategy to use. They say that imagery in your mind’s eye about how you want to look can be incredibly motivating when temptations inevitably arise.
Facing the Reality of the Long Road Ahead
There are so many things that we can count on to give us immediate results. Press a button on your phone and immediately pop up the app or any information that you are interested in. This is not the case when it comes to weight management. Anyone who gets involved with it needs to know that this is a long-term commitment that will require some radical lifestyle changes. There are likely to be periods of time that are difficult, and you may feel like giving up. Perseverance is the key to achieving your goals.
Taking a weight management course can prove helpful for getting through the most difficult elements of losing weight. It can help remind you of what is at stake and what your goals really are. The best part is that having the support of other people who are working on the same goals creates a natural network of support. In many cases, having others who are not directly related to you in any personal way is a stronger form of support than you could otherwise hope to get.
The Changes You Can Expect to Make
The classic American diet these days often falls short of being nutritious or good for maintaining a healthy weight. With a heavy focus on salt, sugar, fat, and carbs, the diets that most of us consume could use some serious revamping.
Many are critical of fast food restaurants as the culprit of a bad diet and weight gain. However, it is important to remember that traditional restaurants also load up their food offerings with many of the same ingredients used in fast food chains. We also have to remember that plenty of foods that you can find on your grocery store shelf often have a lot of salt as a preservative as well. Reading ingredient labels closely will become a part of your new routine.
It is important to remember that there is not a single ingredient or food type that you can eliminate from your diet and hope to see weight loss. That may work temporarily, but all of these fad diets have eventually proven to be ineffective.
Medical doctors and dietitians are the best people to speak with about your particular nutritional needs. They may have more precise information as to which kinds of things you should increase or decrease in your own diet. They will have access to more of your personalized medical information than anyone else and are in the best position to help guide you on what you should be eating.
Focusing On Exercise
Most of us know that we should be exercising more than we currently are. Many work in professions that do not make it easy to get up and moving. That is why we have to pay extra attention to how we are getting our daily physical activity.
Exercise helps to burn calories and shed pounds over time. It can also help a person build muscle. In the beginning, this could show up as an increase in body weight because muscle weighs more than fat. However, this should not be discouraging to you. It should actually encourage you as it is a good and healthy thing to build muscle.
Different people in Atlanta find different exercises to be beneficial to them. It is best to try to find some kind of activity that you enjoy doing and that you can do the rest of your life. If you zero in on an activity that you enjoy doing, then it won’t be as much of a chore for you to do the rest of your life. It is critically important to maintain the same level of activity over time, so you will want to select something that you enjoy. It could be anything from swimming to tennis to simply going for a walk. As long as you are getting out there and getting your exercise, then you are doing the right thing.
Why Weight Management is a Good Financial Choice
It is pretty straightforward and easy to explain why weight management is a good idea in terms of one’s health. However, did you also know that it can be a benefit to your pocketbook as well? Even paying for the cost of weight management upfront does not outweigh the potential savings that you can generate by losing weight.
Changing your diet alone and avoiding fast food restaurants and the like is a big step in the right direction. It can help you avoid paying excessive amounts of money for single meals. It can also help you zero in on your grocery budget and how you spend money on various aspects of your diet.
Another way that you save money when you embrace weight management is in your healthcare costs. Those costs will most likely decline as you may not have to spend as much money on prescriptions for weight-related illnesses and complications. You can perhaps avoid some of the issues that those who carry extra weight often face. One of those issues that is faced by millions of people worldwide is diabetes. No one wants that in their life, and you may be able to avoid it by keeping your weight in check.
Your Relationship with Food
Believe it or not, many people in Atlanta have discovered that they have an unfortunate relationship with food as things stand now. There are even some who have discovered that they have eating disorders. This is important information to know about as soon as possible so that you may begin to correct it and heal from it.
Eating disorders are on the more extreme end of the spectrum, but there are other issues with one’s relationship with food that may be uncovered in the process of weight management. Some people discover that they have a particular attraction to foods that are not good for them. Others discover that they may be involved in something like stress eating. All of these habits can be corrected. It all starts by recognizing that there is an issue to begin with.
Taking Weight Loss Medications
Managing one’s weight may also entail taking medication to help with that process. There are a lot of weight loss medications that are available both by prescription and over-the-counter. It is important to only take medications that you have cleared with a medical doctor. The reality is that there are a lot of offerings in this particular aspect of health that are far from desirable. Some companies are just in the business to make a quick buck.
Medications should not make outrageous promises about how much weight they are going to help you lose. Any promise that seems too good to be true probably is.
Helping Others Understand Your Choices
It is not necessarily your job or responsibility to explain your dieting and exercise choices to your loved ones, but it is probably something worth considering anyway. There are going to be people in your life who have questions about the life choices that you have made up to this point and the new choices that you are currently making. You should be in a mindset that you can help them understand what you are doing if you just take the time to explain it.
Telling others about the choices that you have made may encourage them to make some changes to their own lives as well. That means that the changes you have made could have a domino effect on the lives of those around you. Suddenly, it could be possible to change the health and lifestyles of many people in your circle.
A Lifelong Commitment
Keep in mind the fact that when you decide to change your relationship with food and your weight, you are making a lifelong commitment. You have to work diligently at maintaining the new weight that you have achieved. If you fall back into old habits, you will quickly find yourself back in the same position that you began in. That is highly distressing because you worked so hard to escape that place in life in the beginning.
All changes that you make now should be changes that you believe that you can maintain going forward. Taking things nice and slow is probably the best approach to making those changes stick.
To get started, book an appointment at Southside Medical Center in the Atlanta area. Let us help you achieve and maintain your goal weight. Contact us today to set up an initial consultation!