Recently, the government has issued a requirement for all employees working with the government; the body mass index (BMI) for all workers should always be ideal. And hell yeah, mine is overweight. wtf. So, as I have self-awareness, I've set some goals to reduce my weight a little. This is not gonna be easy so I have set a simple but yet can be applied in my daily routines. I'm going to share u some tips that I found while googling, U can follow this one if u want (just in case u also wanna lose some weight like me ahaa). I'm following this one btw. :p
Guide to Behavior Change
Your Weight Is Important!
Over the past few years it has become clear that
weight is an important health issue. Some people who need to lose
weight for their health don't recognize it, while others who don't
need to lose weight want to get thinner for cosmetic reasons. We
understand that in some ways your weight is different from, for
example, your cholesterol level or your blood pressure, because you
can't see what these are by looking at someone. Many patients have had
health care providers who approached their weight in a
less-than-sensitive or helpful manner. Some patients may have had
health care encounters in which they felt blamed, but not helped.
Successful weight management is a long-term challenge.
Weight can affect a person's self-esteem. Excess
weight is highly visible and evokes some powerful reactions, however
unfairly, from other people and from the people who carry the excess
weight. The amount of weight loss needed to improve your health may be
much less than you wish to lose, when you consider how you evaluate
your weight. Research has shown that your health can be greatly improved
by a loss of 5–10 percent of your starting weight. That doesn't mean
you have to stop there, but it does mean that an initial goal of
losing 5–10 percent of your starting weight is both realistic and
valuable.
Behaviors That Will Help You Lose Weight and Maintain It!
Set the Right Goals
Setting the right goals is an important first step.
Most people trying to lose weight focus on just that one goal: weight
loss. However, the most productive areas to focus on are the dietary
and physical activity changes that will lead to long-term weight
change. Successful weight managers are those who select two or three
goals at a time that are manageable.
Useful goals should be
(1) specific; (2)
attainable (doable); and (3) forgiving (less than perfect). "Exercise
more" is a great goal, but it's not specific. "Walk 5 miles every day"
is specific and measurable, but is it doable if you're just starting
out? "Walk 30 minutes every day" is more attainable, but what happens
if you're held up at work one day and there's a thunderstorm during
your walking time another day?
"Walk 30 minutes, 5 days each week" is
specific, doable, and forgiving. In short, a great goal!
Nothing Succeeds Like Success!
Shaping is a behavioral technique in which you
select a series of short-term goals that get closer and closer to the
ultimate goal (e.g., an initial reduction of fat intake from 40
percent of calories to 35 percent of calories, and later to 30
percent). It is based on the concept that "nothing succeeds like
success." Shaping uses two important behavioral principles: (1)
consecutive goals that move you ahead in small steps are the best way
to reach a distant point; and (2) consecutive rewards keep the overall
effort invigorated.
Reward Success (But Not With Food)!
An effective reward is something that is desirable,
timely, and dependent on meeting your goal. The rewards you choose
may be material (e.g., a movie or music CD, or a payment toward buying a
more costly item) or an act of self-kindness (e.g., an afternoon off
from work or just an hour of quiet time away from family). Frequent
small rewards, earned for meeting smaller goals, are more effective
than bigger rewards that require a long, difficult effort.
Balance Your Food Checkbook!
"Self-monitoring" refers to observing and
recording some aspect of your behavior, such as calorie intake,
servings of fruits and vegetables, amount of physical activity, etc.,
or an outcome of these behaviors, such as weight. Self-monitoring of a
behavior can be used at times when you're not sure how you're doing,
and at times when you want the behavior to improve. Self-monitoring of a
behavior usually moves you closer to the desired direction and can
produce "real-time" records for review by you and your health care
provider. For example, keeping a record of your physical activity can
let you and your provider know quickly how you're doing. When the
record shows that your activity is increasing, you'll be encouraged to
keep it up. Some patients find that specific self-monitoring forms make
it easier, while others prefer to use their own recording system.
While you may or may not wish to weigh yourself
frequently while losing weight, regular monitoring of your weight will
be essential to help you maintain your lower weight. When keeping a
record of your weight, a graph may be more informative than a list of
your weights. When weighing yourself and keeping a weight graph or
table, however, remember that one day's diet and exercise patterns
won't have a measurable effect on your weight the next day. Today's
weight is not a true measure of how well you followed your program
yesterday, because your body's water weight will change from day to
day, and water changes are often the result of things that have nothing
to do with your weight-management efforts.
Avoid a Chain Reaction!
Stimulus (cue) control involves learning what
social or environmental cues seem to encourage undesired eating, and
then changing those cues. For example, you may learn from reflection or
from self-monitoring records that you're more likely to overeat while
watching television, or whenever treats are on display by the office
coffee pot, or when around a certain friend. You might then try to
change the situation, such as by separating the association of eating
from the cue (don't eat while watching television), avoiding or
eliminating the cue (leave the coffee room immediately after pouring
coffee), or changing the circumstances surrounding the cue (plan to
meet your friend in a nonfood setting). In general, visible and
reachable food items are often cues for unplanned eating.
Get the Fullness Message!
Changing the way you go about eating can make it
easier to eat less without feeling deprived. It takes 15 or more
minutes for your brain to get the message that you've been fed. Eating
slowly will help you feel satisfied. Eating lots of vegetables and
fruits can make you feel fuller. Another trick is to use smaller plates
so that moderate portions do not appear too small. Changing your
eating schedule, or setting one, can be helpful, especially if you tend
to skip, or delay, meals and overeat later.
