I have bad news and good news:

The bad news is that the only way to lose weight in a healthy manner is to exercise and eat well.

The good news is that healthy weight loss is easy once you get a routine and learn about what certain foods do to your body.

Never do diets. Never do pills. Most of the time they aren't healthy. When you get off the plan? You gain the weight right back!

So what can we do?

Eat healthy. Learn about the food triangle. It's really not that hard. 7-11 servings may sound like a lot, but look at the labels on your food. Actually measure out a serving. You'll find it's not so bad after all. You don't even have to stop eating junk food... just tone it down. Have ONE soda a day instead of THREE; replace the others with water or your favorite juice. Don't like water because it's boring? Try flavored water... I happen to like Fruit2O. One of my friends once did this: whenever she wanted a soda, she would brush her teeth (something she really didn't like doing. Her dentists noticed a great increase in her dental state, and she cut her soda intake from 5 a day to 1 a week!

Exercise. "But I'm not healthy enough to do that." That's why you exercise--to get healthy! Do you just want to be skinny, or do you actually want to look like a healthy individual? Skinny women aren't attractive; HEALTHY women are.

Motivate yourself. I'll tell you right now: if the reason you want to look good is because of a man, don't do it. If things go wrong with you and that man, you'll fall right off the track. You need to do it for yourself. Do you want to be happy? Of course you do.

Reward yourself. Been wanting to buy a new piece of jewelry? Well how much better will that jewelry feel on you when you feel like you've EARNED it? Don't reward yourself with food; that can lead to trouble.

Start out small. If you leap into a program without controlling yourself, you're bound to fail. Start out by walking 1 mile a day instead of running 10. This will let you have milestones to get to and overcome (better for rewards!) rather than start out running 10 miles and failing miserably. You want to build your self-esteem, not crush it. Remember, the healthy amount of weight to lose a month (if you aren't severely overweight) is about 4-8lbs. So if you want to lose 50, expect it to take at least six months. But don't worry! That's completely okay!

Expect setbacks and learn to deal with them. Maybe at first you gain weight. THAT'S FINE. If you've been exercising, that's because you gained muscle, which weighs more than fat. That's bad, right? Wrong. Muscle looks better than fat. Just think: Wouldn't you prefer a man with a six pack for abs or abs due to six-packs? MUSCLE BURNS CALORIES. That's right. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn by just sitting there. We don't even need to be "ripped" to benefit from that.

Have an overall goal. Do you want to lose 50 pounds or just look better than you do now? Have a goal, but don't let it overcome you. You want to be happy, not obsessed and upset. Have a goal, keep it in mind, write it down somewhere. But don't worry if you don't do everything according to plan. We tend to get too wrapped up and optimistic, so we set our goals too high. Don't worry so much!

Work on inner beauty as well. Sure, we can get the perfect hair, perfect face, perfect skin, perfect body... But will that get us anywhere? Not without a personality! Write down pros and cons about your personality; maybe have some trusted friends (who you won't get offended by) make a list of what they think about you as well. Then see what you can do about fixing your so-called flaws. Too angry? Find ways to release your anger in a healthy manner (like exercise! It's true!). Too shy? Have your friends hook you up with a blind date, or try something you've always been too embarrassed to do! Too stingy? Donate fifty dollars to a local charity! Remember: the more confident you are, the easier it will be to lose weight and the less stressful (another factor linked to weightloss) it will be if you find a setback.

Using all these tips will help you keep your weight off, and make you a better and happier overall. Good luck ladies!

~Crystal

wow... good article... took me some time to read it, but it was worth it! Thank you, Crystal!

Crystal,
That article was right on as to how I think. I have lost 40 lbs and have gone from a size 18 to a 6p by dancing watching what I eat and especially taking care of my emotional health. We all want to be beautiful but when we work on our inner beauty as well we have a much better view of life.
Gabby

I think iner beauty is the most important Who cares how you look if you are a bad person :evil: ?
But...
we gotta look good to... :mrgreen:

We do have to look good too I agree.

Very good article. I would add: make some small goals. It's harder to have "I want to lose 40 pounds" goal and better to have a "first I need to shed 4 pounds". When you get to that weight, you can go for 4 more and so on. A weight loss program nees to be done IN TIME and not over the night. Otherwise the body would respond with sickness and other complications. Don't try to lose all the weight in 1 month .. you're not gonna make it.

Instead concentrate on small "chunks" from the desired weight loss. Watch your nutrition so that you don't starve and WORK OUT. If your body feels OK with a well balanced food intake and a healthy sport regime then you'll have no problmes sheding those pounds.

For many people losing weight means a new way of life. You cannot starve for 2 weeks and then eat to compensate (as many do). Try to controll some of the things you eat, but don't become a fanatic. God, you need to LIVE and enjoy some of that life. So .. if you're getting enough exercise and a good nutrition program you can eat a cookie from time to time for instance .. don't make it a habit, but from time to time your body won't "die" with this small "treat".

I think too many people set fake goals. I have so many friends who want to look as I do (will place a photo one day to show you some abs I had 3 years ago ), but they become totally dis-interested in the topic when I tell them that I look like that because I worked out like crazy (4-5 karate classes a week) and even if I had 1 year off I didn't lose too much of the stamina. I try now to work out at least once a week and it's OK.

Very good article. I would add: make some small goals. It's harder to have "I want to lose 40 pounds" goal and better to have a "first I need to shed 4 pounds". When you get to that weight, you can go for 4 more and so on. A weight loss program nees to be done IN TIME and not over the night. Otherwise the body would respond with sickness and other complications. Don't try to lose all the weight in 1 month .. you're not gonna make it.

Instead concentrate on small "chunks" from the desired weight loss. Watch your nutrition so that you don't starve and WORK OUT. If your body feels OK with a well balanced food intake and a healthy sport regime then you'll have no problmes sheding those pounds.

For many people losing weight means a new way of life. You cannot starve for 2 weeks and then eat to compensate (as many do). Try to controll some of the things you eat, but don't become a fanatic. God, you need to LIVE and enjoy some of that life. So .. if you're getting enough exercise and a good nutrition program you can eat a cookie from time to time for instance .. don't make it a habit, but from time to time your body won't "die" with this small "treat".

I think too many people set fake goals. I have so many friends who want to look as I do (will place a photo one day to show you some abs I had 3 years ago ), but they become totally dis-interested in the topic when I tell them that I look like that because I worked out like crazy (4-5 karate classes a week) and even if I had 1 year off I didn't lose too much of the stamina. I try now to work out at least once a week and it's OK.

You're right, but I did mention that when I said start out small.

~Crystal

Yep you indeed mentioned it. Better say it twice ...

It is probably one of the most important parts of that article. So many women rush themselves and make grandeur plans... They're only bound to fail.

~Crystal

I agree so many times women try to lose too much. You have to learn a new healthy lifestyle.