Common Pitfalls On The Path To Getting Skinny
Lack Of Information
My first hurdle in losing weight was finding the right information. I didn’t realize that eating more protein would help raise my metabolism, or that cutting fatty foods would greatly decrease my overall calorie intake. Since I didn’t have Internet as a teenager I had to seek out information in magazines and books, then experiment to find out what information was correct. Good information is critical in staying skinny, and fortunately most of us have access to great information. You just have to do the research to find it, and experiment a bit to figure out what techniques work for you.
Lack Of Healthy Foods
At age sixteen I very rarely went to the grocery store. The house was stocked with doughnuts, cookies and the like. Dinner was served almost every night, and these meals were not exactly beneficial to my goals. I realized that if I wanted to get skinny I had to take charge of my food environment and have a supply of healthy food on hand. I took the initiative to start going to the store regularly and buying the foods I needed for my diet. This was a big step for me, because being surrounded by junk food and very little healthy food is detrimental to anyone’s weight loss program, no matter how motivated they are. It’s essential to have the good foods on hand, and if there are foods you know you’ll binge on, just don’t buy them. You won’t eat what you don’t have.
Dieting Too Hard
At one time, I figured if I starved myself for a few weeks I’d get skinny and then could go back to eating doughnuts and drinking soda. This example may sound pretty stupid, but a lot of people actually fall into the same trap. They go on a “diet”, which to them means pain and suffering. Then they give up after a short time without reaching to their goals. Instead of torturing yourself with a short term “diet” it’s much more effective to pick something you can stick to permanently. This strategy is how I finally went from 220 to 155 pounds in about a year. I picked a nutrition and exercise plan that was not torture, and that I knew I could do for a very long time.
Lack Of Motivation
Before I ever tried to lose weight, I had a list of excuses for why I didn’t need to. “I know being fat increases my risk for heart disease and diabetes, but I’m young I don’t have to worry about stuff like that now.” Or “I’m not fat, it’s all muscle.” I find that people often are in denial of how serious their problem is, and that’s because they know fixing the problem will take a lot of work. Measure the circumference of your stomach, have someone take pictures of you in your swimsuit, get your cholesterol levels checked, check your BMI, whatever it takes to face the truth. This is an ongoing process for sure. Over the years I have received thousands of wake-up calls to remind me to stay on track. And it works. The worst thing you can do is live in denial and never even make the effort to better yourself.
