A quick guide to diets for summer...

A quick poll:  Raise your hand if you have every "dieted?" According to a Gallup poll, 2/3rds of all Americans will attempt dieting at some point in their life.  If you are female, that ratio climbs to 75% with the average number of times attempting dieting hovering around 7.  Men, you aren't immune to the allure of dieting, 55% of you will try to lose weight four times in your life.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we will probably try to start a diet plan at some point in our life so, how do we know we are doing it right? Some tips to making your dieting a success:

• Do your research!  There are hundreds of diet plans out there from low carb, to Paleozoic eating, to only eating foods that start with the letter S.  While most of these diet plans are legitimate, many only result in short term weight loss and increased levels of crankiness.  The best course of action is to talk with your doctor or nutritionist to decide what you need to alter about your current eating habits to reach your weight goals. 
• Get to know yourself-Calories are sneaky sneaky creatures.  While many of us think we are eating healthily, excess calories might be working their way into our daily consumption.  The best way to figure out if this is happening is to keep a food journal.  Many websites like http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ are available to help measure how many calories you are eating as well as where those calories are coming from.  If say, you aren't eating very many calcium rich foods, it can help suggest what you should be eating based on average daily requirement.
• Pick a plan that works for you-  If you love to cook, then a diet plan that requires making a lot of your own homemade foods  will work well for you.  Diets that work are diets that last, so fit it to your lifestyle.  If you need extra motivation, pick a plan with weekly meetings.  You ultimately know yourself best so if eating only raw foods turns you green at the thought, it might not be the best idea...
• Double up for double benefits-Dieting alone can help us lose weight of course, this has been proven over and over again.  However, according to most experts, altering diet PLUS exercise is the most effective plan to lose-or gain-weight.  When we exercise, the signals let out by our empty fat cells are suppressed.  This, along with the feel good generating endorphins that are released during exercise, can help us keep from getting what was known in my house as the "h-angries."  Plus, when we exercise, our bodies learn to regulate such factors as blood pressure and eating patterns much more efficiently.  We are more likely to eat only what we need to replace what we burned, pair this with a little bit of calorie restriction and BANG! weight loss. 

These tips sound so easy to accomplish when written this way, but we understand that it is VERY hard work.  Maintaining a healthy physique is going to be different for every single person so the most important tip to remember is not to compare yourself with others.  The weight your body is most happy and functional at is likely different than your friend's or co worker's.  As long as you start and continue the life long healthy habits associated with losing weight-calorie control and exercise-you will see improvements, both physically and emotionally.  You can do it, we know you can. :-)

Have a healthful weekend and week!
-CHA
Gallup Poll About Dieting