I have come across so many women who always say from time and time again that they are trying to lose weight. I have heard a lot of “I really want to lose a few kilos” or “I am going to start dieting from now on” or even “I will never junk out again”.  The pity of this is that I have seen those same women and girls who tell me these things to do the exact opposite.  For instance, one of my colleagues constantly speaks about how she wishes to shed a few kilos before her wedding which only is a couple of months away.

She says “Mona, from today onwards you’ll see, that I am only going to be having healthy fat free food. See what’s for my lunch today, Sushi and Salad.”

 

Sushi and salad is all great but this was just for one lunch time. One the way back home from work, she felt hungry again and said to me, “hang on, let me just get some chips and we will catch the train together”

 

Lack of self-discipline seems to be one of the most important hurdles when it comes to losing weight or having a command on your diet. Yes, we all want to have an ideal body and a flat tummy but are we doing what are required to achieve this? Are we enough self-disciplined?

 

Self-discipline is about controlling and training your own acts for your improvement. This often means doing something that you don’t really feel like doing. Developing self-discipline to battle bad food habits is a very challenging task. But, with enough determination, it is certainly possible. In order to develop your determination, just concentrate and think about how important it really is for you to lose weight. Think about what you will gain from this journey and where you will like to be. Then, keep motivating yourself by saying to yourself, “this is possible and I will do it”.

 

Another important point is to be gradual in the path you take for becoming self-disciplined. It is just like you cannot lift the heaviest weights right away. It needs a lot of practice and developing strength gradually overtime. Start by avoiding one or two bad food habits at a time. For instance, this could be no more ice cream every day after dinner or no more hot chips. Practice the discipline on these two habits for some time before adding more to your list. The good news is that the more you practice the easier this becomes!

 

Satiety is another important terminology for all weight watchers to note. Satiety when it comes to food is the feel of fullness for longer. The more you feel full, the less likely you are to turn to your bad food habits. The trick in dieting is keeping you full without giving a chance to crave on something, not to starve yourself. A lot of people don’t understand this, especially women and they skip meals, eat below required amounts in their attempt to lose weight. But guess what, this almost never works as if you skip your lunch, you are going to feel hungrier for dinner and end up having twice as much as you are supposed to.

 

Foods that help you feel full without adding on to your weight include soups, leafy greens like, lettuce and other mixed salad greens, fruits especially, apples, oranges, grapes , honey dew and watermelon, and vegetables with no starch content such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicums.

 

Substitution is also a vital tip to battle weight gain. What I mean by substitution when it comes to food is having a healthier substitute for a food instead of completely avoiding it. There are many foods that we cannot avoid completely such as oil or sugar. In general, choose a healthier and low fat alternative. For instance, olive oil is a better choice of oils over others. Raw sugar is proven to be better than white sugar. There are important others such as choosing lean meat, low fat dressings, skim milk instead of full cream, low fat cheese and so on. Always ensure that you read the nutrition information and the saturated fat content of every type of food you pick. Remember, what goes in your body is your responsibility. Make sure you give it the best!