Real 4 Week Diet: Week 2

First, look over your journal from the previous week. What did you learn? Do you see any patterns to your eating and exercise? Did you notice times when you thought you wanted to eat something, but did so more out of habit or boredom than out of actual hunger? Did you notice "problem foods"? High calorie, high sugar, high fat foods you consume a lot and really like? Did you notice when you tended to overeat was it because it was hard to get full or because you like the taste of the food or because you simply couldn't figure out anything else to do with your time? Did you exercise at all above and beyond that necessary for normal everyday living? Did you think about doing something extra, but decide against it? Why? What held you back? Was it available time, fear of injury, feeling "tired," afraid to look foolish in front of others? How did you feel when you chose not to exercise when you knew in your heart of hearts that the reason you gave for not doing so was not really compelling?

These lifestyle questions will help guide you as you develop a healthier relationship between yourself, food and exercise. This week you will begin to make some actual lifestyle changes. Don't panic! These are simple changes you will hardly notice and you will only make three changes: two food related changes and one exercise. You will also add an extra column to your journal.

Food

We are now going to start making some simple changes which you should be able to incorporate into your lifestyle without great difficulty. Choose two from the following list to implement this week. If you see more than two that you would like to do and think you can sustain at this point, go ahead and do them, but don't go overboard. Better to do just a few things and sustain them over time than start with a lot of things and give up. Now, if you are already doing some of these, don't choose those. You need to add to what you are already doing. Also choose items from these list which reflect your lifestyle as it is now. For instance, if you rarely drink soda, then switching to diet probably won't make much difference.

• Change from regular to diet soda
• Switch from regular bacon and franks to turkey bacon and franks
• Read the labels for fat calories. If the fat calories are more than 25 percent of total calories, see if you can buy something with fewer fat calories.
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
• Leave food on your plate after each meal.
• Cook only what you intend to eat at that meal.
• Throw out leftovers.
• Throw out your supply of sugary or high fat snack foods.
• Time your eating. Pause 10 seconds or more between bites. Take at least 30 minutes eating your meal.
• Limit yourself to one sugary treat per day.
• Substitute fruit for one of your sugar snacks.
• Experiment with sugar-free or low-fat versions of your favorite foods. (try Dreyer's Sugar Free Butter Pecan. Yummy!)
• "Buy" treats with exercise. If you want a 200 calorie treat, do an extra 200 calories worth of exercise. And don't "buy" on credit. Do the exercise first.
• Eat shortly after exercising.
• Eat at the table.
• Don't eat standing up.
• When you have a "snack attack" wait 10 minutes before satisfying your craving. Often it will go away.
• Put your high sugar - high fat snack foods in hard to reach areas.

Exercise

As with diet, exercise can be done in smaller portions to get started. The effect is cumulative. For instance, walking 10 minutes three times a day does almost as much good as walking 30

While exercise is important, if you haven't been exercising regularly, start slowly and build up to more strenuous exercise. This week choose two or three items from this list to add to your lifestyle. Again, they need to be a change from what you are already doing. If you already walk 30 minutes a day, then walk 45 minutes a day. You get the idea.

Also, if you have any health problems consult with your doctor before beginning any fitness program involving exercise. While all of us need to exercise, some forms of exercise are not appropriate for everyone. For instance, I have asthma, but I am still able to do aerobic exercise. I just have to use my inhaler before each session.

• Park 3 blocks from work.
• Take a 20 minute walk each day.
• Join a gym and meet with a trainer.
• Do a 10 minute work out every other day
• Hold "Walking Meetings" with colleagues at work
• Walk and pray or meditate
• Dance for 10 minutes three days this week
• Buy an exercise step and use it for 10 minutes a day three days this week.
• Buy light weights (2-5 pounds) and do some simple exercises with them.
• Do 10 "crunches" a day
• Join an exercise class and go for 15 minutes only.
• Add about 10 percent to any exercise or physical activity you already do.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park on the far side of the parking lot everyday

Your Journal

This week both your food and your exercise journals have one extra column. This is the column where you will record the calories

This week your journal has one more column. It's a calorie column. In this column you will record those calories consumed by eating or burned through exercise. Click here for your Food and Exercise Journals for this week.

In order to do this you will have to get a calorie guide.

This week don't worry about how many calories you should be eating or how much exercise you need to do. Just keep track of the numbers. Also record at the end of each day what you learned.