Thanks to countless years of conditioning, increasingly rampant marketing campaigns, and the rise of the internet, women continue to be made to feel as though something is wrong with the way they look. In fact, according to a report from DoSomething.org, 91% of all American women say that they aren’t happy with the way their bodies look. Hoping to rid themselves of those feelings, many people turn to juvederm procedures, liposuction, and botox cosmetic injections to change the way they look to be more in line with the image that’s stuffed down their throats everyday.
If you feel that having work done is right for you, then by all means that’s what you should do; however, too often people choose to go under the knife when by following healthy weight loss diets for women, they could accomplish the same or even better results, without having to have surgery or spend a ton of money. The keyword here is, of course, “healthy.” Following healthy weight loss plans can make you feel better about yourself and help you lead a longer, more fulfilling life, but you need to know how to follow a weight loss plan healthfully if you really want long term success.
Three Tips on Healthy Weight Loss and Management
- Do Not Starve Yourself
- You Don’t Have to Kill Your Body to Get in Shape
- Make the Changes for Yourself
As Woman’s Day so smartly suggests, the worst thing you can do when trying to lose weight is go overboard and starve yourself. Not only is this bad for your metabolism, bone health, and your long term health, it’s also likely to lead to you gaining more weight in the future. The reason is simple: by starving yourself, you set yourself up for binge eating huge amounts of calories in one sitting. Remember, weight management is all about setting healthy long term goals, not following short term fads.
Just as we tend to overdo it by cutting back too far on our food, so, too, do we also go a little too gung ho about our exercise regimens. Running five miles everyday and lifting for a couple hours will no doubt yield quick results, but you need to consider the costs of those results, such as depleted bone health, damage to your back, and stress fractures. What you might not realize is that, as Women’s Fitness points out, just walking for an hour a day and lifting a couple times a week can have huge benefits to your weight management goals.
Our last tip is likely the most important. It’s far too easy to fall into the trap of making your weight loss goals more and more extreme because you like the way other people respond to you. Everybody wants to feel good about themselves, but make sure that at the end of the day the diet you stick to and the workout regimen you keep is for yourself. It’s the only way you’re going to stick to it.
Have you finally found success after struggling with weight management? What are some of the tips on weight loss for women you’d give our other readers? Share your wisdom with us in the comments below. References.