Creating a 'no excuses' lifestyle

September 7, 11:28 AMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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SAN DIEGO, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Jenny Craig today announced the 12-month results of a randomized clinical trial, as published in the April 2007 issue of Obesity, the journal of NAASO, The study mentioned in the above link, "Randomized Trial of a Multifaceted Commercial Weight Loss Program," revealed that study participants on a Jenny Craig intervention program averaged a weight loss of 8% of their initial weights, or about 16 pounds lost, compared to a control group that averaged less than 1% weight lost or less than 2 pounds of weight loss.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, ALL diets WORK. You can lose weight doing the Grapefruit Diet, the Rice Diet, Jenny Craig, the Beverly Hills Diet, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Zone, Nutri-system, Atkins, or a rigorous exercise program without a specific diet. Creating a calorie deficit results in weight loss. It is a simple and inescapable law of physics.

But can you live it? Can you stay with whatever program you're on for the rest of your life?

The key to keeping the weight off are lifestyle changes you can actually live with the rest of your life.

As soon as you return to the old habits and lifestyle that made you overweight or out-of-shape in the first place you'll start gaining the pounds back. It's that simple. The reasons you return to old habits may be complex; eating to sooth emotions, eating to feed a sugar addiction, morphing into an ice cream gobbling couch potato because your boss is a jerk, skipping a trip to the gym because American Idol is on.

In the end, the key to keeping the weight off will vary with each individual but several components will prove critical. An eating plan that tastes good and is satisfying is essential otherwise you'll never stick to it. (You may have to give your taste buds time to recalibrate to fresh foods after years of bombarding them with processed foods loaded with refined carbs, preservatives, sugars, and salt). And activity must be built into your lifestyle, be it a sport you love like tennis or dancing, or an exercise program at home or in a gym that keeps you engaged. I find it easier to keep exercising when I combine weight training and aerobics as well as keeping variety in my program.

Another important component to success is banning the excuses. Change your thinking and look for solutions instead of focusing on obstacles. One diet blogger recently complained she couldn't afford a fitness class at her gym this month because her husband spent the money she'd allocated. She could have spent the month exercising at home for free. Turn on MTV or VH1 or a radio and dance to the music. It's free to get your groove on. Go to garage sales or thrift stores or ebay and buy a few cheap exercise videos. (My local thrift store always has some and they're usually $2.00 a piece). Start an exercise video collection and you'll have variety built in to your program.

Doing ANY movement and making ANY dietary improvement is a step in the right direction.

And we all need to lose our "all or nothing" attitudes. Nobody's perfect, we all fall off our diets and exercise plans. What matters is that you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on program.

Coming Soon: "Why You Don't Need To Go To The Gym To Get Fit - Part Two"

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