I naturally resist change.

Even when doing nothing, just sitting. Even when doing something that doesn’t produce results. Inertia, sameness, acquiescence. That’s what I call those silent, dominating forces that quell my unreasonable thoughts about actually changing my weight. Change? Bah!

Especially, radical change.

When pursuing weight loss goals, “to lose three waistline inches and be fit, trim, healthy, and happy,” for some, as it was for me at first, was too much change for my noggin to mentally cope with. It was out of bounds. I could hear that penalty judge shrieking his whistle in my mind. That weight loss referee, stopping the game, “Too much to lose! Return to safer goals.”

A few weight loss friends of mine, who’ll go unnamed, have tried the name-brand goals approach: “Lose 7 Pounds in 7 Days,” only to see the belly fat rebound with a vengeance and come back in tumblers. At such time, I’m reminded to consider the simple old saying,

“If things aren’t working, try something different.”

Like something less like fireworks (that blow up quickly and are gone) and more like flowers (that grow slowly, blossom unhurriedly, and remain for the season). More gradual weight loss goals are not only healthier physically, but more desirable emotionally. It allows for you to accept your new self-image and to actually believe in yourself as a permanently slim person.

This is what change does. It changes you. Adopt it.

When a dieter is asked, “How are you doing?” the typical response is “I’ve lost so many pounds.” Well, an answer that would lean better on the long-term success wall of permanent change would be something like, “My attitude toward eating is changing in whole.” Learning to eat healthy foods and attaining a lean body is a process of gradual attainment.

Instead of measuring your scale weight, measure the progress of your weight loss goals in terms of behavior change.

For example, some things to measure besides body weight:

· Exercising when you really didn’t want to.

· Taking a bite of something, then putting your fork down because it’s “not worth it.”

· Tuning in to what you really want to eat, and it’s steamed vegetables not a cheeseburger.

· Leaving food on your plate when you are already comfortably full.

The process of shaping new attitudes is akin to a Bonsai tree.

Its beauty is created through patient pruning and the subtle directing of tiny shoots over a long periods of time. Likewise, you are reshaping your body. Start from within. The essence. Then direct the outward with patience.

Like water flowing into a polluted pond that circulates, that mixes, that gradually filters through the old slime, then clears it, the process of change is not immediate in nature. Neither is the change from night to morning.

Can you pinpoint the exact minute morning has come?

No. Nor should you expect your healthy life to start right now, because you merely voiced it so.

My journey was like this.

Though I may have written out my weight loss goals, my change into a healthy trim persona went through this natural process of change, swirling my attitudes within myself first, then trickling them out into my behaviors, one little battle at a time.

I acknowledged the smallest achievements.

The tiniest baby steps – the good feelings I got when I don’t feel bloated after a meal, the energy I felt when I would wake up in the morning recharged, the exuberance at taking a good walk during the day – these were my measurements of change.

If you are seeking the trim life, you are about to make big changes in your life concerning food, exercise, and attitude toward other people.

As with all undertakings, you need a bit of courage to get started. Each time you have a small success, it’ll reinforce the promise you made to your goal. It will encourage you to continue, and your momentum will increase as you get closer to your goal.

If you have many years of damaging eating patterns to overcome, give yourself time.

Ending a destructive relationship with food and substituting new, more successful behaviors is not easy. This is an evolutionary, lifetime change you are making. Be compassionate and understanding with yourself, just as you would be to a stranger who got into trouble but is now committed to the process of improving. Just so, you are committed to your weight loss goals.

Expect to have setbacks.

They are inevitable, and actually assist you in the learning process by making your new decisions even stronger.

I stopped for a couple of donuts at the local convenient store on the way home one evening, because I was exhausted and momentarily hungry from the long day. I would be home in 20 minutes, yet I stopped. Afterwards, I felt the thump in my stomach and that uncomfortable feeling of too much sugar. I won’t do that again (for awhile, anyway), because my choice to listen to my true self and not just my body’s immediate desires and resist those urges was just given a shot of resolve.

Once you acknowledge the fact that your new plan is designed for the rest of your life, small lapses are not a problem. Think of fallbacks as skirmishes of battle, having no bearing on the eventual outcome of the war.

It’s true that life isn’t fair.

Yes, some people can eat anything and everything and never gain an ounce. It would be nice if the world were different, and everyone was given the same deal at the start of the game, but that is not reality.

The key, bottom-line, pivotal truth, however, is that “Fatness Is a Reversible Condition.”

Unlike a terrible disease for which there is no cure, your brain, mouth, and fork can solve this problem forever. The underlying message here is to program your mind, in increments, that losing weight is an achievable goal. It can be done. It is a change process. Inside and, then, outside. And, YOU can do it. You can achieve your weight loss goals.

What is a bland diet? It is a diet specially set to treat certain gastrointestinal or stomach problems such as heartburns, ulcers and gas.

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An answer to a question, what is a bland diet, is that it is a simple treatment for people suffering from any one or more gastrointestinal disorders such as chronic gastritis, ulcer, esophagitis and dyspepsia.

Bland diet is a dietary regimen for people suffering from stomach disorders. Hence, it is quite understood that ingredients of a bland diet are soft food items, which are easy to digest with a capacity to keep the acidity to low levels. Questions about diet may be asked to your physicians and he/she can suggest the diet or recommend a dietician to do it.

Diet medical questions may include the queries about the food stuffs to eat and food stuffs to avoid during the time while a person experien ces any gastrointestinal disorders. However, before a dietician could decide the bland diet for a person, he/she needs to seek answers to several medical questions related to the person such as any food allergies or irritations associated with any food items and emotions medical questions of people.

Bland Diet:

The diet prescribed as a bland diet will include food items that are easy to digest and low in fiber and acid contents. Even giving up alcohol and smoking is advised while patient is on bland diet. Also a patient is advised to have 4 to 6 light meals after regular interval to avoid heavy and large meals.

Chewing food properly and eating slowly helps in the digestion of the food. Adequate sleep, avoiding smoking and controlling anxiety are supportive treatments for the standard treatment of the problem.

Allowed Food Items:

• Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yogurt with low-fats and other dairy products are easily digested and hence, can be included as a part of bland diet. However, there is no restriction on ice-creams and one may consume even ice creams during bland diet, but it should not have any product such as nuts that are not allowed in bland diet.

• Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh vegetables and fruits are allowed to a bland dieter. However, while carrot, squash, green peas are good to eat in a bland diet, broccoli, onions and green peeper should be avoided as it forms gas. In fruits, oranges, grapefruits, and bananas are allowed.

• Proteins
Protein requirement of the body, while on a bland diet should be met with soy products and meat. Fried chicken and greasy hamburgers are not allowed to be consumed, while grilled and baked chicken is allowed.
Low-fat peanut butter and eggs are also efficient to meet the body’s protein requirement in a bland diet.

• Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are contained in whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal, corn flakes, white rice and sweet potatoes. All these food items are allowed.

Bland diet is designed for treating certain medical circumstances such as gastrointestinal problems. Hence, to answer what is a bland diet, we can say that this is a diet that aims at improving the digestion with the help of a timed-routine diet and soft to digest food items. Once the problem is controlled patients can return to their normal diet.

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

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The Idiot-Proof Diet

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.

When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!

NutriSystem

The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.

However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.

After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.

At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.

The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.

Weight Watchers

Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.

Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.