{"id":7766,"date":"2015-12-09T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T12:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=7766"},"modified":"2015-12-04T08:27:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T13:27:02","slug":"why-losing-weight-is-not-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/12\/why-losing-weight-is-not-easy.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Losing Weight is Not Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"scale\"<\/a>A few years ago,\u00a0Mayor Bloomberg \u00a0created quite a stir in his efforts to regulate soda drinking in New York City. The idea was to regulate private citizens in terms of what they can or cannot eat in an effort to\u00a0find\u00a0a solution to the obesity problem.<\/p>\n

Soda is one of many food items that\u00a0when over consumed, leads to weight gain. But can we\u00a0go down this path to loose weight–limited the number of fries at the fast food take out, no more dozen donuts orders, pizza for one\u2026you get the idea. \u00a0We can\u2019t have the Twinkie Police entering our homes. \u00a0We have to take personal responsibility when it comes to losing weight so here are a few tips to help:<\/p>\n

1) Portion control is an issue.<\/strong>\u00a0Most times, the portions we are given at restaurants could serve 2-3 people.\u00a0 Just like sodas that have gone from an average of 6 ounces a drink to 16 ounces, so have food portions. We need to learn to eat until we are full, stop, take home the rest for another time. Or order an appetizer as the main meal, split a meal or ask for a smaller portion.<\/p>\n

2) One of the most overlooked areas in the obesity fight is emotional and compulsive overeating. Instead of focusing exclusively on what we eat, we need to think about WHY we eat<\/strong>. In my book,\u00a0Press Pause Before You Eat,<\/a><\/em>\u00a0I help you\u00a0become more intentional with your\u00a0\u00a0eating, recognize the emotional triggers and come up with other things to do than eat, especially when dealing with stress.<\/p>\n

3) \u00a0Telling you\u00a0not to eat or drink something just makes you want to do it more. Deprivation doesn\u2019t work<\/strong> when it comes to weight loss. The more we know we can\u2019t have, the more we want it. Instead, we tell ourselves we can have an item but then, PAUSE, and ask, do we want to pay the consequences later?<\/p>\n

4) \u00a0What we eat<\/strong> is important. We eat too much processed food and nutritionally empty food so books like\u00a0Eat This, Not That<\/em>\u00a0are helpful in the education of food as medicine. Education doesn\u2019t always translate to better choices. You\u00a0have to want to do better with food. Only you can motivate yourself to care and make better choices.<\/p>\n

5) \u00a0Information is confusing<\/strong>. At one point, for example, coffee was bad for us, then good. The amount of information we have regarding how to lose weight is overwhelming and needs to be individualized. One size does not fit all when it comes to losing weight.
\n6) \u00a0It\u2019s complicated. Losing weight doesn\u2019t work like the\u00a0Biggest Loser<\/em>\u00a0for most people. We don\u2019t have trainers screaming at us to make us move or people controlling our diet. And in the long run, most of the people on those shows gain the weight back after a year or so. Lifestyle change is needed. Losing weight involves movement, food, genetics, biological issues, emotional and even spiritual issues. In the end, it is you and that fork and plate. No short cuts to\u00a0making lifestyle changes. It takes intention, commitment and effort. Still, it is possible, just not easy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago,\u00a0Mayor Bloomberg \u00a0created quite a stir in his efforts to regulate soda drinking in New York City. The idea was to regulate private citizens in terms of what they can or cannot eat in an effort to\u00a0find\u00a0a solution to the obesity problem. Soda is one of many food items that\u00a0when over consumed,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[918],"tags":[29,898,32,82,30],"class_list":["post-7766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationship-to-food","tag-dieting","tag-diets","tag-lose-weight","tag-weight","tag-weight-loss"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Losing Weight is Not Easy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/12\/why-losing-weight-is-not-easy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Losing Weight is Not Easy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago,\u00a0Mayor Bloomberg \u00a0created quite a stir in his efforts to regulate soda drinking in New York City. 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