Dieting Tips and Tools
for the Average American
By Chris Johnson
The Atkins Promise
Quick, easy weight loss & you get to eat tasty food
Dieting can be a rewarding and life-changing experience. It can also be a lot of fun. However, not all diets are right for all people. You want to choose a diet that is safe for you (please consult your physician) and one that will be most easily fit into your lifestyle. This will greatly increase your chances of success. A good general rule is that the more different a diet is from you and what you already do, the more difficult it will be to maintain.
The next most important part of dieting is to develop and use some evaluative tools to measure your progress. There are three we recommend.
Diet Tool #1:
The most common and easiest measure of success is weight. The straight forward way to do this is to note your initial weight, list your final weight goal and then weigh yourself periodically. When looking for weight loss it is important not too be obsessive about weighing yourself. More important is when you weigh yourself.
The two most important times to weigh yourself are right after you wake up and right after you have a bowel movement. Take these measurements up to 3 times per week on the same days each week. This procedure will help to stabilize the picture of your weight loss and eliminate too many up and down periods each week.
Diet Tool #2:
Our favorite tool is size measurement, after all this gets to what we are all after anyway - looking hot! Well at least looking better. What to do: Pick your problem area(s)(hips, thighs, arms, butt, whatever), use a tape measure(the kind a tailor uses) to measure your body part. Find some good "landmarks" so you always take the measurement at the same place. For instance - the middle of your thigh, right over the "points" of your hips, the middle of your flexed bicep, etc.
Take your measurements once per week on the same day at the same time, write them down and be proud!
Diet Tool #3:
Cardiovascular health. That's right we aren't going to let you off easy. Getting in shape is not just about losing weight, if you really want to feel great and look your best you must get plenty of exercise as well. Most important is aerobic exercise - this will generally tone your body and get your lungs and heart working at top efficiency. But if you want to lift weights too - more power to ya.
Just like the first couple of tools this one is all about measures. Whether you're walking, swimming, running, or lifting weights, keeping track of how much you are doing each day/week is key to showing yourself how much or little you are improving. Monitoring levels of exercise is also a great way to correlate exercise to weight loss - you will see over time that the more you exercise the more weight you will lose and the sexier shape your body will attain.
We also have some great dieting tips for you:
Dieting Tip #1
Another great way to monitor your progress with all three of the tools above is to take pictures. We recommend nude pictures for your private collection and a set with skimpy clothes on to share with others.
Dieting Tip #2
Don't freak over daily or even weekly fluctuations up and down on any of your measurements especially weight. Most important here is the long term changes taking place. After all what you are really seeking whether you know it or not is a permanently different or modified lifestyle. It is this permanent difference that will help you change yourself for the better for life.