The First Step to Losing Weight is…..
There is no question that losing weight successfully is a complex undertaking. There is no question there are many elements to it. But awareness has to be one of the first steps and helping make children aware will help them later in life as they work to maintain a healthier weight. For a surprising number of adults and kids, there is not a really clear understanding of the link between high calorie, high carbohydrate foods and soft drinks, and painful joints, difficulty breathing, insulin injections, and obesity. So if there were a motivational breakdown, it might look something like this.
1. Identification of the problem: “I’m overweight”.
2. Fuller understanding of the ramifications of the problem: “My weight is causing me pain, impairing my health, shortening my life expectancy, and reducing my quality of life.”
3. Recognizing what causes the problem: “I’m consuming far too many calories, high carbohydrate foods and drinks, and burning too few calories with too little exercise.”
4. Define your goals: What you personally hope to gain or experience: “I want to play with my children outside and experience less pain in my knees and back.”
5. Define specific weight loss goals: “I want to lose 50 pounds in 12 months.”
6. Make a specific plan: “I am enrolling today in the medically supervised weight loss program with IMetabolic.”
7. Start today. No delays, no waiting. No excuses. Just start.
One of the keys to staying on track with your personal weight loss goals is to continue to write down why you want to achieve the goals you have set. What personally, most deeply affects you and your loved ones, your health, and your quality of life. Write down the goals, such as, “I want to lose weight so I can never take another insulin shot again.” Or, “I want to lose 30 pounds so I can resume skiing again.”
What are your goals? What do you want to achieve?
February 26th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Everyone has to look at themselves and be happy with what they see. Sometimes you don’t know or realize you have a problem and things creep up on you. That was my case. It took me 20 years of creeping weight gains, creeping health issues and horrible photos to realize “Oh my GOD I really am huge! and need to stop this” Dr. Sasse performed my gastric bypass surgery June 30. Since then I lost 90# and have had my life restored! Health concerns that I had were resolved or minimized, I can do things I couldn’t in a long time and feel so much better. I couldn’t have done this on my own I just needed something to STOP the over eating this TOOL was exactly what I needed.
March 19th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I was asked to comment about my lapband surgery. The reason I decided to get the lapband surgery was for my health. I have a liver disease called NASH (Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) which is caused by having a fatty liver. I also had diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholestral all due to being obese. For years the doctors told me that all of this would go away if I lost weight but I was satisfied taking pills to control everything even though I knew that those pills affected my liver counts. It wasn’t until I had to pull the plug on my Uncle who was 63 and had all the same diseases that I had. His doctors told me that the only reason he died was because he was obese and the illnesses related to his obesity and that it was entirely preventable. I have 4 grandkids that I wanted to see grow up and my being 55 meant that I wanted to live longer than 63 years of age. I had my surgery May 7th, 2008. I have lost around 57 pounds but that is just a bonus. The biggest results are I no longer have diabetes or high blood pressure. For the first time in over 12 years my liver counts are normal and I am taking 11 pills less a day than I did before my surgery. My visit today I was told I am no longer obese. I went to Disneyland last week and didn’t get stuck on a ride because I was too fat which happened 18 months ago. The hardest things for me to get used to since the surgery was not drinking when I eat and learning to chew, chew and chew some more. I would have lost more weight if I had exercised when this all began. I didn’t start that until 2 months ago. I was basically lazy. But the benifits from the surgery and the support of Dr. Sasse, Jena and the staff has been so rewarding. I can’t help but smile. This is the best thing I have ever done for myself and I would recommend it to everyone, with one word of advice, you still have to do the work.