Managing Your Weight 

I have always been fortunate to not need to be concerned about my weight; however, as I age and grow closer to the “golden years,” I have discovered weight creeps up while I am not watching. In the past year, the weight issue has become clearly an issue for me. Like most of us, life happens while we are not watching, and we end up somewhere we never intended to go. Recently, I have discovered what it means to “manage my weight.” Managing your weight may be something you need to consider for the sake of your health and well being!

It is no secret that America has become an obese nation. You can look at statistics or look around the room. You can’t do much about America’s obesity problem, but you can do something about yourself. I became concerned about my weight as my clothes became tighter and tighter and breathing became more difficult. Every day became a little more miserable than the day before until I decided I was not going to live the rest of my life getting fatter and fatter. SO, I started to develop a simple plan to lose the extra ten pounds I needed to shed. Ten pounds may not be much, but my ten pounds could have easily become twenty and thirty.

• In analyzing this new problem, I discovered I was eating for all kinds of crazy reasons. Many people live to eat instead of eating to live. I made a commitment to myself that by a certain date I would modify my eating habits until I lost the extra weight. Some simple ways to modify your eating habits include the following:
• Cut your food consumption in half. Most of us can do this with NO problem.
• Eat on a much smaller plate and do not go back for seconds.
• Eat several small meals a day.
• Never eat two big meals a day. For instance a big lunch and a big dinner. One is more than sufficient.
• Cut back on bread and sweets. I am not saying give it totally up, just cut back.
• Get on the scales two or three times a week to mark your progress. Write it down.
• Exercise twelve minutes a day, or three times a week. Keep it simple and doable.

You will discover over time the weight slowly starts to melt away. All of a sudden you can fit into your clothes comfortably and breathe again. Your new found motivation may spill over to other areas of your life. It is really very simple!