Healthy Weight for Life: The 5 stages of lifestyle change
Michael Hallinan

So youre determined youre going to do something about your weight. But what? Losing weight is not in itself a behavior. Releasing fat pounds is an outcome of many behaviors that add up to consuming more calories than your expending. (Yes, theres a genetic component too, but you cant change that.)

The good thing is that this gives you lots of places to start moving toward your goal of losing weight. The challenge is sorting through them all and finding what will work best for you. So heres the question: What are you most ready to change?

Behavioral researchers have identified five stages in behavior change:

1. Precontemplation: Youre not even considering it. No way youre gonna give up your pizza and beer. Gym-going is not for you. Why walk when you can ride?

2. Contemplation: Well, maybe you could live without pizza and beer *every* week. Gym is out, but you always liked swimming, maybe a pool. The walk in the park with your friend was pleasant last weekend, maybe you could do it again.

3. Preparation: Next week youre going to skip that pizza. You found out the local Y has a pool and their family rates are affordable. You talked to your friend about doing more walks sometime.

4. Action: Two weeks and no pizza. You joined the Y and youve swum laps there a couple times. You and your friend have gone walking the past three Saturday mornings.

5. Maintenance: The weekly pizza has been a thing of the past for six months. Swimming is so much a part of your daily routine that you dont feel right if you skip it. Those Saturday walks are dont-miss tradition.

In fact, this readiness to change model is behavior-specific. That is, you might be in the action stage with the pizza but still in precontemplation on that exercise stuff. Youre not likely to be very successful if you flog yourself for not swimming laps every day, what you want to do is move yourself to the next stage: List the pros and cons of regular exercise and guess what, youre thinking about it and that means contemplation.

So think about the behaviors you can change to lose weight. What stage are you in for each of those behaviors? In each case, what can you do to move yourself to the next stage? What are you most ready to change.

We explore readiness to change in my free teleclass, The Real Skinny on Weight Loss: Dont Diet, Do It. You can get details and register at www.teleclassinternational.com/catalog.phtml?keywords=MH-RS

About the Author

Michael Hallinan overcame a lifelong obesity, and the midlife discovery of health and fitness so changed his life that he established a coaching practice specializing in helping others find their own healthy way to a healthy weight. For more helpful tips, subscribe to the Healthy Weight Newsletter. For past issues and to subscribe see
www.healthyweightcoaching.com/Ezine.htm

Tags: Action Stage, Author, Behavior Change, Behavioral Researchers, Calories, Contemplation, Couple Times, Daily Routine, Exercise, Genetic Component, lifelong obesity, Lifestyle Change, Losing Weight, Maintenance, Michael Hallinan, Pizza, Pool, Saturday Mornings, Six Months, Swimming Laps, Tradition, Walk In The Park, Walks, www.healthyweightcoaching.com/Ezine.htm, www.teleclassinternational.com/catalog.phtml?keywords=MH-RS —

Healthy Dieting Tips
Elizabeth Harfleet

Effective dieting is all about changing long term eating habits
rather than cutting down excessively on food in intermittent
bursts. As well as eating a healthy and balanced diet that is
low in fat and refined sugar, there are a number of other things
that you can do to help you shift those extra pounds and ensure
that they stay gone for good.

Here are some top tips to help you do just that:

1.Avoid going shopping when you are hungry. 2.When you go
shopping write a list in advance and stick to it so that you do
not buy calorific treats.

3.Always eat breakfast containing complex carbohydrates to help
fight mid morning sugar lows

4.When you feel peckish drink a glass of water instead of
reaching for a snack; you may find that it stops you feeling
hungry.

5.Avoid going shopping when you are hungry

6.Watch fat content in prepared foods. Try not to eat food with
more than 4% fat.

7.Take some form of exercise every day. It is very easy to fit
this into your daily routine by looking for opportunities to
walk rather than drive.

8.For the best results, exercise early in the morning (ideally
before lunch). Aim to exercise for twenty to thirty minutes at
least three times a week.

9.Ask friends to give chocolates a miss on your birthday or at
Christmas. 10.Alcohol is full of calories. You can try and limit
your alcohol intake by interspersing alcoholic drinks with soft
ones on nights out.

11.Weigh yourself no more than once a week in the morning before
eating or drinking.

12.Avoid going shopping when you are hungry

13.Take a Vitamin B complex as B vitamins are used for efficient
fat metabolism.

14.Don’t set yourself unrealistic targets, they will only make
you feel depressed. Stick to the weight height guidelines set
out by the NHS.

15.Watch out for food claiming to be fat free or virtually fat
free. Although they might not contain much fat they are often
loaded with sugar.

About the author:

Elizabeth Harfleet is a nutritional therapist based in Manchester
UK

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The majority of people who hear about Atkins diets think that you are going to have to eat bars, not eat any bread, and never have another dessert. This is quickly proved incorrect when you look through the available recipes hat you are able to find in cookbooks at your local store or even on the internet. Many people have many different beliefs as to why the Atkins diets are not actually healthy or do not actually help you to lose weight. Yes, it is true, many different people have many different body types and many different nutritious needs meaning that for some this diet may not work, but in many people who take on this diet correctly you can not only see a difference in their weight but in their health due to having a healthier eating lifestyle.

Most people who take on this diet decide to plan out their daily routine in intervals of: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and diner. Which in itself proves that to be healthier you do not have to eat less, but rather monitor your eating and nutrition. The recipes that you can find are split into the following groups most often; Appetizers, first course, main course, beverages, grains, bread, and dessert.

No matter what style of food you like or from what culture you can find a recipe that is for the Atkins diet in the form you would find pleasing or you can make changes to a recipe that you find to make it more Atkins friendly. You can find different types of dishes in each category of food. This means that even if you are looking for a beverage to have dinner or a dessert beverage you can find them within the beverage section. Making the items that you are looking for much easier to find.

When you look through each list you may find many different recipes that are appealing to you, you should then see which ones fit your Atkins dietary needs. Many people view Atkins diets as a way to eat without bread or items like that which you enjoy, when the main point of Atkins is to try to make a healthier you.

Once you try to Atkins diet you are sure to find that it is very similar to other diets in many ways. It is not about forcing you not to eat items that you enjoy, but rather about limiting yourself where you need to and finding ways to get the nutrition that you need to be fit and healthy. You can find any number of recipes that will be to your liking, with chocolate, slushies, chili, squash and much more that when cooked properly can be nutritious and still very healthy. If you are looking to find a diet that you can mold to fit your need Atkins is perfect for you. You can make your favorite treats healthy and good for you.

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The pH miracle diet is an exciting new way for people to take control of their health. By lowering your dependence on acid producing foods and raising your intake of alkali foods you can attain optimum health. The pH scale is from 1 to 14 , 1 being very acidic and 14 being very alkaline. The blood in the human bloodstream tends to run slightly alkaline at 7.35. All foods, beverages and in fact everything we put into our bodies will breakdown into acid or alkali. The body will store and eliminate excess amounts of these things respectively. An excess amount of acid stored in the body will cause the blood to cluster in the bloodstream, causing fatigue and trauma to the body on the cellular level. When there is so much shutdown going on in the body, the immune system will be lowered allowing disease and illness to enter. By keeping the balance of the pH level in the body at 7.35 you can ensure good health. Eating more alkaline foods and avoiding overly acidic foods a proper balance can be maintained. Researching which foods are alkalizing and which ones are acidifying will give you the power to make informed choices. Knowing where you are on the pH scale will determine what changes you need to implement into your daily routine. The monitoring of this balance can be achieved through the regular use of pH saliva test strips. With so much riding on proper technique and form, the level of personal accountability can be rather high for the first time dieter, especially if they are used to other diets that dont require as much responsibility as the pH diet. This can be a daunting task for many starting out on the pH miracle diet. Here are two common mistakes and their solutions.

Trying to add too much alkaline into the system is a common pitfall many overly enthusiastic dieters fall into. The purpose of the pH miracle diet is to create a permanent way of living for you stressing the idea of balance. Many dieters want to solve the problem with a quick fix submerging them into an all alkali intake. This is going overboard with supplements and beverages promising to raise their alkaline levels to unhealthy levels. As stated earlier about too much acid in your bloodstream being unhealthy for you, so too can an overabundance of alkali. Many people focus on the claim that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment, which is true, but nothing in the human body can survive very long in a purely alkali environment. Yes, it is true, too man alkalis can kill you. The key to life is everything in moderation and the pH diet is no exception. Acids and alkalis are meant to work in concert together. Acids serve your body and play a function in the breaking down of digested material. The stomach is an acid holding tank that converts food into energy. Alkaline waits in the intestinal tract for this newly energized material still hot with acidity and neutralizes it as the material is metabolized, absorbed and sent into the bloodstream. By keeping this harmonious partnership in synch you assure that your bodys pH levels stay within the optimum range.

Many people who start out dont take enough time to look for complete listings of the pH levels of the foods they eat. There are many lists available online and in various books that offer food lists that break the groups down into acids and alkalis. Making sure to choose a comprehensive list will guarantee whole nutrition. A list that includes supplements, herbs, spices, and condiments is the most desirable. You want the most complete list possible including those foods which are neutral. Paying attention to how many foods are being ingested from the acid and alkali sides is a great way to ensure proper balance in the diet.

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