There are medications that can help you loose weight such as phentermine, Victoza©, Wygovy©, Ozempic©, Trulicity© or Mounjaro©. If you are searching for medications to help aid your weight loss journey please discuss further with your Doctor.
Along with medications, making better lifestyle choices are an essential piece of the puzzle. Lifestyle changes made in an effort to optimize diet and exercise is going to be a must especially as we age. Some of these lifestyle changes must start with some self reflection and noting where our weakness or vulnerabilities lie so that we know how best to address them. Often we avoid confronting our weaknesses but this only compounds the problem. We must be willing to look within ourselves and honestly reflect in order to address our weakness and begin to overcome them.
By the time we have reached adulthood, we have established both good and bad habits. Establishing new healthy habits can take several months or even years of consistent efforts by patients. This can be a very trying and frustrating process but making efforts to establish positive habits will yield great benefits long term.
Our culture of food is so intertwined in our daily life. Our eating revolves around ...
1. Preconceived notions that many of us grew up on. Such as...
Finishing everything on our plate. For example, I grew up in a large family and I often helped to prepare dinner. It was instilled in us at a young age that we needed to finish everything on the plate. When I got married and was only cooking for 2, as you would expect, my meals were much bigger than needed. I had to learn to adjust to cook smaller portions because I was so used to cooking for a large family. So then came the guilt with all that excess food. I cooked so much food and then I felt I had to eat it because the idea we we could not waste was so ingrained from a young age. Of course that lead to the eventual weight gain resulting in unnecessary and excessive calories. One day as I was thinking about the weight I had gained, I had a lightbulb moment that I realized, regardless of if I put it in the trash or into my body, either way the food was going to waste. The only difference was whether it was going to waste in my body and it result in an unhealthy weight gain or in the trash.
Portion sizes. In general our portion sizes in the US are huge. By the time we have reached adulthood, many have grown up eating larger quantities than are needed. As we grow older, these excessive calories can cause various health issues. This habit of having larger quantities requires a sort of re-education. Teaching to help one understand what a healthy portion size truly is an important step. There are many great apps out there to reference such as MyFitnessPal© to help with portion sizes.
2. Emotions. Do we eat when...
we are bored
we are sad
we are stressed
we want to celebrate
Trying to break some of this emotional eating can be hard. Taking a pause to ask ourselves if we are hungry or are we struggling with one of these regular emotions that drive us to eat or snack. Recognizing where our weaknesses are is the first step to change.
3. Time Constraints:
We live in a day where time is limited and we find ourselves going from one activity to the next. We constantly on the move going from one place to the next. We are multitaskers always having to find time for one more thing. When we apply this to the concept of food, often times it means coming home from work late and making something quick and not necessarily healthy. Or it means we we grab something on the go as we are rushing to our next obligation. We eat out probably more than we should...
Meal planning helps to minimize the amount of times we eat out. In our home, we make a weekly calendar scheduling our meals so we can prepare a head of time to have the ingredients needed. Thankfully Crockpot© and Instapot© help tremendously for us working Moms.
Preparation is often key in long term success in maintaining some of these healthy lifestyles. Weekly meal planners and shopping lists are also huge ways to help prepare. If we wait till dinner time when everyone is hungry, we tend to not make as good of meal choices. Preparation is so important.
For many of us to establish better eating habits, it requires us addressing one if not all of the examples above.
To get further help with diet, dieticians are always a great resourse and although, there is usually a copay, some insurances will help pay for your visit. Ask your Doctor for a referral.
There are many prepaid diet programs and networks which are easy to join. They often have support groups that can help one navigate their weight loss journey. Some of these programs but are definitely not limited to include Weightwatchers© and Optivia©
Build a Healthcare Binder to keep track of your diet and specifically if you are trying to actively loose weight
One of the best ways to take ownership and take charge or your weight loss journey is with organization. I have put together some Digital Templates that can be purchased on Etsy for a quick way to build your own personalized Weight Loss Battle Binder.
For access to the entire 22 page Weight Loss Battle Binder Digital Templates click the links below. To see other Healthcare or Specific Disease State Battle Binders that I have created check out my Etsy store at https://thehumblerxmom.etsy.com
**Please take note, my views are my own and are not associated or representative of my employer(s). This website and its associated platforms are for education purposes only and not medical advice. (If one wants to establish a relationship in which individual circumstances can be evaluated please send a message)
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