AOL has a fluff piece from which starts with the "tried-true" method of weight loss eat less and exercise more (despite having yet to find a study proving that really works in the long run.)
And apparently all that we are missing is motivation.
Here's motivation for you. You are very excited to do a new diet (let's say Weight Watchers). You start off perfectly, carefully counting your points, going to the gym every day and the pounds begin to come off. You continue with this cycle despite the reality that you are always hungry, feel cold and tired but it doesn't matter because weight is coming off. Cut to a few weeks, maybe even months later. You are still cold, tired and now irritable. The weight loss has stopped and every waking moment is filled with thoughts of food until you give in to a massive binge. While you are binging and off your diet, you see little point in exercising.
Movement is good for everyone. We can't all be marathon runners (and kudos to those who are.) Do as much as you are able. Even if it's a slow two block walk. Accept that some weeks you may exercise more than others.
And the biggest motivator for movement is to NOT DIET. You see when you tie exercise to diet, you lose the motivation to exercise when the diet fails. Do what I do. I exercise a minimum of 3x a week, and don't care whether I lose weight or not. That has kept me motivated for exercise.
I was just ranting about this on Twitter today after reading an article quoting some "author" called Daniel Akst who claims that "Lacking self control is what is making you fat."
I'd like to see Daniel Akst spending 20 years starving himself and exercising to dangerous levels in desperation to be thin and see if he still thinks about willpower.
Most fat people I know have spent a lifetime desperately trying to get thin. They've dieted, they've exercise binged, lots of them have been devoted to eating disorders. If that's not willpower, what is?
Posted by: Kath | February 22, 2011 at 05:46 AM
"(despite having yet to find a study proving that really works in the long run.)"
Out of interest, do you disagree that exercise requires energy from food (or fat should you have burned all of the energy gained food you have eaten...
or that eating less will give you less calories than before, forcing your body to burn fat instead of the food you would have eaten in order to maintain basic survival
both of these are well documented, one such study (published in Journal of the American Medical Association, a very highly regarded scientific journal) can be found here:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-proof-diet-aid-weight-loss.html
Posted by: Jesse | February 23, 2011 at 08:10 PM