Take Small Steps When Walking to Lose Weight
At the same time as I am an advocate for small steps (goals) when starting with walking to lose weight it is also fun to take a small bites approach to eating. See where it leads. Maybe this will make it easier for you to manage your hunger. Eat just enough to feel satisfied in the moment. It is another form of the five small meals a day diet. By taking only several bites of a meal you are likely to become hungry again. At this point simply eat a few more bites. See how long it takes to complete a ‘meal’. It is most likely to be over a few hours.
This should give you the opportunity to cut down on overall eating in a day.
Walking to lose weight for an hour daily does require you to eat enough to keep your energy up for an active daily lifestyle. This should be made up of healthy alternatives to your previous diet. Keep meat servings small, and increase the amount of vegetables and rice. This will ensure you have enough energy.
Transition processes work well for this new lifestyle change. In this way you prepare for the overall change by practicing some of the behavior (walking and eating healthily) before introducing it on a regular basis. Gradually bring together several layers of resources that will support exercising for weight loss as ongoing.
For instance, if you are a regular burger junkie, try alternatives such as Subway and lean versions. Remember to practice a new attitude of being willing to replace your taste expectations by ‘seeing’ your alternative meal as ‘healthy’, ‘feels clean’, ‘I can feel my new body already’, etc.
Think of it this way: if I was a new me with a svelte figure and heaps of body confidence what decision would I make about this food?
You might try identifying with the people who make the ‘no sauce’ or ‘no butter’ requests. I know about some of us spending all the time while we’re ‘trying’ new behaviors sabotaging it with internal comments about the types of people who could like this food! The way to accept and start to enjoy this new food is to begin to look for reasons to like it.
A familiar example is the full cream versus low fat milk. Yes there is a difference but often it can be totally disguised in recipes etc. And many of us now find full cream cappuccinos less appealing and too greasy. I can always tell the difference because a full cream take away cap is far heavier to hold than the equivalent skim version.
Walking to lose weight fluctuates like all aspects of a daily life. It is not something to attempt to do perfectly yet will seem ‘perfect’ to others looking at your results.
So along with the small step goals, and small bites remember to make small lifestyle changes too. This is like allowing a refreshing breeze into your life.
