Tips worth repeating

Add comment December 17th, 2008

Among the things we ran across Tuesday while covering Windsor Elementary School teacher Amy Conklin’s success in a Weight Watchers’ contest were her tips on sticking with a weight-loss plan.

You wouldn’t have seen them unless you went to www.weightwatchers.com/inspiringstories to follow everything about the story, and I wanted to make sure they got repeated here since weight loss is likely to be high on a lot of New Year’s resolution lists.

Her tips are:

“You need to eat to lose weight. It may sound counter-intuitive, but when you deny your body nutrition by not eating, your metabolism slows down, making it harder to lose weight.”

“Don’t set a time frame for your weight loss. It can be a recipe for disaster. If you set a goal date and you are off track on achieving it, you are more likely to give up.”

“Lose weight and get healthy for yourself. Trying to lose weight for someone else or for an event means you aren’t ready to make a lifestyle change. Weight Watchers isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle (yes, I’m letting her get away with an endorsement, but to not do so would be to change her quote). This is one instance in life when it is OK to be completely selfish. Everyone who loves you will reap the benefits of this commitment to your health.”

“Be realistic about your goals. Rapid weight loss is not healthy and in most cases not sustainable.”

Her last tip is another endorsement, and one is enough. You can visit the Weight Watchers’ Web site if you want to read it.

In any event, I hope this may help you if weight loss is your goal for 2009.