However, many people start weight loss with a healthy balanced diet, as well as a regular exercise programme, but what do you do when exercise isn’t an option? You might just not want to bother with exercise, which isn’t a good enough excuse as exercise is important during weight loss to maintain your body’s functions and tone, but if exercise is medically unadvisable for you, there are ways around it.
Some people suffer allergic attacks when exercising, because of the sweat that comes about from hard, physical labour, for example. This can make you feel itchy, hungry and fatigued and common sense dictates that if it makes you feel uncomfortable, you probably shouldn’t be doing it as much as you are. Therefore, you need to do the maximum amount of exercise you can do without risking your wellness and then turn to other methods.
Dieting is the main way people lose weight but it can put you in an endless struggle with yourself. You can feel full of guilt every time you reach for a crisp or two and end up in a viscous cycle of weight loss and weight gain, which doesn’t help those guilty feelings. Therefore, going ‘on a diet’ implies you’ll be coming off it at some point – isn’t there a better way?
The answer is simple, though it may not be easy: Identify your habits, and then change them. If you change your unhealthy habits, then you shift your focus from temporary weight loss, to permanent weight control. Start by aiming to manage your current weight, and then you can slowly begin to reduce it. By changing your habits gradually, you won’t buckle under the pressure of a sudden change because your body might not even notice it. According to Albert Einstein, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’ so you have to make changes that fit in with your lifestyle, but change it enough to change your results. Look online or consult your doctor to find the changes you can make one by one, until you’re a healthier new you.