Saturday, October 11, 2008

Now That You've Decided to Start Dieting

By Ricardo d Argence

Okay, so you've read some of these articles, done your homework and now your finally ready to begin a diet and exercise program. But you still have this one same question in the back of your mind, Where in the heck do I start? There is so much knowledge and guidelines out there that sometimes we don't know how to put it all together. Well, this is your lucky day!

Before we get into this let me make one thing clear. It is virtually impossible to know everything there is to know about diet and exercise. If everyone waited until they knew everything in order to get started no one would get started. What we first need to do is to construct a plan. Our plan will be simplified but will be enough to get you on the right track.

Set your goals. Being without a goal is like wandering in the desert hoping to find an oasis. You have to know what oasis you are looking for before you can begin to travel there. The determination you should of had, You will not have. It is harder to stick to working towards your goal if you can't imagine exactly what you want. You can ask yourself some questions like: How much weight do I want to lose? What measurements am I looking for? Do I want a smaller waist?

After you have finished this, it doesn't take much to write down answers to some of these questions as a reference later. If necesary, record related statistics like measurements or your weight. Your results can be measured more effectively when you can make a comparison.

Begin to build your food choices and the amounts of each. For some people the most difficulr part is to decide how much or little food they should eat. I have found over the years that the most accurate guideline to multiply your current bodyweightby 10. That should be your daily caloric intake. The most accurate weight is measured first thing in the morning, wearing nothing.

Start developing your exercise regime. If you want permanent lasting results you may want to consider weight training even though it is not required. Running and other low-impact exercises are adequate ways to exercise.

You should start to meet your fitness goals with this plan. After you have laid your foundation in this manner, you can build upon it with new information as you acquire it. - 15437

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