10 Healthy Ways to Lose or Maintain Your Weight
by Janetta Drake
1. Don’t
diet. A key
ingredient in this formula is to NEVER diet.
Remove the word from
your vocabulary! As a teen, your body is
growing and changing
rapidly. A strict diet at this stage in your life
could be unhealthy.
Now’s the time to learn how to eat right and
then do so for the rest of
your life.
2. Keep track.
Make a
food log for one week. Write down
everything you eat —
from regular meals to stolen bites of candy
bars to high-calorie drinks
like milkshakes or Cokes. Also make note of
what time it was
eaten.
3. Study the
results. At
the end of the week, look over your food log.
Evaluate where you’re
eating high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. Then
eliminate these foods
from your diet.
4. Find a pattern.
Spend
some time studying your food log, looking for
eating patterns. Do
you eat when you’re upset or nervous? Do you
eat at bedtime?
Stop using food as a Band-Aid for disturbed
emotions. When
you’re upset, take a walk or express your
feelings in a journal; do
anything but eat.
5. Eat your
Wheaties.
Don’t skip breakfast. It’s the most important
meal of the day. When
you wake up, your body hasn’t received any
nourishment for 10 to
12 hours. And when the body doesn’t receive
any food for more
than 12 hours, it goes into survival mode — it
burns calories at a
slower rate. Therefore, breakfast should be
your biggest
meal of the day.
6. Check the
chart. Learn
what foods your body needs daily.
 The
average person needs 2 to 3 servings of
meat, 4 servings of bread
and grains, 4 or more servings of fruits and
vegetables and 4 or
more cups of milk or milk products. The
USDA’s Food Guide
Pyramid provides a good checklist for
balancing your food
intake.
7. Dump the junk.
Avoid
FAST FOODS! Most are high in calories and
fat but low in nutritional
value. The only possible exception is pizza.
Pizza can be
nutritious, but only certain varieties. Avoid
pizzas with lots of meat
toppings and those with cheese-filled
crusts.
8. Don’t go
overboard.
Everything you eat must be in moderation.
You might be
eating healthy foods. But if you overeat ,
you’re defeating
your purpose.
9. Exercise!
Don’t put it
off. As the Nike ads say, “Just Do It!” Take a
walk or use the stairs
instead of the elevator. Park (or have Mom
drop you off) at the end
of the parking lot and walk to the mall. Jump
on a trampoline. Don’t
try to do the whole workout tape at one time;
start slow and gradually
work up to it. Go swimming. Be creative.
Exercise can be
fun!
10. Talk to God.
If you
don’t remember anything else, remember this
— GOD CREATED
YOU, AND HE UNDERSTANDS YOUR FEARS!
Talk to God
about your body image and self-esteem. He
cares! For proof of
this, read Psalm 139. Read it every day until
you believe it.
This article appeared in Brio
magazine. Copyright © 1996 Janetta Drake. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Illustration by Amy Bryant.Hey, we'd love to have some feedback from you! If you've got a comment about this article, send it to Brio@briomag.com. Please include your name, age, mailing address and the title of this article.
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