Improve Self-Efficacy to Lose Weight

How Do I Build Self-Efficacy?

So how do you turn a negative belief system into positive thoughts? Researchers have identified four things that impact self-efficacy: mastery of experiences, social modeling, social persuasion, and emotional responses. You can learn more about each one from Kendra Cherry, the About.com Guide to Psychology. But if weight loss is your goal, here's how you can improve each self-efficacy factor to lose weight.

 Ways to Improve Self-Efficacy to Lose Weight

Set and reach small goals. To improve your mastery of experiences, you want to successfully complete small goals that will act as stepping stones to larger accomplishments. Break each long-term goal into smaller achievable goals, and as you complete each one, acknowledge it in your journal and remind yourself of your success. The completion of each small task will build your level of self-efficacy for completing larger tasks in the future.

Surround yourself with positive messages. If the people that surround you are successfully completing the goal that you want to achieve, you're more likely to believe that you can do it, too. Find friends that have some habits you admire. Skip the lunchroom snacks and spend your break with a crowd that eats a healthy meal. Instead of going to happy hour with your buddies, find a few friends that want to hit the gym and exercise.

You can also surround yourself with positive messages electronically. Sign up for newsletters that provide healthy messages, fill your Facebook feed with posts from weight loss coaches and successful dieters, and follow health-oriented Twitter feeds.

Social Persuasion. Talk to your family and friends. Let them know that their encouragement and positive messages make a difference. Then, make it a habit to acknowledge the compliments when you get them.

If your friends and family are not supportive, this is another area where social media can help. Several recent studies have found that positive messages sent electronically can help people lose weight. Get connected with others and with me! Sign up for my newsletter, my Facebook page and my Twitter feed. You’ll find messages from me and other dieters who have lost weight.

Learn to Relax. If you have intense emotional reactions to situations, your self-efficacy with regards to your ability to handle that situation will probably be low. Take some time to identify the situations that cause you to react strongly. Then, learn relaxation techniques that will help you to manage them with a calm demeanor.

If the concept of self-efficacy is new to you, don’t worry. Simply your awareness of your positive and negative beliefs may help you change the things you need to adjust in order to lose weight. Remember to start small, make changes gradually, acknowledge your successes and move forward from there.

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Diet pills, supplements and surgery

Diet pills and surgery can help with weight loss — when combined with a healthy diet and physical activity. But diet pills aren't for everyone. Neither is surgery. In fact, many doctors consider them only if you have weight-related health problems.

If you're in that group, you and your doctor need to carefully evaluate the potential benefits of diet pills or surgery and weigh them against the possible long-term risks. Your doctor will also counsel you about the lifestyle changes you'll need to make to be successful over the long term.

 

  Reduce Your Sugar Intake to Lose Weight

 If you're looking for the simplest way to slim down and improve your health, learning to reduce your sugar intake would probably be it.  Sugar is in many of the processed foods we eat, in almost all of the commercial beverages we drink, and we often add it mindlessly to foods at home. It's no wonder that high sugar consumption is being blamed for a variety of global health problems.

So what's the solution? Learn to find hidden sugars and reduce sugar in your diet.  It's not too complicated.  Use these resources to learn more about the sweetener, then put the tips to use in your daily routine. Chances are good that you'll feel better, look better and slim down in weeks.

Am I Addicted to Sugar?

Do you know the signs and symptoms of sugar addiction? Even if you don't eat sweets, you could have a bad sugar habit.  Use this checklist to find out if you have a sugar addiction.

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Diet Plans

When it comes to weight loss, there's no shortage of diet plans. Check any magazine rack, and you're bound to see the latest and greatest diet plans. But how do you know if a diet plan fits your needs and lifestyle? Ask yourself these questions about any diet plan you're considering:

·         Does it include various foods from the major food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products, lean protein sources, nuts and seeds?

·         Does it include foods you like and that you would enjoy eating for a lifetime — not just for several weeks or months?

·         Can you easily find these food in your local grocery store?

·         Will you be able to eat your favorite foods, or better yet, all foods?

·         Does it fit your lifestyle and budget?

·         Does it include proper amounts of nutrients and calories to help you lose weight safely and effectively?

·         Is regular physical activity part of the plan?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, keep looking. There are better diet plans out there for you.

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Weight-Loss Basics

Your weight is a balancing act, and calories are part of that equation. Fad diets may promise you that counting carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit will make the pounds drop off. But when it comes to weight loss, it's calories that count. Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in. You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages and increasing calories burned through physical activity.

Once you understand that equation, you're ready to set your weight-loss goals and make a plan for reaching them. Remember, you don't have to do it alone. Talk to your doctor, family and friends for support. Also, plan smart: Anticipate how you'll handle situations that challenge your resolve and the inevitable minor setbacks.

If you have serious health problems because of your weight, your doctor may suggest weight-loss surgery or medications for you. In this case, you and your doctor will need to thoroughly discuss the potential benefits and the possible risks.

But don't forget the bottom line: The key to successful weight loss is a commitment to making permanent changes in your diet and exercise habits.

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Weight-Loss & Diet Plans

                           Weight-Loss Diet Meal Plans to Help You Lose Weight

You can healthfully lose weight without resorting to unhealthy trendy diets or risky supplements. How? Our weight loss diet meal plans are designed by EatingWell’s nutrition and culinary experts to offer delicious, nutritionally balanced meals for weight loss while keeping you satisfied. Just find your calorie level and you'll receive a personalized meal plan of breakfast, lunch and dinner planned for weeks

Lose Weight Fast: How to Do It Safely

It's time to move more! Losing weight requires close to an hour a day of moderate exercise, one study shows.

Plan to do cardio and strength training.

"Cardio burns the most calories, so it is ideal for fast weight loss, but afterward you need to include a few hours a week of strength training," Dansinger says. To burn the most fat, try to break a sweat after your warm-up and keep sweating for the entire hour, Dansinger says.

If you're not exercising now, and you have a chronic condition or a lot of weight to lose, it's wise to check in with your health care provider first. They'll be rooting for you! And they'll make sure that you're ready to work out.

Pace yourself. Don't do too much, too soon -- work your way up to help prevent injury.  

One way to step up the intensity is to do interval training -- brief bursts of high-intensity, followed by a more mellow pace, and repeating that pattern throughout your workout.

"Interval training allows people to work harder without having to spend the entire time at the higher level, and over time, the more you do it, the easier it becomes to burn more calories," Blatner says  

Fad Diets and Crash Diets

I know how tempting diet crazes can sound, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. You hear about stars who did it and look incredible.

But remember,  if a diet plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Also, please skip any programs that promote detoxification pills, laxatives, fasting, or potions, and any that promise weight loss faster than 2-3 pounds per week.

The truth is that cutting calories below 1,050-1,200 per day is counterproductive, because you need strong muscles to be able to exercise effectively.

"When you eat too few calories, you lose fat but also precious muscle, which is the worst thing you could do because it slows your metabolism and makes it more difficult to increase exercise intensity or duration," Dansinger says.

Fad diets also set you up for failure by depriving you of what you want. You can't eat like that for long, and it's too likely that you'll rebel and end up back where you started. You deserve better than that!

So by all means, attack your weight loss goal. Put it on the fast track. But please, do it right so you set yourself up for lasting success.

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Healthy dieting and weight loss tip #4: Fill up with fruit, veggies, and fiber

To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat less food. You can fill up while on a diet, as long as you choose your foods wisely.

Fiber: the secret to feeling satisfied while losing weight

High-fiber foods are higher in volume and take longer to digest, which makes them filling. There’s nothing magic about it, but the weight-loss results may seem like it.

High-fiber heavyweights include:

• Fruits and vegetables – Enjoy whole fruits across the rainbow (strawberries, apples, oranges, berries, nectarines, plums), leafy salads, and green veggies of all kinds.
• Beans – Select beans of any kind (black beans, lentils, split peas, pinto beans, chickpeas). Add them to soups, salads, and entrees, or enjoy them as a hearty dish on their own.
• Whole grains – Try high-fiber cereal, oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat or multigrain bread, and air-popped popcorn.

Focus on fresh fruits and veggies

Counting calories and measuring portion sizes can quickly become tedious, but you don’t need an accounting degree to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s generally safe to eat as much as you want, whenever you want.

The high water and fiber content in most fresh fruits and vegetables makes them hard to overeat. You’ll feel full long before you’ve overdone it on the calories.

• Eat vegetables raw or steamed, not fried or breaded, and dress them with herbs and spices or a little olive oil or cheese for flavor.
• Add nuts and cheese to salads but don’t overdo it. Use low-fat salad dressings, such as a vinaigrette made with olive oil.
• Pour a little less cereal into your morning bowl to make room for some blueberries, strawberries, or sliced bananas. You’ll still enjoy a full bowl, but with a lower calorie count.
• Swap out some of the meat and cheese in your sandwich with healthier veggie choices like lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers, and avocado.
• Instead of a high-calorie snack, like chips and dip, try baby carrots or celery with hummus.
• Add more veggies to your favorite main courses to make your dish “go” further. Even dishes such as pasta and stir-fries can be diet-friendly if you use less noodles and more vegetables.
• Try starting your meal with a salad or soup to help fill you up, so you eat less of your entrée.

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Healthy Weight Loss & Dieting Tips

In our eat-and-run, massive-portion-sized culture, maintaining a healthy weight can be tough—and losing weight, even tougher. If you’ve tried and failed to lose weight before, you may believe that diets don’t work for you. You’re probably right: traditional diets don’t work—at least not in the long term. However, there are plenty of small but powerful ways to avoid common dieting pitfalls, achieve lasting weight loss success, and develop a healthier relationship with food.

The key to successful, healthy weight loss

Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight.

Since 3,500 calories equals about one pound of fat, if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'll lose approximately one pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). Simple, right? Then why is weight loss so hard?

All too often, we make weight loss much more difficult than it needs to be with extreme diets that leave us cranky and starving, unhealthy lifestyle choices that undermine our dieting efforts, and emotional eating habits that stop us before we get started. But there’s a better way! You can lose weight without feeling miserable. By making smart choices every day, you can develop new eating habits and preferences that will leave you feeling satisfied—and winning the battle of the bulge.

Getting started with healthy weight loss

While there is no “one size fits all” solution to permanent healthy weight loss, the following guidelines are a great place to start:

Think lifestyle change, not short-term diet. Permanent weight loss is not something that a “quick-fix” diet can achieve. Instead, think about weight loss as a permanent lifestyle change—a commitment to your health for life. Various popular diets can help jumpstart your weight loss, but permanent changes in your lifestyle and food choices are what will work in the long run.

• Find a cheering section. Social support means a lot. Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to impact weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Seek out support—whether in the form of family, friends, or a support group—to get the encouragement you need.
• Slow and steady wins the race. Aim to lose one to two pounds a week to ensure healthy weight loss. Losing weight too fast can take a toll on your mind and body, making you feel sluggish, drained, and sick. When you drop a lot of weight quickly, you’re actually losing mostly water and muscle, rather than fat.
• Set goals to keep you motivated. Short-term goals, like wanting to fit into a bikini for the summer, usually don’t work as well as wanting to feel more confident or become healthier for your children’s sakes. When frustration and temptation strike, concentrate on the many benefits you will reap from being healthier and leaner.
• Use tools that help you track your progress. Keep a food journal and weigh yourself regularly, keeping track of each pound and inch you lose. By keeping track of your weight loss efforts, you’ll see the results in black and white, which will help you stay motivated.

Keep in mind it may take some experimenting to find the right diet for your individual body. It’s important that you feel satisfied so that you can stick with it on a long-term basis. If one diet plan doesn’t work, then try another one. There are many ways to lose weight. The key is to find what works for you.

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