Читать книгу Diabetes Weight Loss: Week by Week - Jill Weisenberger - Страница 3
ОглавлениеChances are good that you have tried to lose weight in the past—perhaps many times. You may have lost weight but gained it back, plus more. Maybe you stopped losing weight after dropping just a few pounds. Many people with diabetes think it’s impossible to control both their weight and blood glucose at the same time and are confused about which one to make a priority. But there’s good news; you really can do both. Dealing with the immediate effects of exercise and food choices on your blood glucose does make weight loss more challenging, but it’s not impossible.
Why should you be successful this time when you weren’t successful in the past? This book does not promote a one-size-fits-all diet. You are not identical to anyone, and your diabetes and your life are not identical to anyone else’s either. Therefore, you need to make your own best diet. There are no rules here—just guidance. In Diabetes Weight Loss—Week by Week, you’ll learn that weight loss is about skill, not willpower. There is a large gap between being motivated and successfully losing weight. That gap needs to be filled with knowledge, strategies, skills, self-confidence, and feedback. That’s what this book will give you. By taking small steps, you can trim down and feel fabulous—while taking care of your diabetes at the same time. You will learn skills to handle yourself in the kitchen, grocery store, and restaurants. You’ll learn to handle tough situations and difficult people. You’ll be able to set realistic weight-loss and lifestyle goals, and you’ll create ways to be more active.
Having a strong set of skills is far better than having willpower. Think about when you learned to parallel park your car, throw a curveball, or tie your shoes. Did willpower make you successful? Of course not. If you are able to do those things well, it’s because you practiced and developed those skills. Becoming a pitcher, bowler, tennis player, cook, or safe driver requires knowledge, strategy, practice, skill, and feedback, either from a coach or your own experiences.
Success also requires that you have the proper attitude. It is important that each week you focus on the knowledge, skills, and strategies that will get you to your weight-loss and health goals. Pay attention to your weight, but don’t let that be your focus. Don’t be in a rush to lose the weight. By working hard at lifestyle changes, not only will you be healthier and slimmer, you’ll also be more likely to keep the weight off and maintain your new healthy habits. That’s why this book covers a full year. You’ll have plenty of time to practice new skills. You will face new challenges as the seasons change, especially during celebrations, vacations, and other events that occur during a year. This book is designed to reflect the struggles and topics you could work on with a registered dietitian, health coach, or diabetes educator over 12 months. It is advised you see a registered dietitian to help you develop an individualized meal plan based on your personal carbohydrate needs and medications. This book will supplement your plan.
In this week-by-week guide, you will cover a lot of material in the early chapters. There are mini lessons covering diet, food knowledge, cooking skills, behavior change, physical activity, and diabetes-specific concerns. Each chapter covers just a few of these topics. This will give you a good knowledge base that you can translate into actions at a reasonable pace. You must take action, though. Just passively taking in the information is likely to do little to help you change behaviors. Read the sections, practice the skills, decide how you can apply the information. Then, start using your new skills. Each week and month builds on the previous mini lessons. The later chapters provide information and skills for making your weight-management plan work over the long haul.
If you have a burning desire to read ahead to learn more about a particular topic, go ahead. Just as if you were working one-on-one with a registered dietitian, you should cover the topics most important to you. However, you should resist the temptation to take on more than a few topics and skills at one time. Long-term success requires re-learning behaviors, and we can learn only so much at one time. Also, resist the temptation to skip sections. If you are looking to lose weight, everything in this book applies to you.
Share this book and what you learn with your family and others who are important to you. Allow them to support you, and allow them to learn as well. Most of the skills you will learn are the same skills anyone—with diabetes or not—needs to achieve successful weight loss and optimal health. Ask someone who wants to lose weight to work through the book with you. You’ll both benefit and enjoy each other’s support.
Before you even get started, ask yourself why you want to lose weight. What is your reason? What motivates you? One benefit of weight loss is better health, which leads to improved control of blood glucose and blood pressure, increased fertility, healthier pregnancies, and reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, and more. Some benefits are directly related to your quality of life: you have more energy, sleep more soundly, cross your legs more comfortably, suffer less knee pain, and wear trendier clothes.
Motivation comes and goes, so you will need to help it along sometimes. Get a jump on that now while your motivation is high. Put together an individualized Motivation Kit. Get a box or notebook or both to collect photos, magazine articles, motivational sayings, meaningful quotations, your list of reasons to lose weight, affirmation cards, and anything else that pumps you up and reminds you of the reasons why you want to get healthier. Keep your Motivation Kit handy so you can reach for it whenever you need it, and so you can add to it often.
Use a reliable scale to measure your weight. Plot your weight on the Weight-Loss Graph in the Appendix. Do this each time you weigh in. To check the reliability of your scale, weigh yourself three times within a minute or so. Each weight should vary by no more than a pound. If, for example, the scale indicates that you weigh 180 pounds, but when you stand on it two more times it indicates your weight to be 184 and 177 pounds, it’s not a reliable scale. Either buy another or plan to regularly visit your doctor’s office or gym for your weigh-ins.
How often should you weigh yourself? That depends on you. If you can use the scale as nothing more than information to guide your actions, weigh in at least once a week. This way, you can reevaluate your diet and exercise plan if your weight isn’t dropping. But if the number on the scale becomes a source of anxiety rather than merely a number that carries no judgment, weigh yourself less frequently—once a week, once a month, or not at all.
“I want to lose 15 pounds this week,” is an example of an unrealistic goal. “I plan to lose 1–2 pounds this week,” is far more realistic but still ineffective. The problem with this statement is that it focuses on the end result and not on the behavior needed to get there. How are you going to lose those pounds? What behaviors do you need to change?
“I will eat better,” does focus on a behavior—eating. However, it is still too vague to be effective. How do you define eating better? How will you determine if you are successful? Each of these elements needs to be part of your goal.
By following the SMART principles of goal setting, you’ll be able to march down a clear path to success. Once you have your goals clearly defined, write them down and keep them in a place where you’ll be able to read them often. Below are the five elements of a SMART goal; you will also find a corresponding worksheet in the Appendix.
S: Specific
Avoid vague goals. Be specific about what you will do, how you will do it, and where you will do it. If your goal is specific, anyone who reads it will know exactly what you plan to do.
M: Measureable
Can you measure your success? Will you be able to report if you are 100% or 75% successful?
A: Action Oriented
Be certain your goal is listed as a behavior. What action will you take?
R: Realistic
Is this goal attainable if you put forth effort? Can you achieve this with the resources you have?
T: Timely
Know when you will do this and when you will assess your results.
Examples of SMART Goal Setting
Once your goals are written, ask yourself what you need to do to be successful. If you plan to eat fruits and vegetables with every meal, you’ll need to have them on hand. If you regularly skip breakfast, you might need to set your alarm to get up 20 minutes earlier each day or prepare a grab-and-go breakfast the night before. By thinking through your goals clearly, you’re setting yourself up to win.
Now you’re ready to begin. Be prepared to work hard, plan ahead, and learn new skills.
