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It sounds simple enough doesn't it? You burn more calories than you take in in order to lose weight. To gain weight you burn fewer calories than you take in and to maintain weight you balance calories eaten with calories burned. If only weight management were that easy in real life. But it is not. So how do you find out how to lose weight fast?

Obesity Epidemic

We have all heard the statistics that one-third of adults, 72 million people, are obese. We have probably also heard that 16% of children are obese, that more and more kids are getting lifestyle diseases like diabetes II, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol at younger and younger ages. It has been said that today's youth will be the first generation not to outlive their parents in more than a hundred years.

Smacking Ourselves Into Line

It is no secret that being overweight sets you up for a myriad of health problems. We know in our heads that it would be best if we achieved some fat loss. Still, many do not even try. Others try and regain the weight. Some people develop eating disorders and laxative addictions. Why does it not seem to matter that we can die at an earlier age? Part of the answer is that food is more than just something we eat to stay alive.

Giving Up, Getting Fatter

Is the struggle worth it? Should we just eat whatever we want, enjoy our food and accept the fact that we will probably go to an early grave or should we continue the battle with weight management? The answer lies on the middle ground. Stop for a moment and consider this before jumping on yet another diet plan. What are your expectations of yourself on your new diet? You expect to lose weight, right? You intend to be 100% faithful to your eating plan, exercise religiously and just lose weight once and for all. If that is your expectation of yourself, you are already dooming yourself to failure before you even start. Nobody can be perfect at anything.

Re-framing Expectations

What if we re-framed our expectations to something more reasonable? Let's look at the issue from another angle. Percentages. Could you eat healthy foods 50% of all of your meals in a day or a week? What about 60% of meals? 75%? Could you eat healthy for 90% of your meals? What is the highest percentage of meals you think you could reasonably achieve with a minimum of stress and anxiety? Start there. Increase that percentage over time until you are eating healthy 90% of your meals. That means you ultimately have 10% wiggle room built right into your eating plan.

Now do the same thing with exercise. Could you exercise for five minutes, 10 minutes, an entire half hour one or two days a week? Find what works for you without provoking a huge anxiety response and build from there until you are working out 30 minutes for at least five days per week.

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