The Mental Approach to Easy Weight Loss For Teenagers
It has never been easy being a teenager. And if you are a teenager with a weight problem, it is even more difficult, especially since we live in such an image conscious society where being thin is presented as the ideal that everyone ought to be striving for in order to be popular and healthy. The good news is that if you are a teenager with a weight problem, weight loss does not have to be difficult. In this article we will look at some practical guidelines for quick and easy weight loss that you can apply right away.
First of all you need to take responsibility for who you are, and not blame others, such as your parents or siblings, if you are not happy with yourself or your appearance. Blame is a destructive emotion that is very counterproductive to the goal of losing weight. The flip side of blame is guilt - guilt over your appearance and being heavy in the first place. This, too, is very counterproductive to your desire to lose weight. The first thing you need to do is to try to find that healthy emotional balance free of both guilt and blame. This will make losing weight much easier and attainable.
Secondly, you must be committed to a long term approach to weight loss. This entails a change in lifestyle, as opposed to quick fixes that might produce an immediate result, but one that is short lived. A long term mindset also helps you to better weather the setbacks you are sure to encounter along the way to achieving your fitness goals.
That brings us to a third important point, namely, set reasonable and attainable goals. This is important because if you set goals that are too hard to achieve, you are much more likely to get discouraged and give up. What is a reasonable goal? For most people, including teenagers, a reasonable weight loss target is about 1/2 to 1 pound per week. This is very doable with just a moderate amount of exercise and a slight decrease in your daily caloric intake. What you do not want to do, under any circumstances, is to drastically reduce your caloric intake in order to produce a more rapid weight reduction. For example, if you were to reduce your calories to about 1200 per day, that would be way too low and you would be robbing yourself of the nutrition required to remain healthy. Stick to reasonable goals, and this won't be a problem.
First of all you need to take responsibility for who you are, and not blame others, such as your parents or siblings, if you are not happy with yourself or your appearance. Blame is a destructive emotion that is very counterproductive to the goal of losing weight. The flip side of blame is guilt - guilt over your appearance and being heavy in the first place. This, too, is very counterproductive to your desire to lose weight. The first thing you need to do is to try to find that healthy emotional balance free of both guilt and blame. This will make losing weight much easier and attainable.
Secondly, you must be committed to a long term approach to weight loss. This entails a change in lifestyle, as opposed to quick fixes that might produce an immediate result, but one that is short lived. A long term mindset also helps you to better weather the setbacks you are sure to encounter along the way to achieving your fitness goals.
That brings us to a third important point, namely, set reasonable and attainable goals. This is important because if you set goals that are too hard to achieve, you are much more likely to get discouraged and give up. What is a reasonable goal? For most people, including teenagers, a reasonable weight loss target is about 1/2 to 1 pound per week. This is very doable with just a moderate amount of exercise and a slight decrease in your daily caloric intake. What you do not want to do, under any circumstances, is to drastically reduce your caloric intake in order to produce a more rapid weight reduction. For example, if you were to reduce your calories to about 1200 per day, that would be way too low and you would be robbing yourself of the nutrition required to remain healthy. Stick to reasonable goals, and this won't be a problem.
