Diet and Exercise: Where Do We Begin?

Obesity is more than just a medical condition. It is a silent killer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 67% of American adults are classified as over-weight. This alarming statistic should be a wake-up call for all American families.

While many of us recognize the health benefits of a good diet and an exercise regimen, we have a hard time integrating them into our busy lives. Even when we're able to incorporate good diets and exercise routines, we only commit to them over short spurts of time.  Developing a sensible habit of eating right and exercising on a regular basis will take time and discipline.

The first step towards a healthier living style is to recognize that there is room for improvement. Then, by quantifying our improvement needs, we can devise a plan to help achieve our goal. Keep in mind that the goal should be for long-term health instead of short-term satisfaction, such as slimming down for Prom or a high-school reunion. Although both of these events are good motivational factors that we could use to jump-start our plan towards better health.

An example of goal quantification would be to achieve a target weight of 120-lbs and maintaining that weight for the remainder of your life. By identifying and breaking our goal into many smaller steps, we can develop a timeline to help us achieve these smaller milestones. For instance, if we need to lose 60-lbs to achieve our ideal weight of 120-lbs, then perhaps a plan to lose 1/2-lbs per week may be an acceptable and realizable plan.

The next step is to formulate an exercise routine and to devise a diet plan to help us achieve our goal to shed 1/2-lbs per week. Since everyone's body and metabolism are unique, each of us must customize our plan to suit our own needs. This may mean taking brisk walks 1/2 an hour per day (7-days per week) for one person while another person may only need the same brisk walk for 4 days out of the week. The next step is to identify your calorie intake needs and to formulate a diet regimen that can accommodate your needs.

In reality, most people really don't enjoy counting calories everyday nor do they possess the fortitude to maintain an exercise routine for long periods of time. That is why it is absolutely essential to dig deep within yourself to find those reasons that will motivate you to achieve and maintain weight control. A plausible motivation could be as simple as a way to postpone death. Another reason for weight loss may be a better quality of life. If you can't find good motivational factors, maybe the next best thing is to solicit help from family, friends and outreach organizations. Getting started with an advertised weight-loss program or a diet program may help as well. For instance, there are an abundance of nutritional and weight-loss programs that will provide prepared meals with predetermined caloric content so that you won't have to count calories. Likewise, there are plenty of fitness programs that you can enjoy without having to step foot into a gym.

That being said, weight loss programs and diet plans are a-dime-a-dozen and many are not effective in helping us achieve our goals. Fact is, new ones pop up everyday and old ones reinvent themselves under new names and new ownership. We should not expect these programs to act as lifetime motivators, but only as a way to help us kick-start our weight-loss regimen.

This website is dedicated to helping you find the right diet, nutritional or exercise program that suits your lifestyle and needs. The site is intended to identify health programs and to provide reviews to help consumers make educated decisions. If you have reviews, suggestions or concerns regarding a program please contact us to let us know.