January Diet Dilemmas

Every January, people tell me they are on a diet.

“This is it, this is the year I’m going to drop 10-pounds,” some say.

My dad is on the Scarsdale Diet, which he’s been on before. He says he has lost 10-pounds in four-weeks.

From Weight Watchers to Jenny Craig, to all the other fad diets – that’s all they really are.

Whenever someone tells me they are on a diet, I always ask them the all important question – have you taken up working out too?

The answer is almost always “no.”

This tells me that although they may drop those pounds while on the diet, as soon as they go off the diet, they will quickly gain all that weight back.

Diets don’t work. They really don’t. Not at all.

The only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat healthy, and to exercise. This is what the experts have been telling us for years, and it is true.

I workout hard, hitting the gym usually three or four-times per week. When I’m at the gym, I usually workout for about two-hours.

I’m a workout freak – I love to workout. I enjoy the feeling of my muscles getting a good, healthy workout. I enjoy the burn of weight lifting, the strain my legs get while on the treadmill, and I like watching the heart-rate monitor rise, telling me I’m working out my heart.

You don’t have to workout like I do to be in shape. All you really need to exercise your body, is to workout for at least 30-minutes, three-times a week. You have to workout at an intensity that you break a sweat – or else all you are doing is tiring your muscles.

But still, people buy into the crap that some miracle diet will change their lives. I see the ads on late night television for diet pills, diet massagers, and of course, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.

None of these really work – and you don’t need to spend money on them. It is money wasted.

If you’re going to invest in your health – which is a wise investment – don’t spend it on some miracle diet or fad. Spend it on buying healthy fruits, vegetables and other low-fat foods. Spend it on an exercise or sport which you will ENJOY doing.

So many people join the gym in January with plans to lose weight. Gyms count on this – they force you into a one-year contract. So, when you realize that the gym isn’t for you, and you stop going after a couple of months, you still end up paying for the year-long membership.

I go to the gym, because I ENJOY it.

There are lots of fun things you can do to lose weight. You just have to figure out what it is that YOU enjoy.

Walking, running, riding a bike, playing tennis, even swimming and skating are all excellent exercises.

So, to lose weight, eat right, and find something active which you enjoy – and spend money on that.

Now leave Jenny Craig alone!