We don't mean to sound warlike, but when it comes to dieting you have to have a plan of attack, and stick with it, and by the end of it you will be quoting the A Team's Colonel with a big smile on your face - "I love it when a plan comes together" - and old George Peppard will be giving you a hearty slap on the back for tackling that most toughest of enemies - fat! - and winning.
But you will have won not because you chose a fad diet or went on some bonkers fast weight loss program, but because you had a plan ...a long-term plan. Rome wasn't built in a day, so they say, and neither was the Hollywood set of the movie Ben Hur. Rome was real, and lasted for hundreds of years. The set of Ben Hur may have been torn down after its use - but the movie lives on, and has been a film favorite for over 50 years.
The point is, there is reality, and there is fantasy - yet both can have long lasting life. If you are looking to lose weight because the reality is you need to, then it doesn't have to be a fantasy that you will slim down to your dream size. It is achievable if you adopt a sensible mind set about it.
How to lose weight and keep it off?
Think long term, not short term, and you won't be disappointed. Some diet experts call it the False Hope Syndrome, when people have unrealistic expectations about how long it will take to shift that extra poundage. That's why they are lured by the quick-fix diet fads that proliferate the universe with the promise of instantaneous results. But that is all they are, shallow, instant fixes devoid of meaning. In fact, the only thing that will go for good if you fall for these whims is the money in your purse. Certainly it won't be the weight that disappears forever.
That's where the title of this piece comes in: "Lose It Slowly, Keep It Off."
And that's why we have adopted it as the title, because it is the only truly proven method to attain permanent, long lasting control of your weight. It's truly one of the most effective ways to lose weight and keep it off! And it works because thinking long term prevents the dieter from becoming depressed, and despondent about their lack of success if they have followed a short-term fad, realized it's hopeless, and then decided that they are never going to bother ever again.
What every dieter needs to do is look at the bigger picture of a thinner you that is achieved over a few months rather than a couple of weeks, and the wait, and work, will be even more worth it. This is true, meaningful dieting.
Health experts are generally of the opinion that a realistic weight loss target is 5 to 10 percent of your start weight. So, for instance, if you weigh 200 pounds, then you should be aiming to lose between 10 to 20 pounds (which is no mean feat when you think about it). But you should be happy to lose all that gradually. Aim for 1 to 2 pounds a week, and within 10 weeks you will have reached your target. Doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
The main point to remember is that we are talking about reaching a desired weight, and then being able to keep it there, and maintaining that level. When you have reached a set weight you are now in control of it. And you will have gained control of your weight because you have worked to reach that level with a good, sustainable diet that has still given you all the vital benefits of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and all the myriad other nutrients that the body needs, and can only properly get from food.
But before you start to hesitate, and sigh heavily that 10 weeks still sounds like a long time, think about this -
There is nothing to say that you can't set yourself short-term goals within the long-term plan. In fact this is a great motivational thing to do, and will inspire you to continue your journey to a happier you. Being happy to shed the 1 to 2 pounds a week should be encouraging enough, or even managing to just not eat as much as you once were is to be applauded. After all they are 'mini milestones,' and are achievements worth celebrating (but we don't mean with a Mars Bar!) Logging your successes in a journal is also another way of marking the achievements you are making. And of course, what is really happening here, is that you are beginning to adopt a new way of thinking about yourself and the way you look after your body. You are making a huge lifestyle change, and that is worth celebrating too because changing ones ways is not at all easy. It takes courage, determination, commitment, desire, and will power.
Let's be frank - crushing bad habits takes guts!
Okay, that's settled then, you are going to diet, and you are going to adopt the long-term mind set, with short-term goals because you now know this is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.
So what's next?
Well, it leads us nicely to the lovely subject of food, and what the best foods are for the determined dieter in for the long haul. But that's the beauty of going for the long-term doable target - your choice of foods will probably differ only very slightly from your normal choice. At least it won't be cabbage soup every day for the next seven days, or a two week plan of nothing but lemonade. With the aid of a bit of thought, and the help of a good nutritionist, you can be enjoying proper food without the addition of drastic measures of shakes, and pills, and other oddities that are just foreign, and unnatural for our bodies.
Eating healthily and combining that with a good regime of exercise is the secret to controlling your weight, and enjoying an overall sense of health, and well-being. But organizing this plan by yourself can be quite daunting given the extremely complex nature of, well, the human nature of our bodies, hearts, and minds.
That's why we have our team of expert nutritionists and fitness coaches on standby at changingshape.com. We are here to help formulate the individual diet plan that you are looking for, because we know that everyone is different, and requires individual attention. At changingshape.com you get the best of both worlds - a carefully prepared set of meal plans and a structured fitness schedule, all from the one professional team. Fighting fat together - Colonel Peppard would be proud of us!
Matthew Johnson (Google+) is a certified personal trainer, nutrition expert and an on-line fitness consultant that started ChangingShape.com back in 2001.
And that's why we have adopted it as the title, because it is the only truly proven method to attain permanent, long lasting control of your weight. It's truly one of the most effective ways to lose weight and keep it off! And it works because thinking long term prevents the dieter from becoming depressed, and despondent about their lack of success if they have followed a short-term fad, realized it's hopeless, and then decided that they are never going to bother ever again. 
The main point to remember is that we are talking about reaching a desired weight, and then being able to keep it there, and maintaining that level. When you have reached a set weight you are now in control of it. And you will have gained control of your weight because you have worked to reach that level with a good, sustainable diet that has still given you all the vital benefits of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and all the myriad other nutrients that the body needs, and can only properly get from food.
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