Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health
Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss
Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources |
HOME PAGE

Health Club 101 DIRECT
Natural Supplements | HGH Energizer | Eazol Natural Pain Relief | Revitol Cellulite Solution
IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Menopause Symptoms Relief | Insomnia Sleeping Aid


Articles & Information

Medicine | Nutrition | Exercise | Fitness Equipment | Pregnancy
Bodybuilding Supplements | Weight Loss | Breast Cancer | Diabetes
Category Site Map



Determine Your Stage and Plot Your Weight Loss Course


We all know that losing weight and improving your overall fitness are things that don't happen overnight. But, did you know in order to be truly successful that important steps need to be taken before you even start a diet or exercise program? The first thing you should do is identify where you fall on the behavioral change spectrum. There are five distinct stages of behavioral change. Do you know what stage you currently fall under?

Knowing what stage you are at will help you to create a road map to the subsequent stages and ultimately help you to be successful in your fitness goals. Below are the five major phases.

  • Precontemplation: This is the point where you don't feel that any change in your lifestyle is necessary. You may be thinking that exercising just takes too much time or that fast food is just too convenient to even consider giving up. Starting a fitness or diet program during this stage would probably result in failure. The best thing you can do during this phase is educate yourself further about health, diseases and risks.

  • Contemplation: During this stage you may start thinking that a change is necessary. So, you think that maybe cutting back to eating fast food only three times a week is not so bad and you might be able to at least take a walk once in awhile. This is a good time to learn more about the benefits of healthy eating and regular exercise.

  • Preparation: At this point you are getting more serious about taking action. You've penciled in a walk with your friend for next week and are planning to go grocery shopping to cook a home meal. You may want to research exercise equipment, gyms, personal trainers, and diet programs to learn more about what you can do (with the help of professionals and/or equipment) to get in better shape.

  • Action: Here's where you actually take the first step. The first step may be as simple as taking a daily walk, reducing your fast food visits to twice a month or just cutting back on daily sodas. Or, you may go as far as hiring a personal trainer or joining a gym. During this stage it is very important to learn coping mechanisms that will help you avoid re-lapse into your old ways. One way to avoid being a part of the high exercise dropout statistics is starting slowly into a new program and making permanent lifestyle changes versus temporary ones.

  • Maintenance: This is, of course, the phase that everyone should strive to be at. This means that you have been doing a regular fitness program consistently for quite some time and that you continue your new lifestyle. It's important throughout this stage (which should last a lifetime) that you include a variety of workouts that change frequently. You should also seek social support of friends and family.

    So, now can you identify what stage you are at? You may find that you are in the precontemplation stage for nutritional habits but that you are in the preparation stage for exercises. That's okay. It's not critical for you to force both areas into the same stage. You can work on changing your nutritional and exercise habits separately.

    The key to success is first identifying your stage and then taking steps to advance to the next level (unless, of course, you are already at the Maintenance stage). Use the suggestions mentioned above in each stage to help you move to the next phase.

    For example, if you are in the precontemplation stage, then research and read as much as you can on the subject of health risks and how they relate to an individual's lifestyle. From there you will probably want to learn more about the consequences and benefits of specific lifestyles. Education is a powerful thing. The more you fully understand and can relate directly to the causes and effects of your action, the more inclined you will be to change.

    It's also important to tune-in to your fears, past struggles and expectations. Making nutritional and exercise changes is not easy and should be approached slowly. Remember to make small changes. Don't try to go from a completely sedentary lifestyle to an hour of continual exercise in just one day. Build up slowly starting with even just 10 minutes. And lastly, be sure to inform your family and friends of your plans and enlist their support. Support is extremely important for your success.

    About The Author

    Lynn Bode, author and certified personal trainer, offers her services online through WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You provides affordable online exercise programs to help even the busiest of people lose weight, tone-up, build muscles, increase stamina and more via the Internet. Let us guide you one-on-one through your fitness journey with weekly customized workouts designed just for YOU! Visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com for a free sample workout.

    info@workoutsforyou.com


    MORE RESOURCES:

    Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health
    Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss
    Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources |
    HOME PAGE

    Health Club 101 DIRECT
    Natural Supplements | HGH Energizer | Eazol Natural Pain Relief | Revitol Cellulite Solution
    IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Menopause Symptoms Relief | Insomnia Sleeping Aid


    Articles & Information

    Medicine | Nutrition | Exercise | Fitness Equipment | Pregnancy
    Bodybuilding Supplements | Weight Loss | Breast Cancer | Diabetes
    Category Site Map


    BioImagene CEO, Dr. Ajit Singh, Speaks On Enabling Personalized ...
    MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
    Digital pathology, a key enabler for personalized medicine, will aid clinicians in managing and interpreting data from a whole new set of diagnostic tests ...
    Aperio Introduces SecondSlide(TM) Digital Slide Sharing Network MarketWatch
    all 20 news articles


    dBTechno

    Medicine for the Job Market
    New York Times, United States - 14 hours ago
    By JONATHAN GRUBER A CENTRAL feature of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was an aggressive plan to expand health insurance coverage by subsidizing ...
    Reform or bust Barre Montpelier Times Argus
    New Report Shows Slower Premium Growth, But Increasing Pressure to ... MarketWatch
    Health Corps Harvard International Review
    Huffington Post - The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com
    all 213 news articles


    SmartAboutHealth

    American College of Surgeons Comments on Institute of Medicine ...
    MarketWatch - 21 hours ago
    CHICAGO, Dec 03, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The American College of Surgeons (ACS) today recognized the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for its ...
    BMC Internal Medicine Residency Program Achieves National ... iBerkshires.com
    Report urges more sleep for medical residents Los Angeles Times
    Medical Residents Must Sleep After 16 Hours, Experts Urge Washington Post
    New York Times - Peoria Journal Star
    all 328 news articles


    Research and Markets: 2008 Integrative Medicine and Dietary ...
    MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
    In this 32-page issue, we offer a breakdown of 2007 US Complementary and Alternative Medicine sales data and provides a detailed analysis of new integrative ...


    Drug Topics Magazine

    Drug Combo for Hypertension May Be Safer Than Recommended Alternative
    New York Times, United States - 40 minutes ago
    (Many patients cannot control their blood pressure with just one medicine.) “The important message is that the government recommends a drug that provides 20 ...
    Hypertension-drug mix cuts risk of serious ills Arizona Daily Star
    Blood Pressure Pill Combo More Effective Than Diuretics Washington Post
    Drug Combination Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Events Combination ... Drug Topics Magazine
    NJ.com - Media Newswire (press release)
    all 26 news articles


    Hyde Park Teen Ordered To Take Medicine
    kypost.com, KY - 2 hours ago
    A Hamilton County judge is ordering a Hyde Park teenager to take his medicine or face transfer to a more restrictive mental health facility. ...


    Javno.hr

    34 Nigerian Children Dead From Tainted Medicine
    Voice of America - Dec 3, 2008
    By VOA News Nigerian health officials say they are flying in doses of an antidote for a poisoned teething medicine that has now killed 34 infants. ...
    'Toxic' syrup kills Nigerian babies Aljazeera.net
    Teething mixture kills more Nigerian babies Monsters and Critics.com
    Nigeria infant drug toll hits 34, antidote flown in Reuters South Africa
    The Associated Press - NgEX
    all 113 news articles


    Mom's Cells Prime Fetal Immune System
    U.S. News & World Report, DC - 1 hour ago
    Dr. Rachel L. Miller, an associate professor of medicine and environmental health sciences at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical ...
    Study offers insights about development of the human immune system EurekAlert (press release)
    Researchers Make Key Discovery for Body to Accept Gene Therapy Newswise (press release)
    all 5 news articles


    Research database from the US Library of Medicine
    The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com, OH - 5 hours ago
    Search PubMed, Clinicaltrials.gov, the CDC and a dozen other medical sites - all at once. AP MEDICAL VIDEO by Michael O'Malley and Joan Mazzolini/Plain ...


    A New Index of Preventive Medicine Companies
    Motley Fool - 19 hours ago
    The accompanying table [click to enlarge] presents statistics and the top 15 rated companies in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Preventive Medicine Index. ...

    Medicine - Google News

  • home | site map
    Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health
    Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss
    Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources

    health, health insurance, health club, health care, women's health, man health, mental health, health and beauty, health fitness, health insurance quote, health food, affordable health insurance, health club gyms, health health, health spa, low cost health insurance, health food vitamin, mental health services, individual health insurance, health care jobs, dental health, woman health, sexual health, health food store, health insurance plan, home health care, health insurance coverage, health news, health service facility, student health insurance, health insurance company, man's health, health care equipment, health information, family health insurance, health article, group health insurance, woman's reproductive health, cheap health insurance, world health insurance, travel health insurance, health product, health and wellness, health plan, alternative health, international health insurance, health clinic, public health, senior health insurance, temporary health insurance, mental health clinic, health and safety, short term health insurance, department of health, health nutrition, free health insurance quote, health net, cardinal health, department of health, woman's health, national institute of health, discovery health, child health, health savings account, kid health, self employed health insurance, health medicine, accident health insurance, small business health insurance, health services, man health magazine, man health magazine, health supplement, prostate health, health center, yahoo health, free health insurance, elderly health, health magazine, home health, health club, health care, woman's health, man health, mental health, health and beauty, health fitness, health insurance quote, health food, affordable health insurance, health club gym health health, health spa, low cost health insurance, health food vitamin, mental health services, individual health insurance, health care jobs, dental health, cancer screening, cancer diagnosis, cancer prevention, holistic health, heart attack, heart monitoring, health club, health club 101, holistic, holistic medicine, holistic health, holistic healing, holistic health care, holistic therapy, holistic cancer treatment, holistic doctor, diabetes, symptom, diabetes diet, diabetes supply, diabetes mellitus, diabetes care, american diabetes association, diabetes information, type 2 diabetes, disease heart, disease heart kidney, stroke symptom, breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, american cancer society, skin cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer symptom, bone cancer, bladder cancer




    web design / voice overs / scooters website design