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Make a Deal
If we don't watch our weight, however, says Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, director of the UPMC Health System Weight Management Center in Pittsburgh, those unwanted pounds will indeed add up.
"If you think of it as a healthy eating lifestyle and not a diet, then you can't fail ... you can't fall off the wagon because there is no wagon."
"Biologically, we will gain weight decade after decade if we don't change our eating habits and our activities," says Fernstrom. "Everyone needs to manage their weight."
Chronic monitoring of what you eat is not the problem, Fernstrom continues. Having unrealistic expectations is. Formal diet plans that tell you how much to eat, what to eat, and when to eat, just set you up to feel like a "food victim," says Fernstrom, and a victim is automatically set up for failure. "If you think of it as a healthy eating lifestyle and not a diet, then you can't fail ... you can't fall off the wagon because there is no wagon. Formal diet plans won't work because they have been planned by someone else, not by you," Fernstrom.
What will work, she says, is the personal barter system: If you have a piece of cheesecake for dessert at lunch, just have a salad for dinner. If you have a second glass of wine, walk an extra hour on the treadmill.
And go easy on yourself, says Fernstrom. "Sometimes food is just food. We all like a treat now and then. There are no bad foods, just bad portions. When you have control over what you eat, it takes the pressure off and gives you a mindset for success."
Published Feb. 1, 2001.
Medically updated, by Brunilda Nazario, MD, Oct. 25, 2002.
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