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Weight Loss Goals
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Diet Article: How to define and set healthy weight loss goals.
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Dieter Lucy was so excited to begin her new weight loss plan and she knew exactly where to start - she was going to set that precious number that she wanted to reach on her bathroom scales.
Her magic number was 125 pounds; her current weight was 200 pounds on the dot. Therefore, she had 75 pounds to lose. That was a lot of weight to get off - but she was determined to see this through.
And she had a factor that served to motivate her; she and her family had been invited to attend a beach party on the first day of summer with friends that she had not seen in quite some time. Although she had not gained weight since she had seen them, she hadn't lost any either. My, wouldn't they be surprised at her successful amount of weight loss.
This time she was going to do things right. She had set a reasonable weight loss goal. While the recommended weight chart she had viewed said that she could weigh as skinny as 100 pounds - she felt that was too thin for her body's frame size. She was large-boned and she enjoyed walking every day, so she also had significant muscle mass. And she was wise enough not to take a random chart as set in stone.
Rather than riding the latest 'fashionable fad diet plan' she decided upon using the Food Pyramid which contained the following five basic food groups: fruit, grains, proteins, dairy and vegetables - with minimal use of oil and desserts.
Therefore, at each meal she would prepare her meal plate using the Food Plate as her pattern. This is how her menu looked for one day of her weight loss plan:
Breakfast: 
1 banana, 1 bowl of whole oats, one slice of bacon cooked in the microwave, and one serving of reduced fat milk. Unless Lucy enjoys an entree such as an omelet, it's difficult to get the vegetable group in the breakfast meal - so she decided to double-up at either lunch or dinner for this food group.
In addition - note that she is using the reduced fat products in her meal planner. Let's see her lunch menu:
3 ounces of pan-roasted chicken breast
1 small baked potato with reduced fat margarine, salt and cracked black pepper
1 serving of green beans
1 whole grain roll
1 cup of reduced fat milk
1 cup of mixed fruit in its natural juices
Dinner Menu: This evening Lucy enjoyed a bowl of chili as her protein group food and it was packed with vegetables and healthy tomatoes; she also enjoy a wedge of cornbread with her meal and a cup of skim milk.
For her dessert she enjoyed a sponge cake that was piled high with 1 cup of sliced strawberries and a serving of light whipped topping.
Every day Lucy enjoyed a nice walk for a minimum of thirty minutes. And by the time that the event rolled around - some four months later, she had lost all those unwanted, unhealthy pounds and did she look beautiful in her new yellow swimsuit.
Lucy chose the smart path to weight loss; she was able to drop pounds rapidly because she didn't pursue a starvation diet plan. And she combined a healthy dose of activity with her healthy meal plate.
This is how to safely lose weight - and it's far more difficult than it sounds due to temptation of foods that we like to eat. However, when we approach weight loss as a simple process - of filling our meal plate with a serving from each of the food groups, and in making our grain choices mostly in the form of whole grain - as well as making our dairy selections reduced in fat, then weight loss comes quite easily.
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