An important step to take when setting out to lose weight is to be very clear about your why. Why are you doing this in the first place? One reason often given is because of a health scare. Perhaps your doctor has informed you that you are at risk for something that can be managed with a better diet. Maybe a relative close to you died too young of preventable causes and you don’t want to end up in the same place. It could be that you’ve already been diagnosed with something and your doctor thinks that losing weight would help manage the symptoms better. Taking care of your health is one of the best things you can do for yourself and for your loved ones, so here are some tips to help you on the road to recovery.
Don’t
It can be really scary to be told that your health is in jeopardy. You want to run out and fix things right away. Be careful of going out “too hard” trying to get healthy and hurt yourself worse in the process. You don’t want to burn yourself out. Take that first step, and then build on that. Make sure you can live with any changes you make for the rest of your life. And we want that life to be a long one!
It can be hard to face your fears if you are worried that you might be ill. But it’s important that you don’t hide from it. Burying your head in the sand, refusing to go to a doctor to find out or even acknowledge just how bad things may have gotten will make it so much harder for you to get better. The sooner you can find out what the problem is, the sooner you and your doctor can work out a plan for how you can overcome it. In a similar vein, don’t give up without a fight. Don’t assume that nothing can be done and that your current situation is immutable or inevitable.
Do
It’s cliché, but true: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s much better to prevent what you can, rather than try to fight to get back to healthy later on. Make sure you see your doctor regularly for check ups, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with a condition, or you are on a path to recovery. Ask your doctor about what dietary changes might help improve things. You may need more iron in your diet, or less fatty foods to help lower cholesterol levels. And also, this is very important: LISTEN to your doctor. They went to 8 years of medical school to help you get better. If you don’t like what they have to say, by all means, seek out a second or even third opinion, but be sure to get those opinions from another doctor and not from random friends on your Facebook feed.
We only get this one body, so for the sake of those we love, we owe it to them to take the best care of ourselves as possible!
