Your Perfect Weight 52-Week Plan

Your Perfect Weight
52-Week Plan

You've undoubtedly heard the expression, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Well, think of today just that way, for you're about to launch not another diet but a whole new way of living that will ensure you a slim body, radiant good health and feelings of eating satisfaction. Sound too good to be true? Not at all. It's possible, and it's something more and more people are getting into because they've finally come to a stark realization: Dieting doesn't work, but a combination of low-fat food and regular exercise does.

A little less ice cream here, a little more walking there--that's really all it takes to shed that excess weight for good. In these pages we'll be showing you the way to go, through a combination of savvy food swaps and easy low-fat meal preparation, stepped-up activity, including a weekly walking goal, and quick tricks to help you stay psyched for success.

If you aim for a 500-calorie-a-day deficit--the number of calories you need to burn (or avoid) to achieve slow but steady weight loss--you should expect to drop about a pound a week. Six months from now you can be 20 or 25 pounds lighter, not from a diet, but from your brand new lifestyle.

Your Perfect Weight 52-Week Plan is designed for everyone, whether you have been totally inactive and have a substantial amount of weight to lose or fairly active and have just a few pounds you'd like to shed. As you'll see, while the exercise portion of the 52-week plan gets progressively more challenging week by week, you will not have to exert yourself beyond your capabilities. It's meant to be a program you can comfortably follow for life.

Each week you'll be given new food and fitness activities to try. Aim to build as many of them into your daily routine as you can. The symbols beside them--a fork, sneakers and a head--will tell you at a glance whether the activity deals with eating, exercising or boosting your
motivation.

Oh, one more thing. With Your Perfect Weight 52-Week Plan, you won't need any fancy workout equipment, food-measuring gizmos, shiny spandex leotards or computer-generated menus. You will, however, need one indispensable item without which the plan cannot possibly succeed. It's called commitment--the determination to change your eating and exercise behavior for the better. But with such a wonderful, important goal ahead of you, how can you not feel a powerful sense of commitment? After all, you're not simply going to lose 20 or 30 pounds, you're going to be changing your life for the better, forever.

Let's get started!