Getting in Shape: Part two

[Click here if you missed Part One of the plan.]

Eating Better
While she's ramping up her exercise program, Samantha also gets started on the other leg of her plan. This one targets those forty extra pounds Sam wants to drop. Although the exercising will help her with this, she’ll still need to make some changes in what she eats—and how often.

This will be a rockier path because Sam really loves her chow. As she’s also a junk-food “junkie,” and tends to overeat in general, she faces some challenges here. Pretty big ones, actually.

But, having discovered the power of small steps, Samantha now has a much better shot at getting in shape at least partially through dietary changes. (As opposed to crash-dieting.) Although that approach generally takes longer than starving oneself, the gains also tend to hang around longer.

Sam's Next Step?
Maybe a small one: cutting out one chocolate bar this week, or eating only half of the bar.

This way, she’s consuming six (or six and a half) chocolate bars instead of her usual seven. Doesn't sound like much, but it starts to add up.

She also begins taking a few raw vegetables to work for snacking. And she makes sure that clean veggies are in her refrigerator at all times. Outstanding! (And a "soft" and subtle way to approach getting in shape.)

Next week she might drop another chocolate bar…and maybe look into some commercial weight-loss programs. Or perhaps she'll buy or borrow a couple of books on nutrition and weight loss. Now Sam’s off and running. Well, running like a tortoise, anyway, which in her case is a good way to go.

In fact, using small steps to gain big results can be a pretty good way for the rest of us to go, too. For more on the step-by-step "movement," check out this wonderful book: One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way

(Or simply download Sam's plan in chart form by clicking on the link: Getting in Shape.)