Have you been wearing pants with elastic waistbands during the holidays? Avoiding the bathroom scale? Shunning dressing rooms in the department stores? Well, it's time to face the music. Before you know it, swimsuit season will be upon us. The first step to making personal changes is admitting you have a problem. So, fortify yourself and take a reality check. Get on that scale and dig up a measuring tape to assess the damages from everything from pumpkin pie and turkey dressing to sugar cookies and eggnog.
Before you pass out from shock, know this. Although it didn't take much to pack on a few extra pounds, you can also take them off by making a few simple changes to your diet and exercise regimen.
In order to take off just one pound, you must burn 3200 more calories than you take in. It's simple math, really. However, although it helps to count calories, a watched pot never boils. So, have patience, and don't obsess. Just take it day by day and stick to a proven plan. You'll get there.
Any weight loss plan involves a three-pronged strategy. You'll be attacking the fat on three fronts: diet, exercise, and emotional retraining.
Diet:
The diet battle plan involves retraining your taste buds to appreciate low calorie foods and to develop the habit of meal planning and saying no. Some of us have no patience for meal planning and preparation. For those of you in that category, there are some excellent diet programs that prepare the foods for you and even deliver them to you doorway.
Eventually, however, you will have to take off the training wheels, so to speak, and make your own choices. So, if you want to skip the preliminaries and learn how to manage food instead of letting it manage you, there is help out there for that, too. Many Web sites offer free assistance in diet menu planning and more. Check out www.sparkpeople.com, a site named Best Health Website for 2006, 2007, and 2008 by Business Week. On this site, you can get all the information and support you need, connect with other dieters, share recipes, calculate the calorie content of recipes, develop an exercise plan, and more. It's like a university education for those needing to shed just a few pounds or many.
Weight Watchers is another organization which has helped many through the years. Theirs is a sensible approach to dieting that helps you form new lifelong eating habits. The support system given through Weight Watchers is also key to the success of their participants. Making changes is a lot easier if you have a group of people cheering you on and helping you stay on track.
If you have only been just a little naughty during the holidays, you may not need to take such dramatic steps as those. Some simple food swaps and habit changes may be all it requires to shed those few pounds. Try these tips:
1. Limit your caffeine intake which can actually stimulate appetite and mess with your insulin levels. Instead, drink green tea or some other herbal tea.
2. Steam some veggies such as yellow squash and eat lots of them instead of filling up on starchy veggies such as potatoes and yams. Those veggies have great nutritional value, but are high in calories. So, for now, they should be shunned.
3. Fish is an excellent source of protein and omega fatty acids. It's a great low cal alternative to beef and other meats which ounce for ounce are higher in calories. Prepare fish by steaming, baking, broiling, or grilling.
4. When eating salads, stay away from the croutons, cheeses, and high calorie dressings. It's possible to make even a salad very high in calories if you don't watch what you add to it. Make it interesting using a variety of veggies to add color, texture, and flavor. If you want to add a cheese, consider using low fat cottage cheese. Amp up the wow factor by adding a few drops of Tabasco sauce or lime juice whisked with a little olive oil.
5. Instead of eating the whole egg, just use the egg whites or Egg Beaters. Turkey bacon is a calorie saving alternative to pork bacon.
6. For dessert, have a slice of Angel Food cake with some fresh berries rather than white cake with butter cream frosting.
7. When eating out, check the Web for the restaurant's menu and plan what you're going to eat before you go out.
8. Give away all those left-over holiday goodies. Replace those snacks with better choices such as pretzels, air popped popcorn, low calorie popsicles, sugarless gum, low cal Jell-O, veggies, and fruits such as strawberries.
9. Eat on a small plate to help control portions. Make a big deal of mealtime, setting a pretty table and turning off the TV while you eat. Mindless eating is a bad habit that really packs on the pounds.
10. Keep a diet journal and be truthful.
11. It is essential that you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Keep that water bottle handy so you can meet this goal.
Exercise:
Not getting enough exercise is probably a bigger culprit than food. We all live a rather sedentary lifestyle compared to generations that came before us. It's important to get both cardio and weight training into our exercise plan. The first strengthens our hearts, burn calories, and improve our mental attitudes. Weight training increases muscles mass and our ability to burn calories, strengthens our bones, and improves our appearance by tightening and toning.
1. Purchase some simple exercise equipment such as a floor mat, bands, and ball, the basics for Pilate's exercises. You might be able to find some really good deals on treadmills, rowers, and so forth on Craig's List, eBay, or your hometown newspaper. There are many to choose from. Go to the store and try them out to find out what you like because if it isn't fun, you probably won't use it.
2. Have on hand an assortment of exercise videos, too. Fitness instructors say you need to confuse your muscles to make them shape up. So, it's actually good to change your routine from day to day. Check out www.consumerresearch.com for a review of some of the best exercise videos on the market. A few mentioned were: Billy Blank's Tae Bo Amped, Walk Away the Pounds Express, Kathy Smith Timesaver: Lift Weights to Lose Weight Vol. 2, Denise Austin-Mat Workout Based on the Work of J.H. Pilates, and Yoga Zone Introduction to Yoga.
3. To stay motivated, gather together a group of friends to exercise in your home or go to an exercise class. Your friends will not let you weasel out of your commitment no matter how much you protest.
4. Wear a pedometer and try to increase the number of steps you take daily.
5. Walk instead of ride whenever you can. Park your car further from the entrance. Walk the length of the mall. Take the dog for a walk. Every step helps.
6. Play outside with your kids instead of sharing a movie with them. We have to worry about their health, too. Many of them don't get much physical activity in school. So, it's our job to put it into their lives and set a good example by being active ourselves.
7. If you can't afford a gym membership, check out the programs provided by local churches. They often have free exercise classes. Call your city recreation program. Their classes are often very affordable.
8. Put exercise time on your schedule just as you would a doctor or dental appointment. You should exercise vigorously at least three hours a week. That's not too much considering we have 168 of them.
9. Finally, get more sleep. Studies show that people who get at least eight hours of sleep have less trouble with their weight. I don't know if that's because they aren't spending as much time having late night munchies, but who cares as long as it works.
Emotions:
Let's face it. Most of us don't eat too much because we are hungry. We eat because our emotions have control over our lives.
1. Keep a diet journal and write down what's happening and how you feel when you cheat on your diet. Eventually you will discover those nasty triggers to your poor eating habits. People, situations, boredom, places, events, fatigue, anxiety, and fear of offending others are just some of the triggers.
2. Focus on the new lifestyle instead of the weight loss. Sometimes we don't have immediate visible success. Be proud of yourself for changing habits and sticking with the plan.
3. Insist that those around you be supportive. People can be enablers and saboteurs even if they love you.
4. Meditate and ask your higher power for assistance. Studies show that prayer is very powerful in the healing process, including overcoming weight problems.
5. If you do have some set-backs, don't beat yourself up about it. Just start again and consider it a small bump in the road.
6. Reward yourself. Get tickets to a concert or a game. Buy yourself a bouquet of flowers. Go get a manicure or a massage. This is all about recognizing that we deserve to treat ourselves with respect and kindness.
As a final word, the incidence of obesity is rising in America, even amongst our children. It's not just about looking good. This is having a huge impact on our physical and mental well-being. Start this new year off determined that this shall not be your fate or that of anyone you love.
Plan, believe, and act. You can do it.