New Years Resolutions – A Healthier You
Here comes the New Year when most of us pledge our resolutions for the upcoming year. According to a publication by the Journal of Clinical Psychology on December 13, 2012, weight loss is the most popular New Year’s resolution made by Americans while staying fit and eating healthy came in fifth place. Of the top five resolutions two of them are nutrition and lifestyle related. Most of us can actually see this influx of people dedicated to health in our community. According to the receptionist at the Peak Sports Club in Rockford, IL the first 3 weeks of January are always the busiest then things die off. People make these pledges because they honestly want to accomplish their goals, but for one reason or another they fall off the bandwagon. Here are tips on how to keep your resolution and eat healthier in the New Year:
- Health is a journey: not every day is perfect. Just like we have good days and bad days, healthy eating goes the same way. Some days we make good choices, others not so much. The important part is to learn from our mistakes, recognize triggers to unhealthy or over eating and plan to avoid them in the future. For example, Sally eats healthy all day long but starts to go downhill at about 4 pm. All she can think about is the candy bar and chips in the vending machine across the hall calling her. She realizes she starts to get hungry before she can get home for dinner so she begins packing an extra snack for the afternoon. Now when the candy cravings begin, she has delicious grapes to enjoy.
- Plan for the future: Just like Sally began to pack an extra snack for herself every day, we need to plan around different engagements that could lead to unhealthy choices. For a road trip, pack fruits and vegetables to snack on in the car; then you will be less inclined to stop for French fries. Invited to a party? Take a salad, vegetable dish or fruit for dessert; now you there are healthy choices you enjoy. When going to restaurants, have a look at the menu and calories ahead of time. If you walk in knowing what you want to order, less healthy options will not look as tempting.
- Baby Steps: Setting attainable, measurable, sustainable goals within a certain timeline is crucial to success. Losing too much weight, too fast is not sustainable because the weight just creeps on back. Not setting a time frame for weight loss may also result in no weight loss. From literature and personal experience, setting a goal of one pound a week fulfills all three requirements: attainable, sustainable and measurable. One pound a week translates to reducing your intake by 500 calories a day, which is doable and sustainable over a long period of time. Losing for example 2 pounds a week translate to a 1000 calorie cut or eating only ½ of your normal intake (supposing it is around 2000 calories a day). This is neither healthy nor sustainable. Decreasing calories dramatically results in binge eating and exhaustion so people are more likely to give up. Remember the tortoise from the Tortoise and the Hare: “Slow and steady, that’s how I’ll win the race.” Same with weight loss, slow and steady, that’s how you’ll keep the pounds off.
- Find your groupies: Social support plays an essential role in weight loss. Strong evidence supports the effectiveness of social support and weight loss, be it face-to-face meetings or an online program, both are just as effective, so pick the method that works for you. It does not have to be a fancy service you pay for. Put together a group of friends, meet once a week for a weigh-in and keep tabs on each other’s progress or start a group on facebook. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing the weight slip off your friends or being the one who lost the most that week.
- Play with your food: As a nutritionist I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, “I don’t like salad” or “vegetables are not my favorite.” For some reason people think of healthy eating as bland. On the contrary, healthy eating is versatile, exploding with taste and fun. You just have to find the right recipes; which requires trial and error. Try looking on allrecipes.com. When over a thousand people have given the recipe a 5 star rating you can be sure it is a tasty one, and there a tons of recipes like that. Experiment with different vegetables and spice combinations, your options are endless. You are bound to find something that works for you.
Follow these five steps to weight loss success. Remember sometimes setbacks occur but that does not mean it is time to give up, take advantage of them and learn. Soon you will find eating healthy second nature. But hang in there; it takes one month to develop a new habit. Cheers to a Happy New Year and cheers to a healthier YOU!
References:
New Years Resolution Statistic
Social Support and Weight Loss
