Do you want to lose weight for the New Year? Believe it or not, that is the first goal on the list of most resolutions – to lose weight. Additionally, also to eat better and healthier. When it’s resolution time, the first thing on your list may be to lose weight and eat more healthfully. But how exactly do you go about doing that — and how do you keep yourself from becoming a resolution dropout before long?
If you want to lose weight and feel better, you need to eat better. This requires some changes in your behavior. You can do it! From the best weight-loss concepts in science, the following list will help you as you enter the New Year, but it’s not too late to get an early start.
1. Be Determined – make a plan before you begin and follow it. Wishing isn’t doing! What are your alternatives to high-calorie foods? Do not choose them because they are convenient, buy healthier alternatives. Make a list of wholesome foods. Avoids the holiday cookies, cakes, eating and other office or home/weekend high-calorie, high-sugar foods
2. Get More Rest – more rest will help you curb your appetite. A lack of rest, sleep deprivation, will cause one to eat and snack more. If you’re rested, you’ll also focus more on your goals, which will help you achieve them.
3. Forgive Your Mistakes – so, you fell off the wagon and gained another pound. Do not let this defeat you, get back into healthy eating and exercise to lose those extra pounds. No one is perfect. So, if you fall off the healthy wagon, begin again. Keep doing this until it is a habit.
4. What do you want to Change? – To change, you need to make a list of what you want to change, makes goals for each change and stay on track. Don’t choose 20 items to change, but 1 or 2 so you can work on them. For example, I want to lose 5 pounds and eat better. These are two habits to work on rather than to try to tackle broad resolutions. After all, generally, a resolution can be very broad and self-defeating, while wanting to lose a specific amount of weight is much more finite and doable. Work on one habit at a time; when change is accomplished, move onto the next. It’s so easy to say I’m going to get fit and healthy for 2018. The big question is how are you going to accomplish it. Be specific such as, I’m going to lose 5 pounds the first two months of 2018 by reducing my calorie intake and exercising 20-minutes per day for 3-day per week. Next, create a basic workout schedule and how you will modify your food intake. An example would be to go without sugar 4-days per week and don’t eat any fatty or fried foods. This is being specific, which is required to accomplish your goal.
5. Fruits and Vegetables – make your plates lively by choosing brightly colored fruits and vegetables plus the brown of whole grains to fill them. Your diet should look like a rainbow with some brown in it.
6. Practice low-calorie and low sugar – instead of going to the lounge after work for a cocktail, try a diet soda or Virgin Mary, herbal tea, or black coffee. Typical cocktails have two items that, if avoided most of the time, will help you lose weight more quickly. The first item is of course sugar – sugar is the enemy of weight loss. Sugar spikes the blood sugar level and depresses your fat-burning metabolism. The next item in a cocktail is alcohol. Alcohol is what we term sugar-alcohol and has 7 calories per gram, unlike a general carbohydrate that has 4 calories per gram. More importantly, alcohol serves as an immediate energy source for the body and once satisfied, excess calories are stored as fat. Go to the lounge perhaps once per week as a treat for your hard work and watch the pounds dwindle more quickly.
7. Eat Slowly – as you eat slowly, you’ll enjoy your food more and your ‘brain’ will tell you when you’re full. When it does, stop eating; this will keep you from getting really stuffed to the point of being uncomfortable.
8. Do Not Multitask – when you eat, eat, don’t read, watch TV, drive, etc. Do it the old fashion way – sit at a table, eat, savor your food then, walk away. Try this – you’re on your way home and want to pick up something to eat at the drive through. Instead, walk in (let’s use Wendy’s as an example), order your food and sit down to eat it. Stay away from the fries and fat stuff instead, order a grilled chicken sandwich, chili or salad, and water or diet soda. Grab a table and slowly eat food as you contemplate the days work, the up coming weekend, or goals you want to work on. Eat slowly – without realizing it, you’ll relax some in the process and perhaps even avoid the hectic, rush-hour traffic.
9. Food Cravings – all of us crave certain foods sometimes. When a craving strikes have some alternatives with you or make some. Examples include diet soda instead of sugary one; glass of water, snacks such as celery sticks, carrots, etc. instead of cookie or similar; put the craving out of your mind for 20 minutes or so, if it returns, have a small snack, take a short walk, busy yourself with something else, etc. In short, don’t eat chips, donuts, or other high-calorie food when you get a craving.
These 9 steps will help you succeed in your 2018 goals for better health and nutrition. The best thing to do this month is to begin your plan. Include such things as alternatives to high fat/calorie foods; exercise; meal frequency (multiple small meals per day); always eat breakfast; seek out healthy snacks; don’t eat from bags of chips or other bags – place some in a small plate or bowl and stop eating when the plate/bowl is empty; and treat yourself occasionally for your hard work. Use moderation in all things and you’ll achieve your goals/resolutions and tell a friend who will help prod you along or get a friend involved who has similar goals. Now, go make your plan to attain your resolutions goals and stick to it!
