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We are well into 2015, so let me ask you something: how’s
that New Years resolution of losing weight going? *Crickets* I didn’t think so.
It happens
every year. You indulge in holiday meal, after Christmas cookie, after New
Years cocktail, neglect the gym, ignore the new found tightness in your jeans,
and repeat the old “I’ll start my diet in the new year…” adage. The New Year
rolls around, you launch a fierce diet and workout regimen, and then
without fail, everything falls apart. It may take a week, it may take a couple
of months, but eventually, you find yourself back to last year's weight in a pile
of food wrappers, failed New Years resolutions, and self loathing. Don’t wait
until next year to start again, it’s not too late. The question is, how do you
pull this Hail Mary?
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| "It all started with such good intentions..." |
The answer
is simple: there is no Hail Mary. You can’t simply press a miracle button, drop
weight, and keep it off. Maintained weight loss not only takes time, but is catalyzed
by a sustainable lifestyle change, not a quick switch.
So, where do we start? Firstly, don’t overdo it. Everyone goes
overboard, surviving on nothing but twigs and berries, exercising to exhaustion-
This is a plan that is destined to fail. Let’s face it, no one can live like that.
Relapse is inevitable, and when you fall, you’ll fall hard.
Quit the crash and burn. Here are
some tips that are small in effort, but big in pay off, setting you on the path
to reach your goals. Go at your own pace, and progress as comfortable.
- Eat breakfast: Starting your day with food in your tummy stops you from overeating later.
- Healthy substitutions/ changes:
- Whole wheat bread/ brown rice/ wheat pasta instead of white.
- Dressing on the side when you order a salad, limit the amount you use
- No diet soda. The artificial sweetener makes you crave more food. Check this out for the dirty details on diet soda.
- No sweetened drinks. Juice, soda, sports drinks, and sweetened coffee beverages are packed with calories and sugar. Eliminating them from your diet will help you drop weight.
- When dining out, eat only half of your entrée, pack the rest to go, and eat it the next day. We always overeat when dining out because of the huge portions.
- You DO have time to work out. Everyone says they have “no time,” yet they have plenty of time for TV and other frivolities. A half hour a day isn’t hard to incorporate into your day.
- Hate working out? Maybe you haven’t found a form of exercise that suites you. Spinning, zumba, dance, swimming, joining an intramural sports team, all alternate forms of exercise.
- Drink lots of water. It will keep you full and stop you from over eating.
- Sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep will stop you from over eating out of tiredness.
- Have a low calorie snack in between meals to prevent overeating.
- A banana
- Brown rice cakes and natural peanut butter
- ¼ cup of almonds
- Low fat mozzarella string cheese
- A couple slices of lean turkey breast
- For the love of G-d, stop juicing your fruits and vegetables. Throwing produce in an overpriced blender and gulping down a glass of “fresh” juice (and posting a picture to your social media #Juice #Cleanse) does not make you healthy.
- “Juicing” takes all the valuable fiber out of fruits and vegetables and leaves straight sugar.
- “But Michelle, I don’t juice, I blennnnddd it. It’s the entire fruit chopped up.” Well, isn’t that special. When produce is blended like that, all the nutrients and fiber are denatured, rendering it nutritionally useless. Again, straight sugar. Just eat your fruits and vegetables in whole form, as intended.
- Moreover, it takes A LOT of fruit to make a single cup. That’s too much freakin’ fruit.
- Only 2-3 servings of fruit a day.
- A single serving is defined as:
- Oranges, apples, pears, peaches: The size of your fist or a tennis ball
- Banana: The length of your index finger
- Berries: ¾ cup
- Melon: 1 cup, cubed
- Raisins: 1 tablespoon
- No fad diets, you will eventually fall off and gain back all the weight, if not more.
- In case you’re considering the paleo diet, read this. If you’re thinking about a juice cleanse, read this.
With these tips in hand, you can
transition into a weight loss plan that actually works. Happy 2015, my friends.
Until Next Time,
