Making Over the New Year You

With the New Year here, many of us are considering how to make lasting impacts on our waist lines in 2012. A few key changes can add up to noticeable improvements to our health as well as our moods. The determining factor in making those New Year’s resolutions into enduring behavior changes is starting small. Managing our expectations can lead to positive reinforcement when we meet our goals. This is true even when the goals are slight improvements.

Our tendency is to dream big but it is the little steps that make all the difference. Each little step can add up to persistent changes in our daily rituals.

Here are some common New Year’s resolutions according to usa.gov and ways to break them down into manageable little pieces for easier integration into everyday life:

1. Get Fit

- I will park in the farthest parking space and walk to the store from that space.

- I will walk into a restaurant rather than using the drive-thru window.

- I will walk 30 minutes every other day.

2. Lose Weight

- I will lose 1 pound per week for 15 weeks.

- I will replace one high calorie food item per day with a low calorie food item.

- I will replace one sugary beverage with water every day.

3. Eat Healthy Food

- I will eat one healthy food item per day.

- I will replace one unhealthy food item per day with a healthy food choice.

- I will eat one healthy meal one day a week.

Remember to celebrate the small successes you have made at meeting your goals- this will reinforce your new lifestyle. Celebration does not have to mean eating a whole cake by yourself, but perhaps having a small slice of your favorite pie to celebrate losing 5 pounds over 5 weeks or going to see that movie you’ve been wanting to see after running 30 minutes 3 times a week for the past week are a couple good examples.

Commemorating our achievements helps us build momentum to withstand obstacles toward the development of our new habits.

Wishing you health, wealth and success in the 2012!

Sticking to your Resolutions

Healthy eating is one of the top New Years Resolutions, but we all know what happens all too often with resolutions....here we will discuss some ideas for ways to stick to this year's resolutions!

1. Don't diet: Start listening to your body's internal cues for hunger and satiety and practice mindful eating. Allow some time for you to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Instead of avoiding your favorite comfort foods, make room for them in small amounts once in a while. Practice choosing and preparing a variety of fresh foods including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains...this will help you to develop those long-term healthy eating habits.

2. Be realistic: You didn't gain the weight overnight, and you won't lose it (and keep it off!) overnight either. Be patient, around 1 lb. week of weight loss is realistic in order to keep it off long-term.

3. Snack: Regardless of your dietary approach to weight loss, you want to make sure you are eating every three to four hours. Doing this will keep your "metabolism up" and prevent excess fat storage and burning of your lean body mass.

4. Variety and volume: Eating foods that are nutrient dense but not energy dense will allow you to eat larger volumes of food! Examples are fruits and vegetables which are relatively low in calories but high in nutrient content (including fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals). Aim for a variety of fruits and vegetables every day, and shoot for at least 3-5 servings per day. Eating fruits and vegetables that are in season is a good way to save money. Also, frozen fruits and vegetables are less expensive than fresh, provide good nutritional value, and can easily substitute for fresh produce in many recipes.

5. The 90/10 rule: It's not fun to be too strict. Allow yourself to eat less healthy foods up to 10% of the time, assuming that you are following a healthy plan for the remaining 90%.

6. Plan: Plan to go to the grocery store at least once per week. Many of the foods that make up a healthy diet (produce, dairy, whole grain breads and cereals, fish, etc.) won't last too long in the fridge or the pantry. You'll want to do a bit of advance planning for your meals (i.e. cooking ahead on Sunday night and eating leftovers for the next couple days), snacks--always be prepared with them in your purse or bag, and have some healthy frozen or packaged items on hand for days that you don't have enough time to cook.

7. Buddies: It's a lot easier for you to change your habits if your spouse or roomate is also changing with you. You'll both be accountable to each other and can even have fun with it.

8. Rewards: Reward yourself for your accomplishments! Have you been wanting a new dress or a night out on the town? Make that your reward..it will motivate you even more.

9. Motivation: A new website called http://weightview.com allows you to upload a digital image of yourself, indicate the amount of weight you would like to lose, and then emails you the adjusted image of what you would look like at your goal weight. Try it and hang it on your fridge for daily motivation!

10. Exercise: The more active you are, the more calories you will burn. Incorporating a strength training routine with cardiovascular exercise will help you reach your weight goals more quickly, when done alongside healthy eating.

Happy 2009!

Do I have to give up dessert?

Not entirely. As long as you are eating a healthy diet, a little sweet treat now and then is OK. Just remember...

• Eat sweets in moderation. Buy the smallest serving size possible, so you won't be tempted by lots of leftovers. At a restaurant, split dessert with another person (or several people).


• Enjoy an occasional small dessert at the end of a meal, after you have satisfied your hunger. That way, you are less likely to overindulge.


• Sometimes a piece of fruit really will satisfy your sweet tooth. Try it!


• If you really need to give in to that chocolate craving, get the good stuff (whatever you consider to be the best). Don't waste an indulgence on bad chocolate.

Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate
(3.5 oz; 70% or 85% cacao content)
$2.99 at Publix

This chocolate has a rich, intense chocolate flavor and a smooth, velvety texture. It is truly indulgent!

The high cacao content means that these bars contain less sugar than a typical milk chocolate bar; however, it also means that they contain more cocoa butter (fat).

These are NOT single-serving bars. Think of one bar as about 8 servings, and limit yourself to a couple of squares per day. If you find an open bar of chocolate too tempting to resist, but you still need a chocolate fix, you might want to try individually wrapped chocolates.

How about this for a little motivation?

You've imagined what you would look like once you reach your weight loss goal, right? Well, now you can actually SEE what you will look like! Thanks to www.weightview.com you can create a profile, upload a picture of you, and tell them how much weight you would like to use. In a few days, you will receive the same picture of you but AT your weight goal! Those that have used it insist it is very realistic and motivating. You can even print it and frame it or hang it on your refrigerator! Check out this free service at www.weightview.com.