Change Your Ways, Change Your Weight

Is losing weight on your list of New Year’s resolutions? This year, try a different approach. Forget the fad diets and expensive exercise machines of yesteryear. Instead, focus on changing your habits and behaviors – this will help you reach and maintain your weight loss goals. Set achievable goals The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends setting two to three goals at a time and making them:

• Specific
• Realistic
• Forgiving

 

Make your weight loss goals specific and measureable. For instance, setting a goal of losing one to two pounds per week is not only specific, it is realistic – and healthy. But, you’ll need to break it down even more. How will you lose the weight? Will you exercise five times a week? Cut 500 calories from your diet?

Write down your goals and be specific, realistic – and forgiving. We’re all human and fall short of our own expectations. If you don’t reach your goal one week, don’t give up!

Reward yourself
As you reach daily, weekly and monthly goals, reward yourself. This doesn’t mean you should indulge in your favorite dessert. Reward yourself with a massage, a new haircut or even a new outfit – in a smaller size, of course.

Monitor your progress
Keeping track of your progress is a good way to stay on track and gain encouragement. You can monitor what you eat, how much you eat, how often you exercise and how much weight you’ve lost. If you’re having trouble reaching your goals, your records will help you determine what may be jeopardizing your weight loss, such as eating too many snacks.

Review your eating habits
Food is associated with so many aspects of our lives. We watch a movie, we munch on buttery popcorn. We meet a friend for coffee, we get a baked treat to go with it. Pay careful attention to your eating habits so you’ll be able to identify what changes you need to make.

Get full, not stuffed
It takes your brain 15 minutes or more to recognize that you are full. So changing the way you eat can dramatically affect how much you eat.

• Eat slowly; put your fork down between bites and swallow before picking it up again
• Eat plenty of high water-content fruits and vegetables; they will make you feel fuller
• Drink lots of water each day; it will help you feel full, and offers a wealth of other health benefits

Get started today. Change your ways, change your weight – change your life!Learn more…
Exercise is a critical component of weight loss. Plus, it’s great for your overall health. Find out how much you need and the best way to get started.

Healthy eating is one of the best ways to help you reach your weight loss goals. Our nutrition expert shares how you can eat healthfully; not just decreasing calories, but eating correctly.

Source: TriVita VitaJournal January 2009 pg 9.

TriVita Article: It’s Resolution Season Again… what are yours?

Are they the same as last year . . . and the year before that, and so on? What happens to many people this time of year is simple: They begin with the best, most sincere intentions to take charge of their lifestyle, but make too many unrealistic demands on themselves. Within a week or a month at most, all those promises to lose weight, sleep better, go jogging and so on have fallen by the wayside.

This year, whether you’ve made any resolutions or not, try something a little different. [TriVita's] VitaJournal has collected a number of great suggestions for you to try, suggestions that if you put them into practice, will help you improve your Physical, Emotional and Spiritual health almost instantly.

You can try every suggestion, or just take a couple from each page. What matters is that you try. Read through each suggestion and note which ones appeal to you, then get up and give them a shot. If one doesn’t work, try another. The bottom line is that making healthy changes to your lifestyle depends entirely upon you and the choices you make. Realize, too, that each of these aspects of health and well-being affects the other two. Improve your spiritual health, and your emotional and physical health will improve as well! This is a new year – how about a new you to enjoy it?

Here are a few resolution ideas for you:

1. Go to bed 10 minutes earlier every night; then increase this amount by 10 minutes every week until you are getting to sleep an hour earlier.
2. Keep eight 8-ounce bottles of water chilled in your refrigerator, and drink all eight over the course of a day. Try this for one month and see how you feel.
3. Go for a ten-minute walk every day. Then add 10 minutes every week until you are walking an hour each day.
4. Take one [of TriVita's] Sublingual B-12, B-6 & Folic Acid or [TriVita] Vital4 each day after breakfast.
5. Lower your blood pressure by taking several slow, deep breaths several times a day.
6. Commit to not taking in any caffeine for two hours before bed; then push that goal back 30 minutes per week until you are free from the addiction to caffeine. (Don’t think you’re addicted? Stop all caffeine intake cold-turkey and see how your body responds.)
7. Clear your bedroom of all distractions to allow yourself an easier time getting to sleep. This includes moving the TV to another room (or getting rid of it entirely).
8. Antioxidants deactivate the free radicals that literally cause you to age. Slow the aging process by including Vitamin C, E, and other antioxidants in both your diet and supplements.
9. A serving of fruits or vegetables is only about half a cup; so adding two servings of fruits or vegetables each day isn’t hard. Build up to no less than seven servings every day.
10. What are your favorite fruits? Go shopping for them once a week for eight weeks, and be sure you eat them all.
11. Wash your hands. This is one of the best methods of preventing colds and flu.
12. Have a complete physical. Meet with your doctor and discuss the results, and what sorts of changes you can make to improve your health.
13. No matter what exercise you prefer, begin with 10 minutes of stretching. Stretch every day.
14. Clean your house. Not only will you get a cardiovascular workout, but you’ll be removing dangerous allergens and pollutants that can harm your health.

See tomorrows TriVita article on resolutions ideas for your emotional health.

Source: TriVita VitaJournal January 2006 page 4-5.