"It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!" You've heard that about a millions time regarding a million different things. But have you ever heard it in reference to your own health and well-being? You should have! You need to know your health; you need to know your foods and you know you need to get moving. Setting New Year's Resolutions can be about as painful as the bypass surgery you'll need if you aren't taking care of yourself.
They can also backfire when they are not set to your advantage. Picture this. You've got a car that is old (as old as you are), you haven't driven it in over a year and you need to go 40 miles. You get into the drivers seat, and hit the gas and don't let up until you reach your 40 mile destination. You would probably hear hissing, clanging, banging, you'll drop the transmission and wheels could fall off.
Why wouldn't you check the engine, and valves and tires, then sit down and slowly accelerate, listening for a possible problem and slowly head toward down the path to your 40 mile destination? That car is you, that 40 miles is 40 pounds and driving is exercising. So many people will jump right in knowing they need to hit this 40 pound weight loss marker, and when they run into a problem at mile 2 (pound 2) they run off the road and never reach their destination. You'll never reach a long-term goal without having many short-term goals!
You need to break it down for ease, enjoyment and achievement. So let's do just that.
You Need to Know Your Health
Question: "What fits your busy schedule better, exercising 1 hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?" Don't jump into these goals and activities without having a doctor tell you that you are ready. Once you know your family history and your current health status and you are cleared for activities, then you must start slowly. You know you can't eat the elephant in one sitting; you must go bite by bite.
Do NOT focus on losing all 40 pounds (or whatever your goal maybe); think only about how I can change a few meals and add a little exercise. Your health history and health status will also help you to plan your path ahead. If you have high cholesterol then you know you've got to focus on foods that lower your cholesterol. If you've got high blood pressure, then you need to focus on good cardiovascular exercise.
Ask your doctor what the solutions to your specific problem is and if you get the blanket response "you need to diet and exercise", then press him/ her further for specifics. You don't want to add 12 pills a day to your diet regime. In fact, if you are on 4 prescriptions because of health problems, at best that will cost you approximately $4,000 per year. The truth is though, is that most people are on more than 4 medications. Wouldn't you rather spend that on a great vacation?
You Need to Know Your Foods
Most of us cringe each time we approach the threshold of our local grocery store. We want to stay within our budget and want to get out of the store before we hit our next birthday, but with every brightly colored confusing package, we get that glazed over look and grab whatever is within reach. Select the produce section first. These foods are your "free-bees".
Choose foods with bright colors and ease of preparation and if you are unsure if a fruit or veggie is too ripe or not ripe enough, ask a staff person. Next when you move on to the packaged items ignore anything and everything on the front and go right to your nutritional label. No need for a second look, it's definitely written in English. But the genius marketing groups have made it look confusing so that you stop reading, and just toss it into your basket- going on the hopes that it just tastes great!
Don't give in! Read the serving size, total calories and total fat (unless you've been directed by your personal physician or personal nutritionist for health reasons). A single serving size should be what you are serving yourself, and not how many servings can you consume. The numbers that are listed for total fat and total calories won't mean a thing to you, if you don't know how many calories you should be consuming in a given day.
I like this calculator: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. Once you've established how many calories you need to take in a day, then you need to plan how you will consume then and when. Ideally, you want to spread them out over the day; 3 meals and 3 snacks. This is best to get your metabolism going, and keep it up. A good rule of thumb is that snacks should always be 200 calories or less.
So if the calculator says you need 1600 calories in a day, don't go blow it all on the Awesome Blossom/ Blooming Onion appetizer, which clocks in between 2,000 and 2,700 calories and 200 grams of fat! No one with any nutritional knowledge is going to suggest that you try to live off of water and lettuce. It's only natural that we plan our lives around food, but you can make small changes that can pay out big rewards. Pick a few of these and slowly incorporate all of them and then make them your food rules:
- Switch to skim milk
- Switch to diet soft drinks
- No fast food for one week
- No soft drinks for one week
- Switch to fat free mayonnaise
- Switch to fat free cheese slices
- Switch to fat free salad dressing
- Drink a half gallon of water a day
- Begin taking a daily multivitamin
- Walk the dog everyday for one week
- Eat breakfast every morning for 1 week
- Switch from white bread to wheat bread
- Try toast with jam/ jelly instead of butter
- Toss out the vegetable oil and use olive oil
- Switch out teaspoons of sugar and use Splenda
- Don't buy/ order food at the movie theatre anymore
- Do crunches during the TV commercials for one week
- If you smoke, then choose to not smoke before noon for one week
Don't focus on any thoughts you have about this or that tastes bad or different. Give yourself 3 days on the selected food change and chances are you won't want to go back to your old habits. If you do, add spices to a particular food and change the taste yourself!
You Know you Need to Move
So your doctor has cleared you to start moving. Now all you need to do is turn off the TV, dust the potato chips crumbs off your lap and pry yourself off the couch. One proven means of exercise success is to have a partner. Choose a person that you are close enough with that you can discuss your goals and obstacles and someone that you know will hold you accountable even when you convince them that today is "National No Movement" Day.
Begin slowly. Maybe your goal is to walk 10 minutes for the first day, 15 minutes the second, and so on. Your life change should not be a sprint race, it's an endurance race. This brings me to a great topic- Races! Don't run out and sign yourself up for Ironman Hawaii, but definitely sign up for a local 5k fun run/ fundraiser. You WILL feel great and it's a tax deduction! What a combo! Walk it at first.
Maybe you and your partner can try to jog the last half mile. Some people can't bear to step foot in a gym because they think they need to get in shape before going to a gym and that they'd choose a root canal over any work out clothes. So if that is a fear then walk your neighborhood or ride bikes in your area. Wear bright clothes and a helmet! Another great option is to exercise indoors. This alleviates having to commute to a gym and solves a problem if you don't have streets or neighborhood conducive to walking and riding.
(I can hear it now, "it's too hot"; "it's too cold", "it's too rainy"; "it's too sunny". No excuses when it's in your living room). There are great DVD's and small equipment that you can use inside your home that can really get the job done. Merely owning them will not help you lose weight however; you must actually turn them on and press play!
About the Author
Wellness Health Fairs is a 26 year old Non-profit corporate wellness company that works on a nationwide (and worldwide) basis with companies of all sizes and industries in increasing productivity and morale, and reducing sick days and health care claims. Our non profit status allows us to offer the most competitive pricing when shopping for a Health and Wellness vendor and our experience, knowledge, and "A - Z" services is exactly what our client are looking for...one vendor, one long lasting successful relationship.
Contact
Lesley Crawford Costner Nationwide Wellness Director 1 866 320 2510 Lcostner@WellnessHealthFairs.com
