We’ve all gone too bed one night and told ourselves “Tomorrow, I’m going to start eating healthy and exercising every day”. Many of us have also done it: thrown out all our junk food, bought a gym membership, and taken other big steps. The problem is that most of us have reverted to our old lifestyles within a week. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a healthy body. The key to making permanent lifestyle changes is to make small, achievable goals and stick to them.
When most people decide to lose weight, they set goals like “I will lose two pounds per week”. But various factors that have nothing to do with your lifestyle changes may affect your weight. The best goals are ones that are under your control. Set goals related to how much you exercise or what you eat. If you make these goals small and reasonable, you’ll be more likely to accomplish them.
One of my best friends went on the raw food diet. He ate one cooked meal a day, and most of the food he ate was remarkably similar to what I feed my pet rabbit. The diet worked; he lost weight, but two months later he gained it all back when he started on the Coke and fast food diet. The moral of this story is: while big changes are good for you, you can’t stick with them for the long term. Try setting goals like “I will replace one fatty snack a day with a piece of fruit instead” or “I will walk for 10 minutes every day”. Once you reach your goal, set a new one. This makes any diet easier to stick to.
While starting too fast with a diet can make it hard to stick to, starting too fast with an exercise program can be dangerous. Doing too much too soon can not only wear you out, it can cause permanent damage to your body. Remember to pick your exercise program and start small. If you decide to run, run until you’re too tired. Then walk the rest of the time. You may only run 5 minutes the first day, but if you keep it up you’ll be running the entire way in no time.
No matter what you do to lose weight, try to incorporate small, reasonable changes. This will greatly increase your chances of success.
Filed under Health Talk, Weight Loss by on May 8th, 2007. 
Lemon Thyme Chicken and Baby Potatoes
4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
3 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 ¼ cup brown rice (dried)
2 cups water
3 cups chicken stock
8 oz baby spinach leaves
Place chicken. Mix 1 tablespoon thyme, 2 teaspoons lemon rind, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a bowl and rub over chicken. Cover and refrigerate approximately 20 minutes to let flavors sink in.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large deep non stick pan or wok add the onion and cook for about 2 minutes until soft, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add rice and stir everything together until rice is coated, approximately 2 minutes. Add the water and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer over low heat for approximately 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary add a little more stock and cook longer until tender.
While the rice is cooking, transfer the chicken breasts and marinade to a non stick baking tray and grill for approximately 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Once rice is finished, stir in the baby spinach, remaining lemon rind and thyme and transfer to serving plate. Top with grilled chicken and serve.
* Low Fat
Filed under Health Talk, Main Dish, Recipes by on May 8th, 2007.
Anyone who has ever had to lose weight knows first hand just how difficult it can be. And for those people who tell you just stop eating or just cut back, you can rest assure they’ve never had to struggle with weight issues in their lives.
The truth is losing weight is hard work and the more you have to lose the harder it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s not achievable. There are many, many people who have achieved weight loss and are living happier and healthier lives.
One of the biggest struggles of weight loss is staying motivated. Sure most of us start out with great enthusiasm and usually have great results the first week or even two but once the weight loss slows down that’s when our willpower has to work overtime to keep us from reverting back to bad habits.
Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated during your weightloss:
Picture It – Visualization has been used for years by many and it works. Take 5 minutes out of your day to visualize the pounds melting off, but don’t stop there. Imagine what your life would be like if you were thinner. Would you have more confidence, would you buy new clothes, start dating again, what would you do? Visualize it and stay motivated.
Journal It – Start a journal at the beginning of your weight loss journey, write how you’re feeling, what your goals are and what a difference it would make to your life. Then take a picture and stick it to that page. Depending on how much weight you’d like to lose you can update the journal weekly or monthly (as difficult as it may be, you should probably do it weekly). Take the time to take a new picture every week and stick it in a new page along with a few notes, if you hit a plateau, look back through your journal and see just how far you’ve come.
Reward It – Set small goals throughout your weight loss and rewards to go with it. For example 5 pounds can be a nice body lotion, 20 pounds can be a fab new outfit. Make the rewards whatever you want but try to stay away from food rewards as this is not constructive to your weight loss.
Instead do have little treats here and there throughout your weight loss phase (don’t deny yourself completely) and see these treats as everyday part of life not something to use as a reward, just make sure you eat them in moderation.
Flaunt It – Why not? You’ve worked hard, share your thoughts with friends and family members. Let them know how proud of yourself you are and bathe in their compliments. You’re taking steps to change your life and doing something that’s not easy at the best of times, so be proud of yourself and share it with others.
Filed under Health Talk, Weight Loss by on May 8th, 2007.
You’ve probably heard a lot of hype lately from fitness gurus about strengthening your core. Before you dismiss these exercise regimens as simply the latest fad, you should find out exactly what your “core” is and how important it is to overall fitness.
The “core” of your body is a set of 29 muscles that surround your torso; specifically your abs, glutes, and back muscles. These muscles are very important because they surround your center of gravity. Having a toned core improves posture, balance, and stability. If you still doubt the importance of these muscle groups, put your hand on someone’s abdominal or back muscles while they move (always get permission first). You should be able to feel these muscles working no matter what part of the body is moving.
Since it’s a bit tedious to do 29 separate exercises, it’s best to do moves that work at least one group of core muscles at the same time. The best exercises for strengthening these muscles groups are the crunch, the bridge, the plank, and the quadruped. These exercises should be done slowly, focusing on doing them right. Remember that an exercise done right once is more helpful than doing it wrong twice.
For those of us that don’t have a lot of time on our hands, there are ways to work your core while you exercise the rest of your body. The best way to do this is by using an exercise ball. Doing exercise on a ball requires a lot of effort to stay balanced. Since the core is pivotal for staying balanced, you’ll work these muscles while you’re doing exercises for other parts of the body. These balls can be purchased at most stores that sell fitness equipment.
While you’re purchasing a ball, you should pick up an instructional tape or even sign up for a class to get you started. The most important part of doing these exercises is doing them correctly. You should focus on the form of the movements and proper posture. This will give you the most benefit from your workout.
Hopefully this information is enough to get you started. While it’s important to exercise all your muscles, paying extra attention to your core will allow you to work perform better with your whole body.
Filed under Exercise, Health Talk, Strength Training by on May 26th, 2007.