The holidays are winding down. The resolutions have been made. But this is NOT the day to go on a hard core diet. You’ll fail and give up entirely by mid week. Sure you rip of the Band Aid and dive into the cold pool, but you need to make a lifestyle change or one year from today you’ll be reading this and starting over again. (Like you have before.) I’m not giving you justification to eat as much of whatever you want. Today you start reducing your food intake and purging your house of bad stuff.
Here’s today’s plan: Use up the snacks, cookies, candy and high calorie foods. If you have guests around, send them home with a goodie bag. If you have unopened snack foods, return them to the store. (Yes they take returns too.) Don’t binge on the stuff! Just don’t replenish the pantry.
Oh… GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND TAKE A WALK!
TODAY: WEIGH YOURSELF AND MEASURE YOUR WAIST. IT WILL GIVE YOU A BENCHMARK STARTING POINT FOR THE YEAR TO COME.
British scientists have found that women who skipped breakfast ate more calories during the rest of the day and also had higher fasting levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol compared with the women in the breakfast-eating group. The researchers found that skipping breakfast could lead to weight gain. So get your metabolism revved up and quell those hunger pangs early. Just make sure breakfast isn’t the famous British “bangers and mash”.
TODAY: EAT A SMALL PROTEIN FILLED BREAKFAST AND TAKE A WALK.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently talked about a team of nutrition researchers that concluded that whether you are eating the “three” or “six” meals daily, weight loss ultimately comes down to “how much energy (or calories) is consumed as opposed to how often or how regularly one eats.”
Okay I’ve talked about this before, It’s the same equation for weight loss and maintenance: Calories “in” = Calories “out”. So this means that eating five or six small meals a day helps us to:
- Burn more total calories by the end of the day
- Eat fewer total calories at the end of the day
So keep the “meals” small and frequent.
TODAY: CONTINUE GRAZING THROUGH YOUR DAY.
A calorie reduction diet doesn’t involve buying anything special. Replace those bags of snacks with more fruits and vegetables and you have spent the same amount for better nutrition.
Then invest. Invest time for your walking exercise. Just a half hour a day is all it takes.
The big return will be a smaller you and significant savings in medical bills.
Can you afford to diet? Can you afford not to?
TODAY: BANK ON BETTER HEALTH.
Okay… don’t eat the entire time. Just make sure that you stretch your meals out to at least 20 minutes. If you’re still hungry after finishing your meal, take a 20 minutes break. Sip a cup of coffee, relax, take your mind off eating. Then see if you are still hungry. You’ll probably find that you don’t need more calories. It takes that long for the “full” signal to get to your brain. The main thing is that you see the “stop” signal go on.
TODAY: SLOW YOUR MEALS DOWN.
It’s Spring. You’re finally going to be able to go outside and get moving again. You should be walking regularly already, but you also can get exercise when you work outside instead of just working out. So first, turn off the TV and go outside. Start a garden. Turning the soil, raking and hoeing are great exercise for many muscle groups. Mow the lawn, you’ll get lots of walking in that way. Just get active and do some outdoor chores. You’ll know you’ve exercised the next day! Of course you can minimize that by doing some stretching and warm-ups before you work. Don’t overdo it. There will always be more outdoor chores to do.
Spring cleaning should not be limited to the closets. Hit the pantry and get rid of the high calorie winter snacks that you’ve been storing like a squirrel. You can’t eat ’em if you don’t have ’em. Grab a few bags, go to the park and… feed the squirrels.
TODAY: GET RID OF THOSE BAGS OF SNACKS.
The holidays are winding down. The resolutions have been made. But this is NOT the day to go on a hard core diet. You’ll fail and give up entirely by mid week. Sure you rip of the Band Aid and dive into the cold pool, but you need to make a lifestyle change or one year from today you’ll be reading this and starting over again. (Like you have before.) I’m not giving you justification to eat as much of whatever you want. Today you start reducing your food intake and purging your house of bad stuff.
Daily Nag | Diet Nag | 
January 2, 2019 6:08 am | 
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