Fitness blog---It's a New Year, what do you do now??

[Marissa Lily]

First and foremost, do not make your resolution to get on a diet!

No diets allowed!

Why? It's all the rage now to call it a "lifestyle change" but honestly, that is what it needs to be. You need to make a decision to be healthy forever. Not just so you can be whatever size you have stuck in your head. You need to look at this as an every day thing from now on. Make healthy choices daily. Does this mean you don't ever get to indulge again? No. It means use every time you eat anything as a time to make a good choice. If you want to eat cake, eat it. Just don't feel guilty about it, that is how you sabotage yourself, when you associate feelings of guilt with food.


Diets are temporary-you get on one thinking you will lose a lot of weight really fast if you are strict and then oops! You forgot to plan for what comes next, real life.

Diets make you feel guilty-you are always thinking about what you eat and if it "fits your diet" or not. Then if yubreak your diet, you often decide that you ruined it and you end up going off of it completely.

Diets usually lower your metabolism-most diets are so strict and put you (or you put yourself) on such calorie restrictions that your body ends up hoarding all its fat and eating the muscle instead. Whenever you lose muscle, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) lowers. BMR is how many calories you burn just by being alive every day. This means that now when you go off your diet, your metabolism will be even lower than when you started, so it is almost inevitable that you will gain weight.

Diets are usually unhealthy-Any diet that suggests staying away from any food group should be avoided. First, that makes it very unrealistic and you will start craving the "forbidden" items. Second, you will be cutting out nutrients your body needs. carbs are needed for energy, fat is needed to make you feel full and have proper brain function, etc etc. Calorie levels are often too low and make you tired and more prone to headaches which then makes you eat more!!

Bottom line is DIETS DON'T WORK!! Have you ever seen a person get on a diet and never have to do it again?


*** Your goal is to cut out 100 calories a day***
It sounds too simple, but studies are really showing that the difference between being obese and being healthy really comes down to about 100 cals a day.

How do you do this?

If you drink soda, drink one less every day
If you eat cookies, eat one less
Don't snack at a coworkers candy dish/nut dish or whatever
Pack a couple of snacks to take to work with you so you eat those throughout the day instead of getting so hungry you attack the snack machine or overeat at lunch/dinner (SEE MY SNACK BLOG)
Drink a glass of water before a meal
Don't use butter
Eat more slowly
Eat breakfast

Any one of these things will EASILY cut 100 calories out of your day and you won't even notice it.

You do need to exercise and make healthier decisions throughout the day, but start with this and you will be surprised what it leads to...

[Marissa Lily]

amano, interesting take on this. I do say that it is preferable for you to switch to diet coke if you are going to be having rum and coke. for instance, if you drink 3 rum and cokes 2 times a week now using diet coke, you will save yourself a minumum of one pound of weight gain per month totalling 12-15 pounds per year. do you think amano would notice gaining or losing 12 pounds every year?? yes!!! see what that tiny little switch actually does? now you just need to start thinking about that rum and coke habit amano...rum is 90 calories a shot.

[Marissa Lily]

start here. this is going to accomplish a lot of things, you will end up automatically thinking a bit more before you eat something. 100 calories is the beginning but if you start here it will lead to a healthier lifestyle. you need to look at this as a lifestyle now. and over years and years it seems the difference between obese adults and healthy adults comes down to 100 calories a day.

[Amano Jyaku]

Sounds like a plan!! In fact right now I'm exclusively drinking Diet Coke (with Splenda) with all my rum&cokes! I'm toasting "To Fitness!" ^_^

[Filmmonkey]

Hmmm, that 100 calorie thing sounds a little too good to be true. But I'm willing to give it a shot...