How to Lose Weight in the New Year: New Year’s Resolutions

Women talk about their weight all the time without giving out the critical numbers. I have always found it odd that it has somehow become common to ask a woman her age, but never her weight!

Age and weight are things we carry around right up front for all to see. It is no mystery when a woman is overweight, and no amount of manicures, hair colorings, makeup or fashionable clothes will disguise it. That’s why losing weight is at the top of most women’s New Years Resolutions.

The Problem with Being Fat

In our politically-correct society, some have deemed the adjective “fat” an inappropriate term because “people can’t help it.” From observing the people I hear bemoaning their mysterious weight issues, yes, they CAN help it but are choosing not to. Their unhealthy choices are far more damaging than the term “fat” which they hate so much.

The problem with being fat is not the word “fat” — it’s the massive amount of damage you are doing to your health with all that fat packed around your vital organs, clogging your arteries, squeezing your lungs, stretching your skin, and weighing down your bones, ligaments, tendons, joints, and discs, etc.

Weight Loss Intervention

Listen, ladies, let’s be honest. if food is what excites you and you spend a lot of time cooking fattening foods or eating out where you get fattening foods, it may be a mystery to YOU why you can’t lose weight, but it is no secret to the rest of us. Consider this an intervention.

If you want to lose weight, it cannot be a random whim that you post about or talk about and then think you have done something about. Talking about your desire to lose weight won’t do any good. You have to want to lose weight enough to change your lifestyle. You have to give up what you love and what gives you comfort and fills the holes in your life. Sacrifice and self-denial hurt. So does losing weight.

General Weight Loss Rules

Here are three general rules you have to live by if you want to lose weight

1). Don’t go back for seconds — ever. Sure, your stomach is still rumbling and telling you you are hungry, but that’s because YOU HAVE STRETCHED IT OUT. The only way to reduce it is to allow it to shrink, and it will feel empty until you allow time for the size of your stomach to go all the way back down.
2.) Eat smaller portions. OK, so you are not going back for seconds, but that is not license to load your plate up to where it is full and overflowing in round one! Put reasonable portions on your plate and don’t go back for more.
3.) Stop snacking between meals unless it is on fruit or raw vegetables.

Start Small

The nice thing about losing weight is, you CAN start small. It took years for you to get where you are today, even if some of it came in spurts or followed the birth of a baby. You gained your weight one pastry or chip at a time, so you can lose weight the same way.  Instead of a huge, vague goal like “I want to lose weight,” how about coming up with a few smaller goals. Here are a few New Year’s Resolutions suggestions to help you lose weight, but only if you pick a few and STICK TO THEM.

Small Weight Loss Goals & Resolutions

Here are some goals that make great New Year’s Resolutions, because they are small and easy to accomplish

1.) Give up one desert or pastry a day and substitute fruit.
2.) Give up one bag of chips a day and substitute nuts or raw vegetables. This was one of my resolutions a couple of years ago, and I am still doing it. I rarely ever have a bag of chips in the house.
3.) Give up fried fish and fried chicken for roasted or grilled meat.
4.) Give up french fries and onion rings for healthier options. My option is free and comes in smaller portions — crackers! I never order fries anymore with my burgers (and I rarely eat a fast-food burger anymore – a resolution from several years back). I always ask for crackers. They add a little salty crunch which fills the void left by fries. but they have far less fat. I kept this resolution all year last year and now it is a habit.
5.) Give up one sugary beverage a day and exchange it for water. I gave up one can of Arizona green tea a day last year for one glass of water. As the year draws to a close, I am proud to say I kept this resolution and it is now a habit.
6.) Instead of baking pies, pastries and cheesy casseroles for all the gatherings and parties, volunteer for healthier dishes so you don’t have the tempting desserts in your house. So your family loves your pies. Hopefully, they love you more.

Exercise

Add walking, hiking, jogging, sports, aerobics, zumba, yoga, or some other physical exercise to your life EVERY DAY. If nothing else, walk a flight of stairs at work or your apartment or the mall every day instead of taking the elevator. Yes, we know it hurts your knees, hips, back, feet, ankles, etc. so start small but DO SOMETHING other than talk about it! Once you drop some pounds, your back, hips, knees, feet,  etc. will feel a lot better.

Just Say No

When your friends and family press you to “just try one” or “let’s both get one” because in the past you liked that kind of coaxing, now it is time to man up and just say no. When your mother, sister or husband brings home ice cream or pastries, let it be their special treat. Just say no. When you see yummy fattening foods and really, really want them, and you feel like you owe yourself a treat, JUST SAY NO!  Do you want the sweet taste of sugar in your mouth or the sweet feel of a size 8 and a glowing report from your doctor? That’s what it comes down to — which do you want more? So far you’ve wanted the food more and have refused to say no to your cravings and desires.

Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band

If you are thinking of cheating the system with laparoscopic adjustable gastric band or lab band surgery instead of will power, self discipline and sacrifice, think again. I have watched a dear friend struggle for months just to survive a series of infections and other problems caused by her lap band surgery a year ago. She was stranded in a hospital in a coma and then a long, drawn out recovery and rehab process with additional surgeries for months as she fought to stay alive — and she was on the other side of the US continent away from family and friends when she was hospitalized. My friend’s months of hospital bills and rehab were massive, to say the least, and insurance won’t cover much of it. Hers is not an isolated story. Lap band surgery is a dangerous and costly alternative to self-denial and self-control.

Success

My success in keeping my own healthy New Year’s Resolutions came about because I selected 2 or 3 small changes each year. I started taking this more seriously when my annual physicals started to show high blood pressure, even though I wasn’t overweight. One of the nice by-products of my healthier choices has been some chronic back issues have gotten much better.

So make 2 or 3 small but healthy New Year’s Resolutions . My decision to eat nuts instead of chips a few years ago didn’t change my life, but each year since then I have changed 2 or 3 other small habits, and now I am in better shape than I have been in in years! The good news is — there are still many other small changes I can make to live healthier in the future.

Make good choices about what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat. Take small steps to change your eating and exercise habits. Pick 2 or 3 clear, easy New Year’s Resolutions and stick to them in the coming year.

Happy New Year from Skin, Health & Beauty!

Also see:

• How to Make Healthier New Year’s Resolutions
  
• Top 5 Healthy New Year’s Resolutions Per US Government 

• New Year’s Resolutions of Gospel Artists
• Top Ten Songs for New Year’s
• New Year Acrostic – a Poem for the New Year

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