We all realize that it’s that time of year again – the beginning of the Holiday Season! We’re planning for Thanksgiving the day after tomorrow. Then, it’s a mad dash of shopping, cooking, eating, drinking, parties, family get togethers, religious events, perhaps traveling, and lots of joy (and possibly sadness depending on our circumstances) until after New Year’s Day. In other words we’ll be incredibly busy and have little time for ourselves, and, even worse, our daily routines will be disrupted for months! Despite this, the Holidays are a good thing. We just have to plan. This is not a time for thoughts such as “I’m not going to gain weight!”, or, “It’s impossible so I won’t even try!”, or, “I’ll wait until after the New Year!”, or “I’ll skip all those parties!”, or, whatever. The truth is we’ll all party and eat and drink – some of us will maintain our weight but most of us will gain at least a few pounds despite our best intentions. By planning, however, we can minimize the damage and enter the New Year healthier by doing a few simple things. We must be honest with ourselves because we know what’s going to happen otherwise. The first thing we must do is try to get at least and extra 30 cumulative minutes of physical activity each and every day. This can be simply walking while shopping or visiting. Next, since we are planning to snack and drink more, we should cut back on our regular meals and try to keep the accumulation of goodies in our homes and work spaces to a minimum by taking inventory and throwing them out daily if necessary. We all know what to do – we just have to do it. Thirdly, we should keep some type of record or diary of what we consume and where we’re going to go so we know what we’ve done and what we’ll probably soon do. This sounds too easy and it is, but, we’ll only do it if we begin now.
Archive for the ‘Controversies in Lifestyle Management’ Category
The Holiday Season Need Not Cause Weight Problems: We Must Begin Planning for the New Year Now!
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011The Weight Loss Blues Affect Everyone – Even “Experts” Like Me!
Thursday, October 13th, 2011“Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing” a sage once said. This is the way my wife and I feel now. Since we’ve recently cut way back on our professional activities we’ve had much more time to travel. In fact, we’ve spent over four of the past eight weeks traveling – 31/2 weeks driving to Oregon and back and last week driving to northern Wisconsin for a blissful week in the gorgeous north woods. Even though we kept active – kayaking, swimming, hiking, horse back riding, etc. – we both gained around 4 – 5 lbs. which we are having a devil of a time taking off. This despite our knowing what to do and being very knowledgeable in calorie counting. I get on the scale frequently and know how my patients feel when dieting. It’s frustrating! However, why we gained the weight isn’t a secret if we think about it. Firstly, although we were active on our trips, the physical activity was more intermittent and not as constant during the day. Secondly, we were, of necessity, eating out a lot and our food choices were not the best for weight control. Thirdly, we usually eat only two meals a day – a late breakfast or early lunch and a dinner later in the day. When traveling, the norm is, more often than not, that we eat three meals a day plus snacks which are more difficult to control when away from home. So, our problem was not one of ignorance or lack of knowledge of what we should have done, but one of our not planning and anticipating what would happen to us. Because of this lack of preparation, we blew it. Even the old cliche “Eat, it’s OK you’re on vacation,” doesn’t change the outcome. We now have to lose those pounds! It would have been better to not have gained weight by planning and applying the principles we know so well. Until we do this we will be forever flumoxed by our weight management.
To show how much I haven’t changed, I reread my previous post of January 20, 2010 where I lament my new year’s weight gain as well as my post on February 9, 2010. You should read these too.
A New Year and Time to “Weigh In” Again!
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010Happy New Year and Happy New Decade to all.
Here it is only 13 days into 2010 and I, like I suspect everyone else, seem to be experienceing the same old things. I’m trying to lose weight and I’ve developed writer’s block – I’ve actually been trying to write my first blog post of the new year ever since we returned from Florida January 3! It’s so frustrating! For me, losing weight is a chore and I’m the “expert.” I have to develop a plan just like I adv ise that my patients do. This I’ll discuss tomorrow (ah, that procrastination thing again!). Of course, I feel I have a very good reason to put off my weight loss plan discussion because my writer’s block is a more pressing issue and I need a plan for this. Plans, plans, and another plan – I’m going in circles. “Just do it” “Priortize!, ” I keep telling myself. “Post that post!” OK, I will now! “Weighing In” is certainly difficult.
Good Times to All No Matter Your Beliefs!
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Before I take some end of the year time off, I thought it best to do one last post for 2009. I’ve reread my previous postings and, for the most part, I’m satisfied with them. However, I realize that I’ve not discussed many (if any) really controversial issues. By this I mean the nitty gritty of lifestyle management – “good foods vs. bad foods;” “emotional (psychological) eating;” genetics and overweight; “plateauing” while dieting; “All calories are the same (I believe they are);” “I can’t lose weight!”; “bad” carbs and “good” carbs (I dare to say here they’re all the same); “I can’t exercise!” – to mention only a few.
Meanwhile, like almost everyone else I’ve recently gained some weight and I’m struggling a bit in this regard. This is disconcerting, but, I’ll discuss how I’ll manage this.
I hope in 2010 to stir up some conversation concerning “Your Weight Management = Your Health Management. ” Meanwhile keep on moving that body and, remember, every calorie counts!
