New Years Resolution - Weight Loss

Isn't it wonderful how you don't have to wait another moment to empower yourself towards change? Why wait till New Year's Day to start a new resolution? A new you could be happening now and by New Year's you will be well on your way. This blog is part 1 in a 6 part series addressing the most common resolutions. Let's get started with weight loss.

45% of the population put weight loss as their #1 resolution. Your relationship with food is complicated. Love / hate. The effects weight can have on your self-esteem and the way you interact with others can be a tremendous strain. Almost overwhelming feeling. Stealing your Power. Well, that does not have to be the case. Most people who are challenged with weight management (yo-yo dieting) just have not found the right lifestyle change for them. And it is different for everyone. Please know that any "diet" can be successful in the short term, but you MUST make a commitment to a lifestyle change that you can live with. You can not live on cabbage soup your entire life so stop the fads and commit. You have the Power within you to Change. To be the person you want to be. Here are three practical solutions to get your started on your journey.

1. Count Calories: Pro: Easy to do. Con: Doing it. The most successful way I have seen in practice for people to lose weight is to count calories. You do not know what you actually consume unless you see it for yourself. Write it down. Log it. People underestimate caloric intake by approximately 25%. Did you know that as little as 10 extra calories - 1 life saver candy - above your needed requirements can cause a 1pound weight gain per year? Plus as we age, our metabolism slows. Put the two together and the next thing you know you are standing on the scale asking what happened. The easiest way track your food is through a food logging app such as MyFitnessPal or LoseIt. These sites will help you determine your caloric need for weight loss, track your food intake and make recommendations. They have great features to keep you motivated such as blogs, recipes and community support chats.

2. Macros: Pro: Fine tune your diet. Con: Can be like a puzzle and at times frustrating. Macros diets are not new but are currently gaining in popularity. When discussing the term "macro" in relationship to food, it is describing the percentages of carbohydrates, fats and protein in your overall calorie consumption. It is a further step in evaluating or tweaking your intake. So in place of counting calories, you count macronutrients. Just a note, it can be difficult to find foods that "fit" into your macros if you do not have a good base knowledge of the composition of food you are taking in.

Two common methods for macro eating are plate visualization and gram counting. For example; fruits would be a carb (carbohydrate) macro as they are primarily made of of carbohydrates. Meats are a protein macro. Foods are classified by what they have the most of - carbohydrates, protein or fat. When eating a meal, you would want your plate to look like your macro breakdown. Common percentages for macronutrients are 40-50% carbohydrates, 15-25% protein and 20-30% fat. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram and fat 9 calories per gram. If you are counting grams, you need to do the math. For example; if your macro's were 45% carbs / 20% protein / 25% fat and you were on a 1600 calorie weight loss diet, you would shoot for 180 grams of carbohydates, 80 grams of protein and 45 grams of fat per day.

3. Counting Fat Grams: Pro: Decreasing fat intake has health benefits beyond weight loss. Con: You are not taking other nutrients into consideration. You can see in the above discussion that fat has twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates. It makes sense that if you are over consuming fat, by decreasing your consumption to no more than 30% of your calories you can decreased your overall caloric intake and decrease weight. If you were recommended 1600 calories for weight loss, no more than 53 grams of fat should be eaten per day.

These are just three of the strategies to help you lose weight. The morale of successful weight loss is learning what you eat, how you eat, why you eat and what to change. That can only come through personal monitoring. Many will find this information frustrating, but I would challenge you to change your mindset and find it empowering. There is no magic bullet. When you find the authentic knowledge, you own the process. And that is a very powerful tool to make the changes you need for a healthy relationship with food.

(Note: I STRONGLY recommend that you seek out the help of a Registered Dietitian trained in weight management. They are the professionals and will individualize a plan that works for you. The above information does not take into consideration any disease state which may change how you should manage your relationship with food. The information here is a guide to help you start your journey for success.)