Goals

So here we are, the new year has begun, bringing with it new opportunities and challenges. Did you make any resolutions? What are your goals for this year? These notes on goal setting don't only apply to weight loss.

When we set goals, most of us tend to get carried away. We are far too ambitious - and the more ambitious we are at the outset, the less likely we are to succeed.When you think 'I need to lose weight', you will probably stipulate the total amount of weight you want to lose, and a specific (short) time period in which to lose it. This approach will more than likely fail because the goal you have set yourself is unrealistic and unattainable! Better by far to break it down into baby steps, and not to put a time limit on success. Success breeds success, so after completing the first baby step (e.g. losing 2kg) you are going to happily commit to the next (baby) step. And so on. Baby steps will help you win minor victories in the march to a major goal.

So what changes in lifestyle are you going to implement to achieve your mini-goal? Most people will say that to lose weight you have to eat less and exercise more - right AND wrong answer!

To lose weight, we need to implement adequate healthy eating habits and sensible exercise.
Let's get the sensible exercise out of the way first. I am NOT a personal trainer. Personally, I am lazy; a lazy cook, and lazy generally. I have never exercised. Not in the formal go-to-gym/aerobics way. Yes, I played netball, tennis and hockey (most reluctantly!) at school. But I have always maintained that I got enough exercise looking after my husband, children and house. If you are into gym, then good for you; the endorphins produced by exercise are positive and very uplifting. The only exercise I introduced at the midpoint of my weight loss program was walking. Actually, not even walking. More of a brisk stroll; pushing my grandson in his pushchair, up to the local supermarket and back (not even a kilometer round trip), weather and nap times permitting, three times a week. But only if I felt like it. If you are not into gym, don't feel you have to start now, especially if you have a preclusive medical condition.

That brings me to the adequate healthy eating habits. Which is what I have been writing about over the past thirteen months – and what I will continue to write about.

Life’s a journey…

… but with no certain destination, so we should take time to enjoy that journey.

Although achievement and success are what we crave, the satisfaction doesn’t last long once we are there. And if we don’t set new goals, then we soon slide back into dissatisfaction and discontent. So we need to continually challenge ourselves both mentally and physically.

Each goal or project takes planning and commitment. First we have to have a vision, then we have to have an overall plan on how we intend getting there. We already envision and plan objectives all the time – even doing the grocery shopping involves planning, but mini-projects, like shopping, have become second nature so we do them without consciously thinking about them.

If you ask most people what their personal vision is, they will probably say something like … a better job… a bigger house… a newer car… a better life. Each of these answers (and I’m sure there are plenty of others) can be considered objectives. What steps can we take to achieve them? However generous the Universe is, things don’t just fall in our laps, we have to work towards them.

A better job may involve getting some training or gaining experience – so go for it. A better job may well provide the resources for a bigger house or newer car; but a better life? Not necessarily.

A better life can be achieved through a healthier lifestyle – cutting back on fats and sugars, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, spending quality time with loved ones and starting some form of moderate exercise. And fully appreciating what we already have.

Strive for more, by all means. But enjoy the ride along the way. Stay positive.

Have a great weekend.

We are NOT all the same.

I don’t like sweeping generalizations much. We are continually told that people are all the same, but then we are also told that each person is unique. So which is it? I think the truth lies in what criteria are in place at the time.

Hypothesis 1: We are all the same.
Yes, physiologically. Maybe. We all have bones and muscles; eyes, ears and teeth; arms, legs, hands and feet; hair and skin. Even that is a broad generalization – many people don’t have all those things. We can’t even say that we all have the same wants and needs - beyond food, shelter, health and world peace. And again, our needs and wants for food, shelter and health (yes, and world peace) are different from person to person, and different within each person at different times! The only criteria to satisfy the condition ‘we are all the same’ would seem to be…

I really don’t know. Everything I can think of leads to a quantifiable variable. Can you think of anything that makes every single person on our planet the same?

Hypothesis 2: Each person is unique.
I have to go with this one. It just makes sense to me; I don’t think I have to argue its logic or credibility. Do you agree?

So if each of us is unique, then it follows that we each have our own philosophy; our own path to choose and follow. Our own goals. We may share goals, such as weight loss or following a healthier lifestyle but we will each go about attaining those goals in our own way. And we each deserve respect for having set a goal, and continuing encouragement for striving towards it – by whatever means.

What I’m trying to say is that my way of doing things is not necessarily your way. I can show you my way to weight loss, but it may not suit your tastes or current lifestyle.

Let’s not criticize ourselves, or each other, for our different approaches to life and problem solving. Many years and experiences have made us the unique individuals we are. None of us is perfect.

Have a great weekend.

Rules can break your commitment

I’ve just seen on Face Book that my niece is starting a ’major health kick 28 day plan’. She says she is giving up smoking and alcohol (both excellent commitments to make!), and that she intends to cut out sugars and fats altogether.

Alarm bells are already sounding in my head! Very few people can set these kinds of limitations, all at once, and succeed.

The greater the number of stringent rules you make for yourself when committing to a diet or health regimen, the less likely you are to keep them up. The only rules – not even rules, but guidelines - you need to implement to lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle are:
1. Make healthy food choices
2. Master portion control
3. Consume sufficient kilocalories/kilojoules
4. Introduce gentle exercise
5. Don’t set a time limit

Making healthy food choices means eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, and choosing whole grain products over their refined equivalents – whole grain bread and pasta, brown rice etc.

Mastering portion control is a little more difficult and takes a bit of time. Use the Google search tool above, type in ‘food groups’ and it will list all the posts I have written in the past about how much of what equals a portion, and how many portions of each food group your body needs in a day.

Eating enough is tied in to portion control. If you eat the number of portions from each food group, each day, you will be getting sufficient energy from a healthy variety of foods. When you radically limit the quantity and quality of the foods you ‘allow’ yourself, you will be hungry, tired and quickly get depressed and down on yourself. All foods are 'allowed' - just watch your portion sizes.

Introducing gentle exercise is as easy as parking on the far side of the lot, before walking briskly into the mall or shopping centre, where you will use the stairs in preference to the lift or escalator.

Don’t set a time limit. You will more than likely set an unrealistic goal, not be able to meet it, and get despondent. You will lose faith in yourself, be de-motivated and give up on the whole idea! Slow and steady attains the goal – it’s not a race. Changing too much all at once means you have too much to think about and consider every time you want to eat.

Have a great weekend.

Rewards

When you have a goal in mind, it's good to keep renewing your commitment to that goal. One way of doing this is to reward yourself as you pass milestones along the way (eg every 5kg weight lost). Of course, these rewards should not be edible. But depending on your finances, a pedicure or manicure (even if you do it yourself!) is a nice reward; a facial or a massage; a handbag or new shoes.

Once having reached your goal, you don't want to slide back into old habits, so keep rewarding yourself, every month or so, for sticking with healthy eating - eg a new book or lipstick. Look at your reward and remind yourself what you have done to deserve it.

It sounds silly, but periodic rewards provide continuing motivation and keep you on track.

Banning treats

It seems that banning treats altogether, or imposing miserly restrictions is more likely to create a greater desire for them... and not just in children.

We have all started diets thinking that the easiest way to lose weight is to exclude certain foods. This is a fallacy. No food groups - even sugars and fats - should be totally excluded. They each have their place in a healthy eating plan. If we ban all the sweet stuff entirely, we just feel deprived and depressed. We need to take control and limit quantities.

Our efforts to improve family health and lifestyle can succeed. We have to realise that no improvement comes without effort. So, for a start, we can buy fewer treats when we do the grocery shopping. Decide, before you leave home, which treats you are going to buy, and in what quantities. To decide what quantities to buy, you have to designate treat times, of course. And once back from shopping, we can keep those treats in their very own container, on a high shelf. Out of sight, out of mind. The treats that come in a strip or bag of individually wrapped portions are a great aid to self control.

How often should we serve treats? Certainly no more than once a day.  Give children their own choice of treat from the available selection, and let them decide when they want to eat it. Maybe after supper is a good time, or they might want to include it in tomorrow's lunchbox. But... once the day's treat is gone, it is gone. And that applies to adults, too. One rule for everyone in the family.

Change one thing at a time

Change is often viewed as negative: it disrupts our habitual patterns and takes us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes the change is of our own choice - changing jobs, moving house, having a baby.
Sometimes it's forced on us - a new boss, a petrol price increase, redundancy.
Whether the change is forced or chosen, it takes a toll on our general health and well-being because it is stessful. We don't always cope well with stress, especially when several stressors occur at the same time, but we can improve our coping skills by eating wisely.

In our journey to healthier eating habits - and a healthier overall lifestyle - we can make small changes, one at a time. Once we have adapted to that change, and it has become habitual, then we can make the next change.

For this week, let's turn off the television while we have dinner. Dinner time is prime time for fast food advertisers, and while hamburgers, pizza and chicken burgers may have been the furthest things from your mind when you started to eat (unless you are actually eating one of them), these intrusions will detract from your enjoyment and appreciation of the food in front of you. Within reason, plan your mealtime so that it doesn't conflict with everyone's favourite programme. But then again, you can always record the show, can't you?

Keeping track

Remember when I started this blog, I talked about keeping a food diary. No, well a lot of you were not with me then. So I will reiterate:
If you don't write down what you eat, you will find it difficult to keep track of whether you have had the requisite servings of each food group each day. I still write down everything I eat.

Another way of tracking is to make 'paper money' in food group denominations. Then you can 'pay' for each meal as you go along. Or use pieces of different coloured card and keep them in a box in the kitchen. If you make paper money or cards, make them in half portion denominations - you can even include a brief half portion description.

After over a year, I still weigh and measure everything. I know it's difficult if you eat out a lot, but portion sizes can 'swell' surprisingly fast when you don't keep a close eye. That restaurant steak is way over a 3 serving size (so only eat half). Maybe weigh and measure for the first week of each month, and judge by eye the rest of the time.

Whatever you do, tracking-wise, be aware of the food you are eating. And enjoy it! Slow down and savour it.

Goal setting

So here we are, at the beginning of the year. Did you make any resolutions? What are you goals for this year? These notes on goal setting don't only apply to weight loss. Baby steps will help you win minor victories in the march to a major goal.

When we set goals, most of us tend to get carried away - we are far too ambitious - and the more ambitious we are at the outset, the less likely we are to succeed.
When you think 'I need to lose weight', you will probably stipulate the total amount of weight you want to lose, and a specific (short) time period in which to lose it. This approach will more than likely fail because the goal you have set yourself is unrealistic and unattainable! Better by far to break it down into baby steps, and not to put a time limit on success. Success breeds success, so after completing the first baby step you are going to happily commit to the next (baby) step. And so on.
So what changes in lifestyle are you going to implement to acheive your mini-goal? Most people will say that to lose weight you have to eat less and exercise more - right AND wrong answer!
To lose weight, we need to implement adequate healthy eating habits and sensible exercise.
Let's get the sensible exercise  out of the way first. I am NOT a personal trainer in the field of exercise. I have said before that I am lazy, not just a lazy cook, but lazy generally. I like the old saying 'why walk if you can stand, why stand if you can sit, why sit if you can lie down?'. My sentiments exactly! I have never exercised. Not in the formal go-to-gym/aerobics way. Yes, I played netball, tennis and hockey (most reluctantly!) at school. But I have always maintained that I got enough exercise looking after my husband, children and house. If you are into gym, then good for you; the endorphins produced by exercise are positive and very uplifting. The only exercise I introduced at the midpoint of my weight loss program was walking. Actually, not even walking. More of a brisk stroll; pushing my grandson in his pushchair, up to the local supermarket and back (not even a kilometer round trip), weather and nap times permitting, three times a week. But only if I felt like it. If you are not into gym, don't feel you have to start now, especially if you have a preclusive medical condition.
That brings me to the adequate healthy eating habits. This is going to be the on-going topic of my posts. Tomorrow I will start to introduce you to the different food groups.

So until tomorrow...