It’s almost here! The wedding. The cruise. The reunion. The date is circled on your calendar. You have the dress. You have the bag and the shoes. Oh, shoot! You forgot to lose 20 pounds. This is an emergency. Time to break out the crash diet and subsist on cabbage, grapefruit and rice cakes for the next two months.
Just wait a minute, say the nutrition experts. Fad diets aren’t the path to lasting weight loss and true health. Bad habits got you into this jam. Good habits can get you out. It’s a simple matter of getting your head in the game and, like elite athletes, practicing your new habits “over and over and over again to make them stick,” says Jacqui Zimmerman, registered dietitian with the Lancaster General Health Wellness Center (www.lancastergeneralhealth.org).
“It’s the mindset of breaking bad habits through positive reinforcements,” she says.
“Most people don’t need more information about nutrition,” adds Angela Myers, co-owner, emPower Training Systems, Lancaster (www.empowertrainingsystems.com). “They need the ways to practically apply that nutrition information, and maybe some accountability, so they get good habits started.”
Blend these 9 simple steps into your daily routines, and that awesome dress is yours for the big day–and the rest of your life.
1. Take the 5-year plan: Can you really drink fad-diet shakes for the rest of your life? Probably not. Ask what you can sustain for five or 10 years. Start there.
2. One goal at a time: Starting January 1, you’re going to give up chocolate, sleep eight hours a night, go to the gym every day and the yoga studio on weekends, and only drink wine on Saturdays. Come on. Really? Pick one good habit at a time and make it stick. Then move to the next. “If you have one goal, you’re 85 percent likely to hit it,” says Myers. “If you add more, it’s down to 35 percent. Your brain can’t focus on them, and it takes too much willpower.”
3. Accentuate the positive: Old-fashioned diets feel like punishment. Your mind dwells on them. You’re only doing this to atone for sins involving cookies, potato chips, and that leftover spaghetti in the fridge. That’s a recipe for failure. To succeed, flip your attitude to the positive side. You’re not giving up cupcakes for the rest of your life. You’re saving them to enjoy at birthday parties. Focus on the good feelings that your energized and healthy self is bringing to you and your loved ones. Try this tip from Zimmerman: Write down all the negative statements you find yourself saying—all of the “can’ts” and “I’ll nevers.” Then write the opposite statements on a clean sheet of paper. Read this sheet daily, and your positive voice will drown out the negative.
4. Out with the old habits, in with the new: Do you battle the mid-day slumps with a sweet treat? Swap in a quick walk with a coworker. Make a note to self: That felt good. Repeat.
5. Visualize success: Before a night out, picture yourself enjoying the Caesar salad with salmon instead of the burger and fries. Take a tip from marketers and bombard yourself with happy images–a slimmer body, or running with the kids. “The brain is like a muscle, and it takes a while to retrain it,” says Myers.
6. Aim for the next milestone: It worked! That wedding was your initial motivator, and you reached your goal. Now comes the hard part–sustaining. Circle the next big date on the calendar. “There’s always going to be an event,” says Zimmerman. “There’s always going to be a special occasion.”
7. Action steps: Ever worked on a strategic plan at work? The goals are admirable, but the action steps make them happen. Focus on your action steps–say, exercising three times a week–and the goals, such as losing 20 pounds, will fall into place.
8. Resist the hard sell: No trans fats! Gluten-free! Zero fat! Fewer carbs! Remember that all those labels on food packaging are nothing more than enticements to buy the product. Just because it touts some supposed health benefit doesn’t mean that it’s actually healthy. Focus on cutting out refined food products and stick with the meats, vegetables and dairy products on the grocery store perimeter.
9. Redefine success: The scale doesn’t tell the whole story. Stronger muscle tone, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and regained control over blood sugars are all measures of success. Better habits improve your health. "Celebrate the successes [you] have," says Myers.
