Starting on Jan. 1, you’re going to stop eating carbs, sugar and fat. You’re going to hit the gym every day. You’re going to lose 20 pounds. Does this sound familiar?
When it comes to popular New Year’s resolutions, weight loss always trumps. In a 2016 Neilsen survey, 37 per cent of people said their resolution was to stay fit and healthy, while 32 per cent said losing weight was their top goal.
Dr. Sean Wharton, an internal medicine specialist focusing on diabetes and weight management, sees this phenomenon at the start of every year.
“By the middle of January, absolutely for sure, we’re a lot busier. People are really trying to work on their New Year’s resolutions – they have the motivation and the interest at that time in particular,” Wharton said.
“Shortly after, they end up quitting their attempts,” Wharton warned. He runs six weight management clinics in Ontario and has helped over 100,000 people struggling with their weight over the past eight years.
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Losing weight and successfully keeping it off is more about organization and carving out a feasible plan more than willpower, he said.
With the help of real Canadian women who lost weight and transformed their bodies, Wharton explains how to make 2017 the year that you get fit and healthy.
Don’t focus on weight loss, for starters: Don’t fixate on the scale and finding extreme ways to melt the pounds away. It’s a recipe for disaster because you’ll regain the weight and then some if you try a crash diet. Instead, zero in on your lifestyle: what is the first thing you eat when you start your day, what food is available to you while you’re at work, what do you eat when you want a snack, and how often are you preparing dinner at home? These are bigger questions to ask yourself instead of figuring out your magic number for your goal weight.
“This has nothing to do with weight whatsoever. It’s figuring out how you’re living your life and how it’s affecting your eating and exercise habits,” Wharton said.
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Keep a food journal: Christine Hopaluk lost 14 dress sizes and 129 pounds. The very first step in her weight loss journey was investing in a notebook to log what she was eating, when, and how she was feeling to try to find any patterns that needed to be broken. If you’re keeping a food journal, you have a record of how often you’re grabbing fast food, when you’re eating out of boredom or in front of the television, or even how often you’re skipping breakfast and then bingeing by lunchtime.
Some people may not know where they’re going wrong. By logging meals and activity, they can have a closer look to make and measure adjustments.
READ MORE: How Christine Hopaluk lost 14 dress sizes and 129 pounds – and kept it off for 11 years
Eat breakfast: Wharton advises Canadians to get into the habit of eating breakfast – even if it’s a small one. It wakes your metabolism and gets it revved up for the day. Reach for yogurt or a hard-boiled egg and a piece of fruit if you’re in a rush.
Have a plan for lunch and dinner, too: Meal prep is no joke for Nora Bock, who lost 130 pounds in about a year and a half.
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She knows what she’s going to eat every day for the week ahead of her, and grocery shops on each Tuesday to make sure she has the ingredients to make her meals.
“You have to have it already thought out prior to going to work. By the time lunchtime comes around, you should already know what you’re having for dinner,” Wharton said.
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These meals need to be protein and fibre-packed, without heavy carbohydrates or processed sugar. What does that look like? For lunch, half of Hopaluk’s plate is fruits and veggies, and some sort of multigrain wrap with a lean protein, such as salmon or a chicken breast.
For dinner, she has chicken, fish or ground turkey, sometimes with cauliflower rice or brown rice. There’s a salad with lots of vegetables and almonds.
Just commit to 10 minutes: Sometimes Hopaluk dreaded the idea of going to the gym so she’d convince herself to lace up her sneakers just to put in 10 minutes.
“I’d tell myself I’m just going to show up. It always turned into more after I warmed up. It’s a small goal that can create huge results,” Hopaluk said.
Jennifer Petrucci, a mom of three who lost 129 pounds and 10 dress sizes, told Global News that she started out by working out at home.
She did home videos like Zumba and Turbo Fire. So use what you have in your house; you can even lift heavy bags of rice or canned goods.
Another goal is to just aim for more steps, Wharton said. The target is 10,000 a day but if you lived a sedentary life before, aim for 5,000 from 2,000, for example. Invest in a pedometer to track your steps, he suggests.
READ MORE: How Canadian mom Jennifer Petrucci lost 129 pounds and 10 dress sizes
Cut out the “low hanging fruit”: Sugary drinks, cookies and cakes, and fast food were off the table for the trio of women Global News interviewed.
“I cut out all of the obvious things, like fast food and drinking my calories. I loved drinking pop. So the first six months was just honing in on what I was eating and trying to control that,” Petrucci told Global News.
Hopaluk calls it low hanging fruit because eliminating the foods can be done straight away.
But you can set this step in motion gradually, too. One of Hopaluk’s clients traded in her morning store-bought coffee for making it at home. She lost six pounds within six weeks.
Once you’ve kicked a bad habit, move onto the next.
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Brace yourself for temptations: Workplace pizza parties, family celebrations and holidays can throw a wrench into the routine you worked hard to adopt. When these interruptions come up – and they will – you need an extra layer of preparation, the experts say.
Bock logs her calories in the morning to make sure she doesn’t overindulge, while Hopaluk looks over restaurant menus to make sure there are options she’s OK with.
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She also follows the 80/20 rule, which means that 20 per cent of the time, it’s OK for her to splurge, guilt-free.
Set checkpoints: Once you’ve narrowed down a healthy eating plan and are acquainted with exercise, you may have a better idea of how to set a realistic goal.
“Set checkpoints along the way. I don’t recommend people start with much. Like the first five pounds within two months. Having small incremental goals can help, but don’t focus on the outcome instead of the output,” Hopaluk said.
Get help: Weight loss comes with the help of registered dietitians, doctors, personal trainers, and your family’s support.
Wharton notes that some people may need medication for weight management or they could even qualify for bariatric weight loss surgery. In other cases, they could be grappling with emotional eating, binge eating disorder or other issues related to their mental health that need to be addressed.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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