Yearly Resolutions and Weight

Welcome.

This journey starts at some point for all of us.

For you, it may be the first of the year. It’s a common resolution. For some, the pandemic 15 has become the pandemic 30, 40, 50, or more. It’s ok. For whatever reason, you decided that it was time. This is as good a time as ever.

First off, write that down. It will be helpful to know why when you feel like this is not working, or not worth it. My reason, get healthier (which I have done.) Yes, cute clothes that fit better are nice too. I still avoid the camera for the most part. Not because I am embarrassed, I know some of us are. I am a part-time press photographer, I belong behind the lens.

However, take a photo. I have a few from early on with the family. I also have my 2010 driver's license photo. Truly the highest I have been. Also take measurements, in particular your waist. This is a good marker of metabolic health. After three or four years, it finally got under 35 inches. I know it was at one point well over 45, more like 48. I should have but did not. So I go by the clothes I wore.

I am not going to tell you it’s easy. If it was, most of us would lose it and keep it off. There are days that are good. There are days that are quite bad. Try to make most of those good days. The bad, move on. We are only human.

And now we get into the big question, what to eat? While these days I follow a low-carb diet, I am going to tell you…whatever you can sustain over a lifetime. However, a calorie is not a calorie. There are good calories, and there are bad calories. The leading-edge research tells us that one reason we lose weight is reducing insulin resistance. This is why eating a mostly low glycemic diet is a good idea. But if all you can stomach is to reduce portions, that is a good start. Making a full-on change in your life can be overwhelming. In time, as I did, you might decide to dig deeper and find out what works and experiment on yourself.

The first step is reducing as much as you can in processed foods, such as chips, cake, candy, frozen foods. Frozen veggies are fine as long as they are just veggies. Frozen prepared foods tend to have too much fat, sugar, and salt. They are fine on occasion. But the keyword is occasion.