It’s a week into the New Year.  Your pants are uncomfortably tight and the number on the scale is in the wrong zip code. Trying to right the ship you resolve – swear — to never again eat another chocolate chip cookie — or maybe you’ve taken an oath to lay off potato chips forever or to go to the gym six days a week at 6AM.

Resolutions Can Be Tricky

Count yourself among the legions of people who have a specific end game in mind and then set broad – huge – resolutions and goals to try to get there. Those resolutions and goals usually aim for perfect achievement – something that’s virtually impossible to accomplish.

Aiming For Perfection

Be honest.  You know that aiming for perfection means lining yourself up for a big time fall. Inevitably, you end up feeling awful when you step over the theoretical line – or maybe it’s more like you fall off the cliff.  Why must sticking to a resolution or accomplishing a goal be done that way?  Perfection, in this case, is really the enemy of good.  In the real world, isn’t movement toward achieving your goal good enough?

Two Tips

1. Ditch the all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Drastic changes usually don’t sync with daily life and probably won’t last more than a few weeks.  Cycle through the drastic changes often enough and you solidly embed a “no can do” attitude in your brain. Remember, your less than ideal behaviors have taken time to develop and replacing them with more ideal, healthier ones takes time, too. Don’t reassess/alter everything at once. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time. Human brains don’t like too much disruption all at once – they like their familiar way of doing things.  Pick one thing at a time and create a new habit around it. Then go on to the next thing on your list.

2. Not having succeeded before doesn’t mean you won’t succeed this time. Everyone has made and broken resolutions. We’ve all tried to lose weight or eat more fruit and veggies.  Adopt a positive attitude and frame your resolution in positive terms. “I will eat vegetables instead of French fries twice a week” or I’ll have cereal only on Saturday mornings” is much more positive than “I’ll never eat French fries or cereal again.” It’s easier to put a new habit in place than to change an old one, so embed the positive behavior not the negative one.

The post Resolutions: Perfection Just Might Be The Enemy Of Good appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

If you’ve resolved to form new healthy habits, ones you want to keep and that fit in with your lifestyle, you need to keep repeating those new behaviors over and over again.  It’s like learning a language or a new game.  You need to keep practicing.

Why? Our brains are lazy. They like to default to what’s easy for them – and usually that’s an old habit (both good ones and bad ones).  That default is what takes the least amount of energy and it’s nice and comfortable. Doing something that’s very familiar can be done without much thinking or energy — like eating a certain thing everyday at the same time or going for a daily run at the same time and on the same route.

The way to create a new habit and to make it “stick” is to create a new “default” pattern to replace an old one. That requires the repetitive practice of doing the same behavior over and over again – like creating a path through grass or weeds by walking on it day after day.

Some Additional Tips

You might like to try one change at a time instead of making too many resolutions or setting too many goals. Create one new habit and then begin to work on another. Since our brains are, in a sense, kind of lazy, they don’t like too much disruption or change at a time.  They’re used to doing something one way, so pick one change at a time and create a habit around it.

Be committed and willing to work on your goal(s).  Decide if you’re really willing to make change(s) in your life. Are you serious or half-hearted about what you want to do? “Kinda,” “sorta” goals give you “kinda,” “sorta” results. Realistic, achievable goals produce realistic results.

Start Small And Specific. So many of us are guilty of all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Guess what happens?  We shoot ourselves in our collective feet and call ourselves failures.  Do it often enough and a “no can do” attitude gets solidly embedded. Make resolutions you think you can keep. If, for example, your aim is to exercise more frequently, schedule three or four days a week at the gym instead of seven. If you would like to eat healthier, try replacing dessert with something else you enjoy, like fruit or yogurt or a very small portion of a favorite indulgence — instead of seeing your diet as a form of punishment.

Unhealthy behaviors develop over time. Creating healthy behaviors to replace those unhealthy ones also requires time. Be patient.  And practice.

This article is part of the 30 day series of blog posts called: 30 Easy Tips for Looser Pants and Excellent Energy.

The post Practice Makes Perfect (Or At Least Good)– Especially With Habits appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

It’s a week into the New Year.  Your pants are uncomfortably tight and the number on the scale is in the wrong zip code. Trying to right the ship did you resolve – swear — to never again eat another chocolate chip cookie?  Or maybe you’ve taken an oath to lay off potato chips forever or to go to the gym six days a week at 6AM.

Resolutions Can Be Tricky

Count yourself among the legions of people who have a specific end game in mind and then set broad – huge – resolutions and goals to try to get there. Unfortunately, those resolutions and goals usually aim for perfect achievement – something that’s virtually impossible to accomplish.

Aiming For Perfection

Be honest.  You know that aiming for perfectionmeans lining yourself up for a big time fall. Inevitably, you end up feeling awful when you step over the theoretical line – or maybe it’s more like you fall off the cliff.  Why must pursuit of a goal be done that way?  Perfection, in this case, is really the enemy of good.  In the real world, isn’t movement toward achieving your goal good enough?

Two Tips

1.  Ditch the all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Drastic changes usually don’t sync with daily life and probably won’t last more than a few weeks.  Cycle through the drastic changes often enough and you solidly embed a “no can do” attitude in your brain. Remember, your less than ideal behaviors have taken time to develop and replacing them with more ideal, healthier ones takes time, too. Don’t reassess/alter everything at once. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time. Human brains don’t like too much disruption all at once – they like their familiar way of doing things.  Pick one thing at a time and create a new habit around it. Then go on to the next thing on your list.

2.  Not having succeeded before doesn’t mean you won’t succeed this time. Everyone has made and broken resolutions. We’ve all tried to lose weight or eat more fruit and veggies.  Adopt a positive attitude and frame your resolution in positive terms. “I will eat vegetables instead of French fries twice a week” or I’ll have cereal only on Saturday mornings” is much more positive than “I’ll never eat French fries or cereal again.” It’s easier to put a new habit in place than to change an old one, so embed the positive behavior not the negative one.

30 Days Of Usable Tips And Strategies

For the next 30 days check in daily at EatOutEatWell.com for a practical, usable tip of the day to help you on your way to achieving – and keeping – your resolutions and goals.

The post Resolutions And Goals: Perfection Just Might Be The Enemy Of Good appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Resolutions Can Be Tricky

Have you ever seen the hang-dog look on the face of an athlete in a goal scoring drought — or the look on a goalie’s face when that blasted ball or puck lands in the net?

We often set broad – huge – resolutions and goals that are virtually impossible to accomplish (like losing thirty pounds by the end of next week) and end up making you feel awful when you don’t achieve them.  You’ve basically set yourself up for failure and most likely you’ll be sporting that hang-dog look, too.

Ten Tips To Boost Your Success

1. We’re guilty of all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Drastic changes usually don’t synch with daily life and probably won’t last more than a few weeks.  Try this often and you solidly embed a “no can do” attitude in your brain. So, don’t make too many resolutions. Your unhealthy behaviors took time to develop and replacing them with healthy ones takes time, too. Don’t get overwhelmed and think that you have to reassess everything in your life. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time. Human brains don’t like too much disruption all at once – they like their familiar way of doing things.  Pick one thing at a time and create a new habit around it.
2. Small changes can lead to big results.  The key is to start with very small, realistic, and accomplishable goals – like using mustard instead of mayo (one tbs of mayo has 100 calories and one tbs of mustard has nine calories — replacing mayo with mustard 5 times a week saves 455 calories – enough to lose 6 ¾ pounds in a year) or riding your exercise bike for 15 minutes 3 days this week instead of everyday for an hour (what are the chances of that happening). Resolve to make changes that you think you can keep. Small changes do bring results.
3. Write your goal down (writing reinforces it) and set a time target for achieving it. Leaving it open ended is just an invitation to put it off.  Commit to taking whatever action is required twice a week, then three times, then everyday. Start small with things that are fairly easy to do and that don’t disrupt your lifestyle. Get some success under your belt.  Then move on to bigger challenges. Writing reinforces and solidifies your commitment.  It also makes it harder to lie to yourself.
4. Not having succeeded before doesn’t mean you won’t succeed this time. Everyone has made and broken resolutions. We’ve all tried to lose weight or eat more fruit and veggies.  Have a positive attitude and frame your resolution in positive terms. “I will eat vegetables instead of French fries twice a week” or I’ll have cereal only on Saturday mornings” is much more positive than “I’ll never eat French fries or cereal again.” It’s easier to put a new habit in place than to change an old one, so embed the positive behavior not the negative one.
5. Absolute perfection is unattainable so don’t beat yourself up if you go off track. Derailments happen. Having a plan for when you slip or get off track gets you back in the swing rather than throwing in the towel. What if you polished off the breadbasket last night at dinner and then followed it up with half a container of ice cream?  It happened.  It’s over.  Don’t let it derail you and, for sure, don’t give up.  What’s your strategy for getting back on plan?
6. Be realistic and certain that what you’re committing to do is what you want to do for yourself and not for your friends or relatives. A personal goal isn’t carved in stone never to be broken or altered. Don’t paint yourself into a corner by swearing you’ll do something that might be impossible to achieve — like swearing you’ll never eat ice cream again.
7. Set weekly mini-goals that lead to accomplishing the big goal. Achieving the mini-goals gives you motivation to keep going and allows you to keep track of your progress.  For example:  if your big goal is to eat fast food only once a month rather than your current 5 times a week, how about a mini goal of 4 times a week for the first two weeks, then 3 times a week, etc.
8. Create a support network. Family and friends can support your efforts, be a source of accountability, and motivate you to keep going. Unfortunately, they can also be saboteurs (both intentionally and unintentionally) so know what you’re going to do or say if that happens.  Have you heard this:  “Gee, I know you’re on a diet but why don’t you have a little piece of this chocolate cake I made just for you because I know it’s your favorite?”  Figure out how to deal with comments like that.
9. Give yourself visible cues to remind you of your new behavior(s). Old habits die hard.  Send yourself emails, ask co-workers to keep you on your toes, leave post-it reminders on your kitchen cabinets. A note on the cabinet where you keep the crackers and chips might prevent you from mindlessly reaching in and munching. Give yourself visual references – pictures, clothes you want to wear, etc. Don’t just remove negative cues; surround yourself with positive ones. Fill your cabinets with healthy food, buy a pedometer, join a gym, and make your environment weight-loss friendly.
10. Be committed and willing to work on your goal(s).  Decide if you’re really willing to make change(s) in your life. Are you serious or half-hearted about what you want to do? Just making a resolution because it’s the New Year — especially if it’s a resolution made on a whim or with I “kinda,” “sorta” want to do this attitude — won’t keep you motivated to attain your goal. “Kinda,” “sorta” goals give you “kinda,” “sorta” results. Realistic, achievable goals produce realistic results. You’ll be amazed at how good you feel with a nice sense of accomplishment tucked under your belt.  Makes you want to go back for more!

The post Ten Tips To Boost The Success Of Your Resolutions appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

You try, try, and try again. You step on the scale. “That can’t be right – no way – I starved myself all week – I was soooo good! I went to the gym everyday and sweated like a pig!

Sound Familiar?

We’ve all been there. So what do we do? Toss out the baby with the bath water, give up, screech that the diet is a scam, scream that the scale is broken, swear the trainer has no clue what he or she is doing.

Bottom line is that so many of us start with a plan, don’t stick with it, and change course right away. Your body gets confused, your head gets confused, and the scale is probably cringing from the verbal threats you have thrown its way.

Time And A Chance

Give yourself and all of your good efforts a chance. Ask yourself: are your goals realistic? Despite the Biggest Loser, most people are not capable of losing massive amounts of weight in a week. Are your expectations realistic? Do you expect to see the numbers on the scale drop each and every day? The scale might not be moving right away (by the way, minor fluctuations are to be expected – extra salt in last night’s meal needn’t send you into a tailspin) – but perhaps your measurements are changing and your clothes feel looser. Or maybe your body is taking some time to readjust to a new healthy eating plan.

Give it some time before you declare a lost cause, jump ship, totally change direction, or plain old give up. You’ve got to stick with it. As hard as it may be, think logically and rationally — not with your emotions. Change is hard and it takes time. Give it a chance.

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We’re a goal-oriented society.  From very early on we learn to work toward a goal or an end result – and often receive some kind of reward if we succeed.

Why not apply that focus to healthy eating and managing your weight?

Goals Can Be Tricky

Have you seen the hang-dog look on an athlete’s face when he or she is in a goal scoring drought?  What about the look on a goalie’s face when that blasted ball or puck lands in the net?

The same thing holds true for goals we might set for ourselves.  Many of us set these broad – huge – goals that are virtually impossible to accomplish.  For instance, (despite Biggest Loser results) you’re not going to lose thirty pounds by the end of next week.

All those huge non-specific goals just end up making you feel positively awful when you don’t succeed at achieving them.  You’ve basically set yourself up for failure and you’ll be physically and/or emotionally sporting that hang-dog demeanor.

Are You Starting Small And Specific Enough?

So many of us are guilty of all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Guess what happens?  We shoot ourselves in our collective feet and call ourselves failures.  Do it often enough and we solidly embed a “no can do” attitude and habit in our brains.

The key is to start with very small, realistic, and accomplishable goals – like putting mustard on your sandwich instead of mayo, or riding your exercise bike for 15 minutes three days this week (instead of saying you’ll ride for an hour seven days – most likely it ain’t gonna happen).

Write your goal down (writing reinforces it) and set a time target for achieving it. Leaving it open ended is just an invitation to put off taking the necessary action (a form of procrastination).  Commit to taking whatever action is required twice a week, then three times, then everyday. Start small and with things that are fairly easy to do and that don’t disrupt your lifestyle. Get some success under your belt.  Then move on to bigger challenges.

You’ll be amazed at how good you feel with a nice sense of accomplishment tucked under your belt.  Makes you want to go back for more!

The post Goal!!! appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

The definition of a resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something. Have you made one or more resolutions recently – and does one or more of them have to do with losing weight or changing an eating habit?

The #1 New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. A recent study by a psychology professor found that for people who make resolutions, 75% keep them for the first week of the New Year; 71% are still maintaining their resolution after two weeks, and 46% are still keeping their New Year’s resolutions at six months.

Are those better stats than you thought? New Year’s resolutions really help you to define your goals and to identify what you want to accomplish or change.  But, identifying your goals or desires is one thing, realizing them requires a plan, work, and most of all, a commitment.

Why Do You Want To Lose Weight?

Losing weight and keeping it off takes time, effort, and a long-term commitment. It’s important to ask yourself if you’re really ready to make permanent changes and to decide if you’ll be making those changes for the right reasons  — for instance, losing weight because your want to feel better and be healthier, or that you want to look better because you want to look better – not because your spouse or partner wants you to look better.

Staying Committed

To stay committed you really need to be focused. It takes a lot of energy, both mental and physical, to form new healthy habits. So, to clear the way, first try to address the other challenges in your life – things like relationship or financial problems. It’s awfully tough to focus on multiple challenges at the same time.  While some challenges may never completely go away, managing them should make it easier to focus on losing weight.

Then, when you’re ready to commit to working on losing weight, pick a start date and go for it. Weight loss is a personal journey.  No one else can make you lose weight, although others can certainly help support you and hold you accountable in positive ways. Try to identify what will motivate you and keep you focused and then figure out a way to call on those motivators during those inevitable moments of temptation.

To use a frequently overused phrase – weight loss is a journey – but for this journey there is a map you can draw and follow – your own foodMAP to weight control.

Next post: goals, goals, and more goals.

The post Have You Broken Your “I’m Going To Lose Weight” Resolution Yet? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

That’s my lifestyle, and having to be constantly vigilant about managing my weight, I had to learn how to control my caloric intake while eating out. 

It’s certainly easier to control the portion size and fat and calorie content of your food if you cook it at home. In your own kitchen you know what you’re putting in your food. And you don’t have to put bread on the table if you don’t want to or do things like rinse your vegetables in oil to make them look fresh and pretty.

Restaurants love to use butter, oil, full-fat dairy, and higher fat meats.  Their business is to make food that tastes good and to entice you to come back again. What goes into your food is, for the most part, in the hands of the preparer in the restaurant kitchen whose primary objective is not to keep the calories down (unless that’s the promise or the response to your request) but to get your food on the table.

But, you can learn ways to control your caloric intake when you eat out. You can easily make requests and small changes that put you in charge of the calorie count while still enjoying your dining experience.

I’ll be talking about additional strategies to use in future posts, but for now, here are some things you can do to cut the calories:

• Learn the code words on the menu that signal the fattier and more caloric dishes
• Be pleasantly assertive when asking to go “off menu” or to have food prepared in a specific manner – like grilled rather than pan fried
• Be aware of mindless eating:  olives on the table, peanuts at the bar, tastes of everyone else’s food
• Learn how to eyeball portion sizes and commit to eating that size rather than cleaning your plate.  Premeasure at home so you have a guide about how much, for example, 5 oz of meat looks like – or 4oz. of wine.  Commit it to memory so you can eyeball portion sizes
• Stay out of the breadbasket – and, if you do indulge, lay off of the butter, olive oil, and other dips
• Practice trade-offs:  if you’re going to have dessert eliminate the appetizer and vice versa
• Check out the menu ahead of time and decide what to order so you are not tempted by the possible calorie laden “special of the day”
• Rehearse these words so they become your habitual request: 
  • dry toast/pancakes/English muffin (no butter)
  • dressing on the side (for salad)
  • do you have skim/low fat milk?
  • no whipped cream
  • sauce on the side for entrees/vegetables
  • may I have salad instead of French fries/onion rings?
  • hold the mayo (try mustard instead)
  • is the sauce tomato or cream based? 

I’ll be posting frequently about additional strategies to use when eating out. 

What are some strategies that you use to control your caloric intake in restaurants?

The post Control Calories appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

The American Psychiatric Association (www.HealthyMinds.org) offers some tips to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions:

Try again. Everyone has both made and broken resolutions. We’ve all tried to lose weight or go to the gym more frequently or eat more fruit and veggies.  Not totally succeeding before doesn’t mean that you won’t succeed this time. Have a positive approach.  Create new positive habits to replace the old negative ones.

Don’t make too many resolutions. Our brains don’t like too much disruption at a time.  They’re used to doing something one way.  Pick one thing at a time and create a habit around it.

Be realistic.  Pick a realistic, attainable goal with a clear time frame. A personal goal isn’t a “deal” which can never be broken. Don’t paint yourself into a corner by swearing you’ll do something that might be impossible to achieve –like swearing you’ll never eat ice cream again.

Choose your own resolution. Make sure what you are doing is what you want to do for yourself and not for your friends or relatives. Do you really want to lose weight or are you doing it because your partner wants you to?

Make a plan and write it down. Plan what you’d like to accomplish in three and six months. Set mini goals for each week that lead to accomplishing the big goal. Achieving the mini-goals gives you motivation to keep going and allows you to keep track of your progress.  For example:  your big goal is to eat fast food only once a month rather than your current five times a week.  How about a mini goal of 4 times a week for the first two weeks, then 3 times a week, etc.

Write it down.  Writing your goals down reinforces and solidifies your commitment.  It also makes it harder to lie to yourself.

Create a support network. Family and friends can support your efforts, be a source of accountability, and motivate you to keep going. Unfortunately, they can also be saboteurs (both intentionally and unintentionally) so know what you’re going to do or say if that happens.  Have you heard this:  “Gee, I know you’re on a diet but why don’t you have a little piece of this chocolate cake I made just for you because I know it’s your favorite.”  Figure out how to deal with comments like that.

Forgive yourself and have a plan for setbacks.  Having a plan for when you slip or get off track helps you get back in the swing rather than throwing in the towel in frustration. So you polished off the breadbasket last night at dinner and then followed it up with half a container of ice cream.  It happened.  It’s over.  Don’t let it derail you.  What’s your strategy for getting back on plan?

Give yourself visible cues to remind you of your new behavior.  Send yourself emails, ask co-workers to keep you on your toes, leave post-it note reminders on your kitchen cabinets.  Old habits die hard.  A note on the cabinet where you keep the crackers and chips might prevent you from mindlessly reaching in and munching.

Be committed and willing to work on your goal.  Decide if you’re really willing to make the change in your life. Just making a resolution because it is the New Year won’t keep you motivated to attain your goal. Give yourself visual references – pictures, clothes you want to wear, etc.

Congratulate yourself. Reward yourself when your intermediate goals or resolutions are met.  Maybe it’s time to buy a new pair of jeans to fit your new slimmed down or toned up body.

The post New Year Resolution Status appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.