American Fitness Professionals & Associates

By: Mark J. Occhipinti, M.S., Ph.D., N.D.c

And now is the time to start thinking about the bathing suite you would like to be wearing in about five months.

The holidays will soon be over and most individuals will be reeling from the non-stop eating that begins around Thanksgiving and continues straight through to January 2nd. Here come the resolutions that seem to crop up each January.

So we sit down with pen in hand to map out a strategy for changing our eating habits, including finding more time for physical activity in the New Year. For every positive resolution we cam come up with, a little voice inside will retort with an opposite and often negative response.

I have listed some excuses that I often hear from individuals stuck on the “not-so-merry-go-round” dietary rut.

While some excuses for being over-weight do have medical merit, most do not. For every person that has an underactive thyroid gland there are 100 individuals that have a normal thyroid gland with a very “over-active appetite”.

For those who have quite smoking and gain weight there is less validity that nicotine has kept their metabolism high and the fat off. Rather, “idle hands are fat cells advocate”. Suddenly people do not know what to do with their hands, so they shove food in their mouth. Try eating a carrot after you have pealed it, or one large stalk of celery. Just the chore of eating this type of food will exhaust you!

Herbal teas [not any type of dieter’s tea] can certainly take the edge off. Eating soups that are vegetable, non-creamed based will aid in the feeling of satiety, and do your body some real benefit.

The Restaurant Trap

Eating out during the holidays or anytime does not have to lead to a digestive system nightmare. Request your foods to be broiled or poached without any butter, or limited to the smallest amount. Also request your dinner salad to have vinaigrette dressing on the side or another low fat variety. These two simple changes can save on average 600 calories in one meal. Go one step further. If you are ordering dessert, choose a fruit pie, eating only the filling. Leave the bottom and back crust and save 250 calories, mostly from saturated fat. Even better: order some sobert with some fresh fruit.

When traveling by plane.

Drink only water, bring some fruit [avoid the sugar and partially hydrogenated vegetable fat peanuts]. If you can find a flight that still serves meals, order a true vegetarian meal, or some type of fish. By avoiding cheese you save 257.4 calories of pure artery clogging fat. [Each 1 ounce of cheese contains converts to 28.6 grams (x) 9 calories per gram=257.4 calories.

Why Not Find Some Time to Exercise?

Some people come up with excuses not to exercise that are just as creative as those for not changing their eating habits. Some of my favorites still remain;

1. “I do not have time”

5. “I don’t want to look like that” [a reaction to seeing photographs of professional bodybuilders in a magazine].

Seeking out guidance in exercise is an option for some individuals in the form of a qualified personal trainer. For others just moving will begin to melt off layers of accumulated excuses.

1. Walk whenever possible. For those individuals that stand on the moving side walk that are not physically challenged I have one comment-move it or gain it!

2. Take the stairs providing you do not have a heart condition or some other type of medical condition.

3. Avoid the pratfall of circling the parking lot looking for the parking spot closet to the handicap parking spot or the door. I have seen those individuals who could benefit from the easy access that these special parking spots provide park farther away so they can get more exercise!

For those individuals who really want to lose fat weight and feel they need a support group there are; Weight Watchers and T.O.P.S. [Take Off Pounds Sensibly]. Both groups use a moderate and safe approach to fat loss and do not promise extreme weight losses in one week, or month.

Two Simple Rules with No Excuses

If you do nothing else this coming year with your New Year’s Resolutions try the following:

1. The 3/20 Rule. The three stands for eating 3 meals a day as a minimum. Many individuals will skip breakfast, for a number of excuses; “No time”, “I do not like breakfast foods”. Find 15 minutes and find some type of food that you enjoy. It could be last night’s leftovers, It doesn’t matter!

You need to break the fast and raise blood sugar levels which are at their lowest levels for a 24 hour period. You burn bodyfat best on a “full tank, not an empty one”. Eating 3 meals at least helps to maintain blood sugar levels more evenly than skipping one or two meals and then gouging yourself at one sitting. The twenty rule? If you really insist on having dessert after a meal, wait 20 minutes. By this time your brain [actually the appetite center-hypothalamus] has been signaled that for the most part you have eaten enough.

2. The 3/30 Rule. Some type of aerobic exercise at least three times a week for 30 minutes per session. Each session will burn between 250-350 calories. Over the course of one year this rule followed regularly could result in a fat lose of between 8-12 pounds. Incorporate 30 minutes of full body weight training on alternate days to improve your muscle tone and increase your metabolism to burn more calories.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2005!