“I just want to lose twenty pounds!”
Unfortunately, New Year’s resolutions are easy to make, but hard to achieve.
In fact, we typically make the same ones every year because the resolution is made without any kind of game plan.
Weight loss is especially difficult in our culture because we are surrounded by food all the time. I remember living in a village in Malawi, thinking how difficult it would be to gain weight as the only food available was growing in your yard. If you want some KFC, then you are catching that chicken, cutting off its head, plucking out its feathers and frying it yourself.
If I am craving something sweet at work in Salmon Arm, I usually only have to stop by the nearest nursing station. If not, I still have the vending machine, the gift shop and the cafeteria as options without even leaving the building. So, realizing this is a difficult feat, what are some good dietary strategies for losing weight?
• Keep a food journal for a week when you are eating normally. Write down everything you eat and drink including portion sizes. Although there are many apps and websites to help you analyze this information, the important aspect is creating awareness of your current eating habits.
• Look for problematic eating patterns. These usually involve eating unhealthy foods frequently (like an addiction to a certain food), eating food for reasons other than hunger (boredom, stress…), or excessive portions (commonly, starving yourself all day and then overeating at night).
• Choose one issue and think of why you have this habit and how you could change it. For example, if snacking in front of the TV is a problem, maybe you need to stop buying certain foods at the grocery store. Or maybe you need to try a different nighttime hobby that does not remind you of food at every commercial break.
• Make a SMART goal (specific, meaningful, attainable, realistic and timely). For example, you might decide not to buy any bags of chips until Easter. Remember, you want to be confident that this is a goal you can meet. Once attained, you can always set more goals.
• Believe in yourself and your ability to achieve your goal. Remind yourself that your health is important and you are worth being cared for in this way.
Losing significant weight is likely going to take more effort than one resolution, but chipping away at your bad habits is going to be a more effective long-term solution than doing a fad diet.
-Serena Caner is a registered dietician who works at Shuswap Lake General Hospital.