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ByAnn
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Setting Realistic Goals and Keeping Your Expectations Realistic

Once you feel ready to make changes to your lifestyle, the next step is setting what your goals will be. They can be anything you want: weight loss, building strength at the gym, eliminating medications, or all of the above! However, many set goals based on what they think they SHOULD be verses what’s realistic. Setting goals that don’t make sense will just set you up for frustration and not being able to achieve them. If you don’t achieve what you set out to do, it’s easy to just stop and give up! Of course, this is what we want to avoid. Work with your dietitian to achieve attainable, reasonable, and time appropriate goals. Change takes time, so allow yourself the time and practice. For example, if you gained 20 pounds over a period of 3 years, you won’t be able to lose all 20 pounds in 1 month!

Set SMART Goals

A good goal-setting strategy is the SMART goal checklist. Be sure that your weight-loss goals meet the following criteria:

  • Specific: A good goal includes details, such as what you will do, how long you will do it, and when you will do it. For example: A goal to walk 30 minutes after work every day.
  • Measurable: If you can measure a goal, then you can determine how successful you are at meeting your goal. For example: A goal of incorporating more vegetables into lunches and dinners.
  • Attainable: An attainable goal is one that you have enough time and resources to achieve. This can help you to set goals that are achievable and sustainable. For example: You don’t have time to go to the gym 1 hour per day, so a more realistic goal would be 3 days per week for 30 minutes each time.
  • Relevant: Don’t set goals that someone else wants you to achieve. Ask yourself what’s most important to you and then determine your goals. For example: If weight loss is a priority, then your dietitian can help you come up with realistic goals and a reasonable plan on how to achieve them.
  • Time-limited: Giving yourself a time limit can motivate you to get started and stay on course.

Long-term vs. Short-term Goals

Short-term goals will help you to start making changes and stay motivated, which will then lead to long-term success. Long-term goals help you to focus on the big picture. You will hear us dietitians talk ALL the time about lifestyle changes, not diets! Shifting your thought process will help tremendously.

Allow For Setbacks

Setbacks are a natural part of behavior change. Life happens! If you have had a challenging period of time, don’t waste time being so hard on yourself. Just take steps to move forward day by day. This could also become a time for you to re-evaluate your goals and adjust them as needed.

ByAnn
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Exercising Through the Winter Season

As the weather gets colder, it’s challenging to feel motivated to go outside for a walk or run when you can just stay cozy inside of your home. Sure, we may rather go outside when it’s warm or stay in bed when it’s dark and cold outside, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are lots of exercise options that we can do during this time instead of giving excuses every single time. A very good first step is to get up and start moving, but what type of exercises can you do after that? Here’s some options that you can be consistent with AND actually enjoy:

For those who love cold weather (be sure to bundle up and grab the proper gear first):

  • Hiking
  • Walking
  • Jogging or Running
  • Bike riding
  • Snow shoe-ing
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Walking the dog
  • Ice skating
  • Raking the leaves
  • Splitting wood

For those who want to stay warm indoors:

  • Exercising at a gym (if you’re comfortable)
  • Fitness apps (I LOVE the Peloton app – you don’t need their bike to use this)
  • Yoga
  • Strength training (weights, resistance bands, etc.)
  • Jump rope
  • Indoor swimming pool
  • YouTube workout videos
  • Barre
  • Dancing
  • Walking up and down stairs
  • Qubii (foot pedaling
  • Home equipment (treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, total gym, etc.)
  • Build your own workout (lunges, squats, push ups, sit-ups)

It’s recommended to stretch both before and after workouts. If you haven’t exercised much before, it’s okay to start small and work your way up to longer exercise periods. Do only what you can tolerate since you could injure yourself if you don’t. Start with five minutes and then go from there. Don’t compare your abilities to others, but start somewhere: something is better than nothing! If you aren’t sure if a certain exercise is okay for you, be sure to contact your doctor and get clearance before trying it.

BySara
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Vacation Time!

As we near the end of August, most people are getting ready to wrap up their summers with travel plans and various festivities.  I always look forward to vacations with my family and have the Go-Go’s “Vacation” stuck in my head for days as I pack (even though the song isn’t 100% appropriate).

At the same time, this can be when people let their guard down and possibly gain some weight, but it is possible to still have a great time without losing control and preventing weight gain.  Going on vacation and preserving your waistline can be done, I promise!

Take a look at some of these tips to see how you can maintain control but still enjoy those last few days of summer:

—Don’t drink your calories—

If you like a cocktail, go for it: but be mindful of how much and what kind.  For example, avoid cocktails that have extra syrups and sugary base beverages (e.g. soda, juice) and limit those Pina Coladas and strawberry daiquiris to one time during your trip.

Drink 1 bottle of water between every alcoholic beverage to space out the number of caloric beverages you consume in one sitting.

Look for drinks that have lower calories, such as hard seltzers, light beers, or mixed drinks (e.g. rum and diet coke, vodka with seltzer and lime).

—Avoid the all you can eat buffets—

I loved buffets when I was a kid, but now I find them to be very overwhelming and dislike them for more reasons than one.  Thinking of all of the caloric damage that can be done at a buffet starts to make me nauseous.  Sometimes these can’t be avoided on certain types of vacations (e.g. cruises, all-inclusive resorts), so try to make the best choices possible.

Before taking any food, survey the whole buffet first to see what foods are available.  Then put together in your head what you want to put on your plate.  Here are some options of foods you can grab:

 – Proteins (e.g. omelets, greek yogurt, lean breakfast meat, seafood, legumes)

 – Vegetables (can also be in your omelets)

 – Fruits

After eating these items, you may feel full and satisfied enough that you aren’t even thinking of grabbing one of those breakfast pastries you saw earlier.

—Share, share, share—

Remember: sharing means caring!  I do love trying different foods in the area I’m staying, but I don’t want to consume all of those calories.  Sharing meals with friends and family allows you to enjoy all of the delicacies without going overboard.  Plus, it also saves a few dollars.

—Stay active—

Vacation can be a great time to increase your daily activity since you have more free time.  Dust off that fitness tracker or use the feature on your smartwatch to track your exercise and aim for about 10,000 steps a day.  Whether it’s window shopping, biking, hiking, yoga, or just a new activity for you, get out there and move.

If there’s an activity you love to do, try doing it in a new place when on vacation.  I love doing yoga, so I will go to different yoga studios or do yoga on the beach.  You never know what you might learn that will be different from what you are used to at home.

Vacation can be a wonderful time, but you don’t have to regret all the eating and drinking you did when you get back home.  Remember: once you get home, get right back into your routine.  Drink lots of water to help you “de-bloat”.  If you can come back with about one or two pounds gained or lost, I call that a WIN.

ByAnn
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Stop The Excuses, Just Start!

A few weeks ago, I participated in my first ever Aquabike event. It was a 1-mile swim and then a 25-mile bike ride. I have done a few triathlons before but I don’t enjoy running, so I was excited to try out this option. I was also nervous and wasn’t sure if I was prepared enough. However, I was as prepared as I was going to be as the day approached. I swam a few mornings each week, rode my stationary bike at home, and completed some outdoor rides here and there.

As we all know, it is so easy to think negatively and talk ourselves out of things. The morning of, my brain started: “I think it’s going to rain. This is too early, I’m tired. I hope the water isn’t cold. Should I cancel?” Were any of these good reasons? Nope. In order to calm my nerves, I had to switch my thinking: “Ann, you are fine. You love to swim. Even if it rains, you are in the water anyway. Take your time. The water will be warm, it’s summer. It’s a great day for this.” As I kept repeating these types of thoughts in my head, I felt myself calm down and couldn’t wait to just do this.

In the end, I finished feeling great and got 3rd place in my age group! I was so excited and happy that I did it. Moral of the story: you CAN do this! Just because something is hard doesn’t mean you aren’t capable. If we weren’t so hard on ourselves with everything we do, we’d be able to move forward faster and keep going. Expecting perfection is not a realistic goal. Don’t give up on yourself and when it comes to making changes to your health and lifestyle, it is worth it to STOP the excuses and just START.

ByAnn
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Tips to Get Started

Having trouble taking the first step towards a healthy lifestyle? Take a look at some of these tips to get you going!

1 – This is NOT a diet. This is a lifestyle change.

Changing habits that have been established over the years is challenging! Make positive and healthy changes day by day, which will lead to long-term, sustainable results.

2 – Eat “clean” a majority of the time.

Choose foods that are minimally processed and are close to their natural form as possible. Can you treat yourself sometimes? Of course! Practicing mindfulness will help you to be balanced.

3 – “Grow” your meals.

This doesn’t mean to grow your own foods in a garden (although you can if you want!), but rather to expand the volume of food on your plate by adding more vegetables. Vegetables are high in fiber, high in water content, filling, and low in calories.

4 – Stay hydrated!

A general goal is to drink at least 64 ounces of water per day. Staying hydrated is beneficial for your metabolism. Not drinking adequate water each day can cause you to eat more since your body can confuse dehydration for hunger.

5 – Crowd out the unhealthy foods with healthy choices!

Changing your mindset to think of all of the foods you CAN have instead of all those you should limit will help you tremendously as you begin to make changes. Do not think of foods as good or bad: this can lead to a negative relationship with certain foods.

6 – Control your portions.

Put smaller portions on your plate to start. Eat slowly and stop eating when you are full. You do not have to “clean your plate”. Save any extra for leftovers.

7 – Avoid grazing.

Eat every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day. This structure will help you to stay satisfied and prevent picking at extra snacks.

8 – Exercise!

Make exercise part of your daily/weekly routine. Do not make exercise optional: make it a mandatory part of your day, similar to a scheduled appointment. You will build your endurance, strength, and muscle mass. Muscle is lean and active tissue.

9 – Get adequate sleep!

Everyone should aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night.

A good suggestion to prevent feeling overwhelmed is to choose 1 to 2 of these goals to start and then keep adding on as you go. You can do this!

(c) SHS Nutrition, LLC (2021)