The New Year and Our Weight Loss Resolutions
Its been a year and half since Mr. Man appeared out of nowhere in our life. If anybody told me 5 years ago, I would be married, have a toddler, and would be shopping for a house, I would have said, “NO WAY JOSE!” What is truly unbelievable is that now he is linking words together and saying things like “I cee yoo” and “har mon nee”–grandmother in Korean.
The other thing that he loves is music, which I think was forged by Kate singing to him everyday. On top of that it really doesn’t hurt to have a mother that can sing classical opera and who takes him to music class starting 3 month into your existence.
I don’t know about you guys but the three of us went buck wild by having Wegman’s sushi for dinner for New Year’s Eve; Christopher even got to taste his first California Roll and kept saying “Sueshi, Sueshi” the next morning. And when Mr. Man went to bed, we up the ante by drinking champagne and eating meatballs and stuffed mushrooms till the clock hit twelve. The surprising thing was that, albeit barely, I was able to stay awake. When Cinderalla’s time was up, we downed the last bit of our champagne and…went to sleep.
Americans in general are famous for making New Years’s resolutions. The typical goal is: “I am going to lose weight and workout more.” The most important object about goal setting is not only identifying the what and the how but establishing a clear timeline of that goal. For example, there is a client of mine who I’ve been training for 3 months. One of the things that she was concerned with was how she had become “skinny fat” and particularly around her midsection. Although we’ve talked about the critical role of food and achieving the aesthetics that she wants when she started, she wasn’t all that motivated to stay disciplined.With the beginning of a new year, however, she wants to look fantabulous by Spring Break–nothing like putting on your bikini to motivate you.
When she started in October, she did not realize how hard our workouts were going to be. But to her credit, she stuck with it and now she is capable of doing a proper push up, lunges, and squats. She even does all the pre-warm up movements like hollow body, superman, and side planks on her own. What she is realizing is, although she feels fitter and stronger, her level of body fat has not changed much. She is realizing she cannot eat British muffins from the Corner Pantry or pasta for dinner every night to achieve her Spring Break body. Instead she needs to eat more foods that cause less insulin spikes, so here are 5 things I am going to have her do.
The Eating Strategy
- Start consuming more fibrous carbohydrates, including more veggies and berries
- Cut back on or eliminate consumption of protein bars–IMO, they are just glorified candy bars
- Consume more dietary fat and re-establish a better Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio
- Increase protein consumption to at least .8 gram/Kg of bodyweight
- Consume adequate amounts of simple carbs in your post-workout meal
Hope ya’ll had a fun and safe NYE and much success and happiness to everyone for 2016!