Achieving Your New Year’s Resolutions
The new year is coming once again and resolutions are stacking up; promises that sometimes never make it through the first month but manage to make the resolution list every single year. We always expect a better year than the last one, and at each end of each year, people make resolutions that will hopefully make the coming year more satisfying than the last one.
The annual number one resolution of all time is to lose weight and get healthy. Indulging in festivities from November to January has probably affected your be-hind. With non-stop eating, most people will gain a several extra pounds and decide to lose those pounds in the New Year.
Here are some steps to achieving your weight loss goals:
1) Establish a food plan.
Whether you chose the HCG diet, south beach, zone, mediterranean, weight watchers, etc. find a food plan that works for you. The ever popular HCG diet (when used correctly in a medically supervised plan) can help as a stepping stone to shedding those extra pounds quickly, leading to increased motivation to continue your lifestyle change.
I recommend instead of using precious time, money, and energy bouncing from diet to diet, invest in a full consultation with a medical professional that specializes in nutrition, such as a certified nutritionist or naturopathic doctor that will formulate a weight loss plan specific to your body’s needs, taking into account your hormonal balance and digestive health.
For individuals that have difficulty losing weight despite eating a well balanced diet and exercising regularly, you may need to access your hormonal balance as well as possible food sensitivities that may be inhibiting you from metabolizing food and nutrients properly and instead, causing inflammation in your body that can be holding on to water weight.
Making sure your body is properly detoxifying is also important. Incorporating a detox program at the start of your weight loss plan can augment the results of your weight loss by clearing out the toxins contributing to a poor digestive system, fatigue, and hormone imbalance.
2) Establish an exercise plan.
Join a group work out class or boot camps like "Fit in 42" that will keep you accountable and motivated or find a work out buddy for the same reason if you don’t like a group or class setting.
Move every day even if you are tired and don’t feel like it. Walk on a treadmill for 15 min every day for example.
Get a dog. You will have to play with and walk your dog every day to give them exercise, so you can get yourself fit that way as well.
3) Make a routine that prioritizes your diet and exercise plan for a permanent lifestyle change.
I know we are all very busy juggling our work, family, and the rest of our life, but without health, we will have no life. I always recommend my patients to make a routine and stick with it! Your body doesn’t like guess work and flows best when it knows what to expect. You new resolution is: Invest in your health! Because YOU are worth it!
Dr. Sonja Fung is a naturopathic doctor at the Live Well Clinic. If you are interested in HCG treatments and a holistic weight loss program, go to www.livewellclinic.org or call 760-771-5970. Live Well Clinic is located at 78900 Avenue 47, Ste 102 in La Quinta, CA.