You might be thinking about making a New Year's Day resolution to finally get serious about losing weight. You're not alone. This week is designated as Diet Resolution Week.
Donna Hemingway, a clinical dietitian with UI Weight Management at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, has these comments:
Why is weight loss such a common New Year's resolution?
Weight loss is common for New Year's resolutions because generally it's difficult to find someone who doesn't want to change their weight. And often times if they're satisfied with their weight, people will tell me that, boy I wish I could eat more vegetables, or more nutritious foods, or eat less of the empty calorie foods. So the other good thing about a New Year's resolution is that it starts with the new year, and that's appealing. And you're not alone in going through it
Why do so many of us apparently fail at this, despite our best intentions?
People often fail if they try to change too much too quickly or set very harsh restrictions on some of their favorite foods. They might have unrealistic goals such as losing weight right away and when it's slower than they think, they get discouraged.
Another is that people who have dieted in the past and haven't lost weight or they've lost the weight and regained it. They might feel like a failure because they can't lose weight or keep it off. What they need is to get the support they need to make realistic changes that they can live with long term.
What are some of the biggest misunderstandings about weight management?
One of the biggest misunderstandings is that once you've lost weight, you can go back to eating the way you did before you lost the weight. It's very sad but it's true. When a person loses weight, she has to eat less than she did before, and also be more active. That's the key to keeping the weight off.
Another misunderstanding is that all you need to do is change is your diet. Your whole lifestyle affects your weight. You should honor your needs for getting rest and keeping your body active. You also need to develop your most important relationships and have meaningful activities. We need to eat to live, but life is so much more than food.
What is the proper approach to keeping a resolution to better manage our weight?
I would like people to get a pen or a pencil and a piece of paper to write a few things down. The reason I'm asking this is because research has shown that people who write down what they eat and drink at least five out of seven days of the week lose more weight than those who don't monitor their intake. So you can start your resolution by taking some notes and that will help your success. It can be an official notebook, it can be sticky notes, or even the margins of your newspaper; whatever you have there, the back of an envelope, just as you're eating, write it down.
How can UI Weight Management help people with this issue?
The UI Weight Management team offers you support you need to follow through with weight management goals and setting realistic goals. We have three wonderful doctors, Joseph Dillon, MBBCh,William G. Haynes, MBChB, MRCP, MD, and Todd Burstain, MD.
They really care about the patient and his/her success. I'm the dietitian with the program and I consider each person's unique situation and what they most need to make dietary choices that support both health and happiness, so it's not a restrictive diet program, but a program that will emphasize lifestyle change. We also have Rhonda Barr, PT, MA, CCS, our physical therapist, and Wayne Bowers, PhD who assess and follow concerns about disordered eating.
What are the most important facts about weight management you would like our listeners to keep in mind?
If you are a healthy weight, normal weight, or just slightly overweight, the most important thing you can do for yourself is not gain weight. If you feel your clothes are getting a little snug, or you've been weighing yourself and you've gained a few pounds, you need to address it right away and follow that suggestion that I made of sitting down and asking what would be my obstacle to losing weight, and then recording what you eat.
If you're more than 100 pounds overweight, your weight may significantly affect your health. You should:
See your doctor and take care of any immediate health concerns
- Look at your life as a whole and make room for rest, relationships and meaningful activities
- Record what you eat, it will greatly affect your chance for being successful at losing weight
- Call the Weight Management Program. We would like to work with you and support you in this new year. You can contact Marcia Cramer, our program coordinator, at 384-6581.
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