Healthy Goals for 2014

In a pre-New Year news report today a psychologist was talking about setting goals in general and in specific setting healthy goals.  Not just goals about health per se, but in setting goals that are realistic, small bites, that can be healthy for us because we aren't taking on more than we can handle at a time.  For instance, saying "I want to lose 50 pounds this year" can be onerous and overwhelming.  But if you say "I want to lose 5 pounds in the next 7 weeks" you have something more realistic to start from and when you achieve it you have something to build on -- a success to lead you into the next success.  That made a lot of sense to me and it does lead me to my weight control goals for this year.

Weight control goals?  Not weight loss?  Well loss is hard.  We talk about the loss of a book, the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one.  Loss generally seems to denote that you no longer have something that you want back...and often cannot get back.  So control works for me. 

So about my weight / body goals for 2014 -- well sometimes you get lucky and have the opportunity to see an advance copy of a book. That is how I obtained a copy of THE DIET FIX (ISBN: 978-0804137577) by Yoni Freedhoff brought to you by Random House / Harmony Books and due out on March 14, 2014.  While Dr. Freedhoff didn't offer a lot of information I hadn't seen before, he does present it in a logical, workable manner -- and in small bites that you can make your changes in a manner that doesn't overwhelm. 

Dr. Freedhoff lays out a ten day road map with solid information without recriminations if you do not follow it to the letter.  And other research I've heard says that somethings, like getting control of your weight, work better when you have a support system or a group doing it along with you.  I decided I would start my 2014 by following Dr. Freedhoff's program and inviting a few friends (that would be you) to join in the process.  You can pre-order a copy of his book from either Random House at: The Diet Fix or from Amazon (see below), Barnes & Noble or your local retailer.

To help me with my own goals and in case anyone else wants to follow along and post your own results and impressions, I'll post a couple of lines from each day of the plan.

So for January 1, 2014 the plan is GEAR UP!

Day one is about pulling together what you will need to use to make some healthy changes in your life.  Dr. Freedhoff recommends:

1.  Scales - both a bathroom and one for your kitchen to measure foods. 

2.  Measuring tools -- various size measuring cups and spoons.  He says guessing does not work and offers his own story on how he was eyeballing certain foods and it turned out his eyeballing was actually more calories than he thought -- enough so he could have had a Snickers Bar -- something he would have enjoyed more -- in lieu of what he was eating.

3. Journal -- Dr. Freedhoff is in process of developing a web based tool as part of The Diet Fix but it isn't up yet.  He also recommends My Fitness Pal which has, among other things, a food diary, an exercise diary and several other support groups and data.  He also refers to My Net Diary, 

That's it for Day 1.  Simple.  No drastic changes, just planning.  And Dr. Freedhoff understands that we sometimes have a curve in the road -- so he tells you at the end of the day, if you missed a step, restart Day 1 the next day.

Day 1 is to set up:

Do your food shopping
Get your scales up and running
Have your storage containers read
Is your kitchen clean?
Got your journal and/or web app ready to go?


Now it can get easy to stay in a set cycle of constantly staying at Day 1....hence my plan to talk about this process as I move day to day through it.