Tips on how to stick to your resolution to lose weight

Every new year, I resolve to lose weight, eat less junk food, snack only on fruits and healthful, low-calorie power bars, change my diet completely by turning vegetarian, and exercise vigorously. Every year, I fail miserably. I am still 20 pounds overweight, still have bad eating habits and the longest I have stayed on a treadmill is 10 minutes. Is there any seminar on will power that I can attend so I can stick to my resolutions?

Food Lover

Lose weight, eat less junk, etc. – they top many people’s lists of resolutions. It isn’t easy to stick to them if you have unrealistic expectations such as changing your eating habits overnight. And will power is not the issue if it means depriving yourself, which is unrealistic. Besides, depriving yourself is depressing and leads to food binges. Cynthia Sass, a nutritionist with the University of South Florida, suggests that "when making dietary changes, start small. Set a few realistic goals. In the long run, you’ll have better self-esteem and more self-confidence because you’ll actually stick with them."

Here are a few of her tips, which have brought success to her clientele:

1) Don’t skip breakfast. Skipping breakfasts gives you the munchies later on and slows down your metabolism. It’s advisable to start the day with yogurt and fruit and whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk.

2) Don’t skip any meals or snacks. Try not to let more than five hours go without eating. Waiting too long can zap your energy and lead to overeating later. Eat a healthy snack like a fruit platter or a low-calorie power bar between lunch and dinner, maybe right before leaving work so you’re less likely to grab junk food and overeat once you get home.

3) Include a total of 30 minutes of exercise every day. It doesn’t have to be all at once. If it takes 10 minutes to walk to your car or to your bus station, do that by walking briskly. Then walk around your house, garden or at the office during break time making sure that your total walk daily is at least 30 minutes. This is good for your cardiovascular system.

4) Drink fewer sodas and other sweetened drinks like iced tea. A big bottle of juice-based drink can contain 300 calories and those calories add up. Drink water instead. Or put a little juice in your water for taste. That way, you are not drinking something so heavily loaded with sugar.

5) Aim to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

6) Bring sliced fruits and veggies (carrot, celery sticks, singkamas) to work so you can snack on them when you are hungry. Pretzels and yogurt are also non-fattening snacks.

7) When fixing a salad, sprinkle rolled oats or crunchy whole grain cereal for fiber so you’ll feel full. And eat it with vinaigrette dressing. Creamy dressings are loaded with calories.

8) Fix pasta dishes with veggies or lean protein, like shrimp, skinless chicken breast, or soy crumbles to allow you to eat less pasta, which is high in carbohydrates.

9) Enroll in an exercise class, whether it’s yoga, Pilates, or aerobics, whatever, and do it at least twice a week. This will tone your muscles, which is important if you are losing weight.

These are easy and realistic tips for a healthy lifestyle as they do not make you fat and deprive you of good nutrition. If you follow these easy steps, you will surely lose your 20 pounds.

Good luck.

@ Work

What is the @ symbol called? I often see it in e-mail addresses and websites.

CURIOUS

It depends on where you live. In English-speaking countries, it is called the "commercial at" or the "at" sign. In France, the French call it "petit escargot" or "little snail." In Sweden, they call it a "cinnamon bun" or "elephant’s ear." In Finland, it’s "cat’s tail." The Italians also call it escargot, but not petit. The German name for it is most interesting: Klammeraffe, which means "spider monkey" (because monkeys have remarkably flexible shoulder joints).

I hope this satisfies your curiosity.

Picking On A Sister Who Picks Her Nose

My younger sister has the bad habit of picking her nose in front of people and I think the only way to stop her is to frighten her. Could I tell her that she could die from picking her nose? It is such a disgusting habit that she needs to get rid of before she gets to the dating stage and disgusts her dates. What can I tell her to make her stop?

Disgusted Brother

Maybe you could tell her she could die by picking her nose but she will have to try very hard to kill herself this way. Joking aside, there is actually some basis for this. The explanation by an EENT specialist is:

There is a very thin plate of bone (called the ethmoid bone) that separates the nose from the brain. If, say, she picked her nose with a freakishly long fingernail or maybe a chopstick, it would be possible for her to poke right through this bone. If this were to happen, she would probably leak brain fluid. And the bacteria in her nose could get in her brain causing meningitis, which could kill her.

Nose picking could also cause bad infections. Nostrils are dirty. Think of it as the subway of the human body. It’s not quite the sewer, but you wouldn’t eat a piece of candy you found on the subway floor, would you? The bacteria in your nose can cause an infection if your picking breaks the skin. There is a slim chance that this infection could block blood flow and cause a horrible condition known as cavernous sinus thrombosis. Before the days of antibiotics, this meant sure death.

So, tell your younger sister these facts, and it better stop her nose picking, or else she will grow up to be an old maid.

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Write to Mayenne Carmona at StarGate Media Inc, 6th floor, Jaka Bldg., Ayala Ave., Makati City.