You Can Do This!

Here we are!  2013!  Another fresh, brand spanking new, sparkly year stretching out ahead of us.  And it’s going to be a fabulous year.

It’s going to be a fabulous year despite the fact that I’ve already dropped something down the front of my white t-shirt, so bang goes my first resolution.  I’ve known for years that keeping my white t-shirts white for longer than a couple of outings was an entirely futile endeavor; like another of life’s futile endeavors – diets.

Last January was the first year in a long while that I didn’t make a resolution to stick to yet another diet and exercise routine.  Funny – this last year was also the first year I have successfully been able to lose weight and body fat.  Or maybe it’s not funny at all.  When you think about it, it’s a tragedy that so many millions of people will spend billions of dollars during the next 3 months diligently trying every diet and exercise regimen in the western world to lose weight and get healthier.  They’ll throw themselves wholeheartedly into it with everything they have, determined that this time it will be different – that this time they will succeed – because in the past they think that they were the problem.  They didn’t try hard enough, they didn’t keep going long enough, they didn’t eat few enough calories, they didn’t exercise for a long enough time.  So they will try again this year – maybe with a new plan, maybe just trying harder at an old plan.  And some of them will succeed this year.  Except 95% of people who lose weight will gain it all back again – and then some.  It truly is a tragedy.

We are about to be bombarded by advertisements for every weight-loss program, diet food, exercise plan, piece of fitness equipment, fat-loss supplement, and health and wellness DVD ever produced.  Look away!  You’ve tried some of them before, and you know in your heart that they don’t work.  Don’t be drawn in by the glossy packaging and production, the promises and the platitudes.

If you’ve been cruising around this blog before, you already know there is a better way.  A way that works to give you long-term health, and fat-loss.  And as inevitably as The Smarter Science of Slim turns the last 40 years of weight-loss advice on its head, your New Year Resolutions will need a SANE overhaul if they are going to serve you well.  You won’t be one of the 95%.

I thought about the things that were not so natural to me when I started living a SANE lifestyle, and wanted to share them with you as a set of resolutions that you may find helpful as you think about your health and fat-loss goals for 2013.  And, in the spirit of full disclosure – there are still some things on this list that will be on MY New Year Resolutions list for 2013.  We’re not about perfection, we’re about getting a little bit better day-by-day, week-by-week.  You can do this!

10 SANE New Year Resolutions:

1. Throw away your bathroom scale.  If you cannot sleep without a scale in the house, buy a kitchen scale – it will take you WAY further in your journey to SANEity.  You can ace this first resolution on Day 1!!  Then, all you need to do is not buy another bathroom scale all year.  Ding!  That was easy.  You’ve already kept a resolution.  How good does that make you feel?

2. Swap out the regular pop / soda for diet / zero versions.  If you’ve already done that, swap out the diet / zero versions of pop / soda for fizzy, flavored (make sure it’s sugar-free!) water.

3. Drink Green Tea every day.  10 bags is optimal, but 1 is better than none.  I’ll be giving you some ideas over the next few weeks on how to achieve this if you hate Green Tea like I do.

4. Make every meal and snack as SANE as you can.  Think protein, fiber, water.

5. Go through your kitchen, pantry and freezer and toss out all the inSANE foods.  They are not doing anything good for you.  Take them to the food bank if you can’t bear to throw them away.  Do one cupboard / drawer / shelf a week if doing it all at once is too difficult.  Then don’t replace whatever you removed.  When you are at the grocery store, stick to the edges so you won’t be nearly as tempted by all the inSANEity lurking in the middle aisles.

6. If you go to a party or other event and eat some inSANE food, don’t panic!  Don’t beat yourself up.  Laugh.  Move on.  Get back to SANEity at your next meal, or as soon as you can.

7. Do 10 minutes of eccentric exercise once a week.  That’s it.  Can’t do all 4 exercises at one time?  Do each eccentric exercise once a week, even if it is on different days.  Remember that if you are doing these exercises right you will not be physically capable of doing them more than once a week.  How fantastic is that?!

8. Do 5 sets of high-quality cardio once a week.  It takes 10 minutes.  That’s it.  Can’t do the full 5 sets without collapsing?  Do as much as you can.  Then every week do a little more until you are at the 5 full sets.  Remember that high-quality cardio is so intense it makes you feel like throwing up or has you shaking for hours afterwards.  Or both.  It’s not pleasant, but the results are awesome.

9. If you get a craving for something inSANE – drink a glass of water or green tea, eat some protein, or get up and do something.  Take a walk, drive to a local nature spot, play a game with a child, vacuum, call a friend, lie on the lawn in the sunshine, get frisky with your spouse, do a chore that you have been procrastinating over.  Get online and come here.  Read your personal SANE goals.

10. Listen to our podcasts every week to help you keep on track, give you ideas on how to live the Smarter Science of Slim, and stay motivated if things get tough every now and then.  I’ll let you into a little secret – I listen to them too.  Guess what?  I am reminded of things and re-motivated every time I do.  True story.  Plus, connect and interact with other SSoS’ers – right here on this little blog, and on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  Send me your stories, your successes, your struggles.  I’ll post them so others can be inspired by you, or you can get inspiration from others right back at you.  Sharing helps.  *Really* helps.

And, talking of sharing…here’s an extra resolution for you:  SHARE.  Share these recipes with your family, your friends, with anyone you know who is looking for a healthier and/or slimmer year in 2013.  Even if people do not embrace the whole SSoS program, let them know that the recipes are awesome – simple, quick, and tasty – and that they will enjoy greater health and wellness if they incorporate them into their lives.  Help us share the truth about healthy eating.  Help us share the love!

Then, because we know that measuring weight and BMI, and counting calories are meaningless in our quest for health and fat-loss, here’s some things you can measure if you have to measure something.  These would also make great goals to aim for.  Replace the X’s with whatever number is a great goal for you.

10 SANE Goals:

1. Reduce my waist measurement by X inches.

2. Reduce my dress / pant size by X sizes.

3. Increase my HDL to X.

4. Lower my LDL to X.

5. Lower my blood glucose levels to X.

6. Increase the number of servings of non-starchy vegetables per day to 10.

7. Decrease the number of servings of sweets and starches per week to 1.

8. Decrease my percentage of body fat to X%.

9. Increase my water intake to at least a gallon per day.

10. Increase my protein consumption to at least 3 x 30 gram servings per day.

“Just because you are struggling does NOT mean you are failing. Every great success requires some kind of struggle to get there.” – Anon

So here’s to a fabulous SANE and eccentric year in 2013, dear readers.

YOU CAN DO THIS!