Pre Christmas intervention!

In a month, it’s Christmas time! The holiday season is always full of love, gifts, and food! Since we got a month ahead of us, let’s get started with our pre Christmas intervention!

Rule#1: aim at losing a kilo or two

If you are not at your ideal weight, kick start the holiday season by losing one or two kilos. Usually, most people gain around one or two kilos at best during the holidays, and end up even more frustrated with their weight afterwards. That way, you will avoid the second of January scale shock. Instead of adding to your 2015 resolution “lose weight urgently!” you could start the year with “keep up the good work weight wise”. Such positive thoughts are always a good way to start the New Year!

Rule#2: traffic is no excuse

If you feel like you will miss out on your gym schedule due to traffic, be proactive, and start a home workout plan. You could finally make use of the treadmill you bought last year, or get sports DVDs to use after work. Or even you could just ask your coach to come at home, or teach you some moves that you can do on your own. Nowadays, let’s face it, so many options are offered for us to work out from home. So no excuse!

Rule#3: soups and salads

By the 20^th of December you will be constantly fully loaded with meaty fatty foods, such a turkey, gravy, foie gras, buche… you name it! So why not lighten up your meals this month? For example, make sure that on most days, the bulk of your meals are based on cooked vegetables, or salads, or veggie soups (of course without stock cubes, or butter or cream). For example, you could have for lunch loubieh bi zeit with brown bread, and a cup of low fat yogurt, and then at night a carrot and tomato soup with a quinoa and halloum salad. Next day, you could eat grilled fish with spinach and steamed potatoes, and for dinner boiled zucchini and green beans salad with a bit of labneh and rice cakes. Bottom line: lighten up your meals and curb your appetite with vegetables and fibers.

Rule#4: shop smart

By shopping smart I mean, take advantage of the mall to burn more calories. If the mall is next to your house, go walking. If not, don’t park at the closest spot to the elevator. While shopping, try to walk as much as possible, use the stairs, check out each floor decoration, and basically keep moving. And please no ice cream or coffee shop stops, unless you will stick to tea or black coffee.

 Enjoy!

The Hang Over Cure!

Saturday night is long gone, and Sunday morning has a flavor of headache over an alcohol breath. Who hasn't felt this end of weekend "disease", that general sense of exhaustion, coupled with the Sunday blues? Well, today, I shall fight the hang over. No weekend will have to end in bed feeling like trash anymore!

1- Drink plenty of water

Ideally, you should start drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic drink throughout the night. However, whether you skipped that part or not, it would be pretty smart to drink plenty of water once you get back home, and when you wake up the next morning. Why? Well, from scientific point of view, the post-drinking headache is due to severe dehydration caused by alcohol. To correct this dehydration, you need to drink water, so always remember to keep a bottle of water next to your bed, in case you got too lazy during the night.

2- Have a carbohydrate-rich meal

Drinking alcohol lowers blood sugar levels, and as a result, you feel exhausted since your body is running without fuel. Therefore, you need to eat carbohydrates. For the juice and fruit smoothie lovers, this is great news and a double duty strategy. In fact, you increase your fluid and sugar intake at once. In addition, consuming bread, corn flakes, oat, fruits, or any other starchy food will help you get your energy level back to near-normal.

2- Exercising

This all depends on whether you’re not feeling nauseated and can actually stand up! The trick is to hydrate first to avoid any further unnecessary fluid loss. The big question is “how can exercising help with hangovers?” Well, the good thing about exercising is the endorphin release, you know, the happiness chemicals... After an alcoholic night, we all tend to feel tired, not at ease in our own skin, and a bit down. This is where going for a run can make all the difference. Instead of spending your day feeling slow and low, you are re-energized.

4- Coffee and tea

While coffee may not help directly with the hangover, it can give you a boost to get moving. Make sure to have had enough water before gulping on your coffee.

As for tea, it will help you reduce the puffy eyes that you could have after a long night. You could use it as cold pads on your eyes. The caffeine in the tea will constrict the blood vessels around the eyes, and reduce the puffy look.

By now, you're almost fresh and ready to go for your Sunday family lunch! Happy end of weekend everyone!

September: back on track plan

Sadly, summer is coming to an end. We’ve all spent such lovely days by the pool, partying at night, and of course let’s not forget about the fabulous wedding parties. Such good times come along with great food, and the bikini look started fading away slowly but surely. Now that September has begun, I am pretty sure that most of us feel like there are a couple of kilos stuck somewhere around the waistline and butt. This is where I come to help!

Rule #1: Don’t postpone your plan to get back in shape any longer

Now is the right time. The weather is still good, so you don’t yet feel cold or lazy, and therefore have no excuse to skip the after work visit to the gym. You have no more dinner parties to attend every night, so you might as well take advantage of that to get yourself moving. It’s also a good occasion to start a new type of sports. Many gyms update their schedules around that time of the year, so go ahead and pick a new activity, and keep your butt off the couch!

Rule #2: Take advantage of the summer goodies while they’re still around

Watermelons, melons, peaches, plums… so many yummy fruits are still in season in September. So cut down on the cakes and ice creams, and indulge in nature’s goodies. They taste so good that you won’t feel like it’s a downgrade for your taste buds.

Rule #3: Don’t complicate things

You will read about the gluten free diet, the paleo diet, the detox diet, and god knows what other diet! Please, I beg you, just pass on those. You won’t make it too long to see sustainable results. Go for balanced meals that are not handicapping when you go to your friends’ homes, or when your mom cooks at home. The trick is to think about vegetables with each meal, they are your best allies to feel full while generally eating less. You’ll be able to do so by starting your meals with a big bowl of salad or cooked vegetables, and reducing your main dish’s portion.  In addition, avoid fried items and desserts, since as opposed to veggies, they provide you with a big amount of calories (obviously from fat and sugar) in  tiny portions.

Rule #4: Don’t give up after the first slip

We are humans; we are designed to be weak in the face of temptation. If you slip on a single day (most of the time it happens over weekends), don’t just blow away all the previous efforts. Go back to your plan, and move on! All of us, including dieticians, have weak days, so don’t be too hard on yourselves.

Happy September everyone!

Detox diets: what Mayo clinic has to say about it

Find out the Mayo clinic's opinion on detox diets:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/detox-diets/faq-20058040

Please god make me thin part2

Case#3: willingness to change

It is easier said than done. Over excitement over weight loss doesn’t mean you will actually lose weight. Sometimes you think that you are doing everything needed, while actually you’re barely doing any major changes. If you included fruits and salads in your meal plan, but casually eat chips, or add a bit of whatever main dish you have served; you’re talking about going to gym, but you’re being barely physically active; And most importantly, you’re so convinced that you’re sticking to your plan that  you don’t even see that you’re doing everything wrong. 

Case#4: the drinker

Well, your diet is your priority obviously, but when your friends call you for a quick drink, everything falls apart. Of course you drink more than you should. Of course, you eat nuts. And of course you end up your night having a midnight snack at a random manouche or shawarma place. And then next morning you’re back to your diet. You’re actually boycotting yourself that way. And even worse, you are piling up calories you will barely remember the next day.

Case#5: you don’t want to lose weight

The last case is the trickiest one. Of course movie stars, and magazines, and even clothing sizes are telling you, you need to lose weight. And of course, it would be easier on so many levels if you lost some weight. You’d get rid of all the nasty comments about your tummy, you’d be able to fit in the gorgeous backless dress  you saw on in your favorite shop, you’d feel more confident . But the truth is, deep down, you like the way you look. And if not, it comforts you to see your little bump, or your love handles. If feels like home being surrounded by a bit of fat. Nevertheless, society has told you that you need to be thinner, therefore you physically engage in a weight loss plan, while mentally and by all means are killing your plan.

Please god, make me thin! ( part1)

In my practice as a dietician, there is one case that used to frustrate me to the core, and that’s the case of dieters who, despite their commitment to the diet, barely lose any weight.

It would be easy to say they’re lazy; they’re not doing the right thing. However, the problem is that the human body and mind don’t always react to our orders the way we would want them to. So many reasons, and so many different people come to the clinic and do not lose weight, and yet, each and every one of them has a different reason for their ”failure”.

Case #1: Slow metabolism

We are not all created equal. As a matter of fact, going back in time, retaining energy (in other words fat) when food was scarce was considered an added value. As a matter of fact, “survival of the fittest” meant that, those with the slowest metabolisms; i.e. those able to maximize the energy obtained from small amounts of food were the ones who survived. The tremendous change in humans’ lifestyle was faster than any evolutionary genetic change. Therefore, the ones considered the fittest back in the days, are now the ones suffering from excess weight and related diseases.  The bottom line is, don’t be so harsh on yourself, not so long ago, your ancestors survived from this slow metabolism.

Case #2: The compulsive/emotional eater

A diet is a lifestyle change. You are changing the way you eat, and we all know that eating has moved from a survival instinct, to a pleasure instinct very often in our modern society. We no longer eat to feed ourselves. We eat to enjoy the flavors, the mood, and we eat to sooth ourselves. Many of us turn to sweets while facing a bad day at work. Many of us treat themselves to a fatty meal at night, as a reward for a tiring day. And, many of us consider that at this point in their lives, food is their sole source of comfort and pleasure. We all have comfort foods. Mine is pasta with cheese and ketchup or cream. For some its ice cream, or cake, or chips. Whatever brings you back to that safe memory is a comfort food. It’s only natural to indulge in a comfort meal from time to time. But the line between an occasional binge and a regular binge is very thin. The minute you start relying on food for satisfaction in your daily lifestyle, you slim down your chances of being able to cope with the changes a diet brings into your life. I very often recommend to my patients to channel the negativity in them into something other than food. For some, it could be crying, for others a hot bath, or going to the mall, or any artistic activity. And for many, dealing with these issues requires help from a therapist. Keep in mind when exploring such an option that your health’s at stake.

Barley feta thyme salad

Ingredients:

1-      Cups raw barley

2-      3 bunches wild thyme

3-      1 bunch rocca

4-      Spring onions to taste

5-      3 cups cherry tomatoes

6-      6 cucumbers

7-      Green pitted olives to taste

8-      1cup lemon juice

9-      ½ cp to 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

10-   500g  feta cheese

11-   Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1-      Bring 2 cups barley and 4 cups water or broth to a boil.

2-      Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, covered, until tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 40 to 50 minutes.

3-       Let stand 5 minutes.

4-      Cool (http://www.eatingwell.com/healthy_cooking/healthy_cooking_101/shopping_cooking_guides/whole_grain_cooking_guide)

5-      Wash the vegetables and dry them

6-      Slices cucumbers

7-      Cut cherry tomatoes in half

8-      Chop spring onions

9-      Cut feta cheese into cubes

10-  Mix green thyme with rocca, add half the cherry tomatoes, the cucumbers, half spring onions, and cooled barley

11-  Place in your serving dish

12-  Add green olives, feta cubes, the rest of the cherry tomatoes, and the spring onion in a decorative way on top of the rocca/ thyme/barley mix

13-  In a bowl: mix lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste

14-  Just before serving poor your dressing all over the salad

Note:
The feta cheese is very salty, therefore you barely need any salt
This salad was made for a big group, around 10 people. If you want to have a smaller portion, keep around the raw ingredients in your fridge, and have some barley cooked and kept in the fride for a last moment salad.
Benefits of barley found on below links:
http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/health-benefits-of-barley
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-799-BARLEY.aspx?activeIngredientId=799&activeIngredientName=BARLEY

Vacation tips for an always thin you: part 4

Rule #10: Don't over-order

When in a new place, with plenty of flavors, you’re tempted to try everything on the menu. And often, you end up over-ordering. Well, start by prioritizing. Whag is your favorite item on the menu? Choose that as your main dish. What do you feel like trying as well? Ask your friends if they would like to share it with you. in addition, you can always ask your waiter about their specialities and follow their advice. As for dessert, always share it, you will regret having a full piece of cake or fondant on your own after a heavy meal.

Rule #11: Don't eat something you can have at home

Even if you are craving home foods after a few days, please, don’t waste your meals on something you can have every day at home. Discover new flavors; enjoy new tastes instead of filling yourself with comfort foods. It will only add up your total calories, and will rarely be a substitute for the new country’s meals.

Vacation tips for an always thin you: part 3

Rule #7: Careful with the alcohol

If you're planning to eat and drink, my advice is to go for low calorie drinks such as wine, and pace yourself. You don't want to add drinkable calories to your overall damages! A long heavy dinner will allow you to have at least three drinks without even noticing (since your stomach is full, alcohol will reach your blood slowly, therefore you won't feel its effect as soon as expected). In that case, count your drinks, and have some sparkling water in between alcoholic drinks.

Rule #8: Keep on wearing your jeans throughout your vacation

It might not be as efficient as a scale, however, it will help you slow down your overeating. If it feels like your jeans tightening, you will automatically decrease your intake. Also, along the same lines, shop at the beginning of your vacation, this way; you will pay more attention to your meals to fit in your new outfits.

Rule #9: Skip the bread and butter

Some calories are simply useless, like bread and butter served athe beginning of meals. You probably knew it already, however, during vacations, we’re less likely to stick to such rules. Well no! Bread and butter should be a big no, even when you’re abroad. You’re already piling enough extra calories to want to avoid these additional ones. Plus, no one ever said "I went to this restaurant, and oh! The bread and butter there was exceptional".

Vacation tips for an always thin you: part 2

Rule #4: Don't force yourself to finish your plate

A very difficult task when you're having a meal that you might never try again is not cleaning up your plate. You want to enjoy every bit of it, however, do remember that indigestion will ruin it for you, and not being able to enjoy your new shopping items should be higher on your priority list.

Rule #5: Walk a lot

The good thing about traveling is that there is plenty of walking. You can easily walk for 2 to 3 hours per day while visiting a new country. My advice is to maximize that time. Avoid using cabs, cars, or any other means of transportation if you can make it on foot in under 20mins. Wear comfortable shoes, and go explore your new surroundings, this will allow you to see more things, while burning off some of your meals.

Rule #6: Don't skip all opportunities to have a healthy meal

Even if you're on vacation, there will be opportunities to eat healthy. When it happens, grab it! Even if you're in indulgence mode, a good salad, or a grilled fish with some vegetables won't kill you. The point is not to be on a diet while on vacation, but rather to have healthy meals when possible. They will be the exception, and hence you will be surprised and will enjoy them, while sparing your waistline a bit.

Vacation tips for an always thin you: part 1

I just came back from a long vacation in the US. My trip was both touristic, and culinary, and needless to say: the US is the fat food nation.

Before my trip, I promised myself that I would endulge in everything available and not think too much about dieting. However, I followed some simple rules to avoid over stacking fat on my butt. In my opinion, these rules can apply to any person who can handle one or two post vacation kilograms, but still wants to avoid coming back home looking like a parade float.

Rule #1: Eat your vegetables

Even if you are on vacation, don't kill all your good habits. Try eating vegetables with each meal, and favor dishes that can have vegetables as a side order. It's always better to spend more time eating greens or some steamed vegetables than anything else served on the menu.

Rule #2: Careful with the dressings

Not all salads are created equal. Always remember to ask what comes in/on it other than the vegetables, and more importantly what the dressing is. Avoid mayo or egg-based dressings such as ranch, Caesar, or mayo-mustard dressings, and favor simple balsamic or lemon-oil ones. It is always better to ask to have it on the side, so you can gauge the amount of fat you're adding to your greens.

Rule #3: keep the fries till the end

You ordered steak et frites, a grilled chicken with sautéed or mashed potatoes, or a burger and fries. We'll keep the potatoes till the end. At this point, you'll be full and less likely to finish your carbs + fat = extra calorie portion.

Summer body!

Dear readers, you may have all noticed that the weather is getting warmer. With regards to that matter, here’s a gentle reminder from Mother Nature, summer is coming! Of course, it’s good news, however, the winter season may have altered our silhouette somehow. Today, our goal is to start a kick-ass program to get back in shape before the tanning season.

Rule #1: Clean up your kitchen

It’s time to clean up your kitchen. Some items need to disappear! Indeed, after a long and stressful day, it’s harder to keep up with the good resolutions if comfort food is just around the corner. As a start, let’s get rid of them once and for all. Everything processed and non nutritious should disappear: Chocolate bars, cookies (even diet cookies), chips, candies, frozen fries, pizzas, dehydrated soups, mashed potatoes, and heavy sauces (mayonnaise, sweet and sour sauce, ranch, cocktail…), corn flakes and so on…

Rule #2: Don’t buy diet foods you don’t need

It‘s also very important to stack your kitchen with the right foods. Avoid buying diet foods that you don’t usually consume, because you’ll end up adding calories to your diet by introducing more foods, rather than decreasing your overall intake. For example: No need to get diet biscuits, and desserts if you don’t usually snack on sweets.

Rule #3: High water content foods

Buy plenty of high water content foods. They will be your perfect ally when you feel like snacking. In other words: apples, oranges, strawberries, or any watery fruit, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli or cauliflower (super filling), and low fat plain yogurt of course! These items will give you the impression of being full when, in fact, you have actually consumed a very low calorie food item, hence they are ideal for hungry dieters.

Rule #4: Drink up and don’t get bored

If you are not a big fan of water, try innovating by having sparkling water lying around (flavored and/or non-flavored). In addition, always have some homemade flavored water in your fridge. It’s very simple to prepare:  Add some fruits, lemon, mint, or even cucumbers to a bottle of water, and keep it in your fridge. It will lightly flavor the water, without adding any calories.

Rule #5: Proteins to handle smaller portions

I’m not telling you to go on a high protein diet, not at all! But if you decrease the amount of pasta, rice, potatoes, and bread you consume on each meal, and add a bit of a lean protein source, you will be able to decrease your portion’s size without being very hungry. For example, add up some turkey slices, or low fat cheese, or a boiled egg to your breakfast, and eat ½ the bread or toast you usually consume. For lunch and dinner, add more lean meat or chicken to your stews, or some tuna or light cheese to your salad, and decrease the rice, pasta or potatoes you usually eat. And snack on individual light cheese portions, or low fat yogurt instead of having cereals, chocolates, or cookies. This way, you will curb your appetite, and be able to eat less easily.

Rule #6: Go to the gym

This is no secret, you have to move to burn fat, and you have to lift/exercise to build muscles, i.e. have a sexy toned body. So forget about watching TV after work with a bag of chips or even carrots. Now is no time for compromises.  Pick an activity that interests you (there are so many diverse sports activities around you: dancing, spinning, running, swimming, yoga, Pilates), and start exercising! The results will be worth it! If you don’t really know what to do, enroll in a class, or ask for the help of a trainer. You can drag a partner with you, that way, you will have someone to share this activity with, which will make it even smoother, and will be some kind of “fun” time with your buddy. And for the loners, some sports are ideal, such as swimming, or running outdoors. All you need is to empty a few hours per week, and dedicate them to sports. I promise you, it will be worth it. Look around, and you’ll notice that bodies you envy are those of sporty people…

As for those who exercise regularly, well, you don’t need me to motivate you any further to go the extra mile before the bikini season. Just keep doing what you’re doing, but more rigorously.

Salad Festival (Chapter 3)

This salad is an all-time favorite, tried and approved by many!

Beetroot madness:

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 small boiled beetroots
• ½ cup parsley
• 2 ½ Tbsp. tahini
• 1 to 2 tsp. olive oil
• ½ cup lemon juice
• Salt
• Dried garlic to taste

Method:

• Slice beetroots
• Add in parsley full leaves
• Mix into the bowl: salt, garlic powder, lemon, and oil
• Place the tahini sauce on top of the beetroots, and mix well
• Place the contents on the plate and decorate with the parsley leaves

Enjoy!

Salad Festival (Chapter 2)

Craving for something fresh and simple? Try this easy yet different salad combination.

Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups fresh raw spinach leaves
• 1/2 Cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 Cup mushrooms
• Walnuts to taste

Dressing:

• Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 Cup orange juice
• 1 Sachet sweetener
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Place spinach leaves in a bowl
• Add cherry tomatoes and walnuts
• Prepare the dressing and add it to the salad
• Slice the mushrooms and decorate to taste

Tip:

If you want to make this salad a bit more filling, add a bit of Parmesan cheese or a chicken breast. This will turn this salad from a side-dish to a full meal.

Salad Festival (Chapter 1)

Hello dear readers. This entire week is going to be about easy special salads. Today, we will start with a healthy egg salad.

Healthy Egg Salad (2 side dishes, or one full meal)

Ingredients:

• 2 Hard-boiled eggs
• 2 Cups iceberg or mixed greens
• 2 Small tomatoes / 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 1 Small boiled beetroot
• 1 Sprinkle of white cheese
• Green olives (optional)
• Crushed black pepper

Dressing:

• Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp. Mustard
• 1 Tbsp. Mayonnaise (Light)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

  Method: 

• Slice Iceberg
• Place iceberg / mixed greens in a big bowl
• Add cherry tomatoes
• Cut beetroot into cubes and add to the bowl
• Cut eggs into slices or quarters and add to the bowl
• Add a few sprinkles of light shredded cheese
• Add pitted olives
• Mix all the dressing ingredients and add to the bowl

Bon Appetit!

Little things can make a difference!

It doesn’t need to be extreme to make a difference. Little changes in your daily living can help you lose weight, and be in a better shape without much effort. So here we go!

 1- Drink water whenever you’re hungry 
Often, we think that we are hungry, but in fact, we are just thirsty. It’s the same message that we get. If whenever you feel like snacking, you start by a big glass of water, you‘ll be able to know whether you was hunger or not, and in turn avoid excessive calories in the latter case.

2- Get off the table instead of adding more food
Whenever there’s food on the table, we are likely to add more even if we’re almost full. A good strategy would be to get up, go do something else, and then assess if you are still hungry and want to eat. Keep in mind that your brain needs 20 minutes to register the fact that you are full. So, if you finished your meal in 10 minutes, you might add more to your plate thinking you’re still hungry, while in fact, you‘re not.  

3- Washing your hands while snacking
Let’s say you’re seated in front of the TV, your mouth full of chips, and your hands full of grease. Get up, wash your hands, and come back to watch TV. You will probably not want to dirt your hands again now, and will stop snacking. This works for me!  

4- Brushing your teeth after food
Now, let’s say you’ve finished your dinner, and you’re seated watching a movie. You feel like having a little dessert, or snacking on something. We all know that TV is an appetite trigger, especially with its endless food ads. Now go brush your teeth right after dinner, and watch your movie. You’ll feel fresh, and going back to the fridge will means eating, losing that clean feel, so there will be less chances to succumb to the urge to snack!  

5- Shopping for less candies and chips
It’s a fact. If you open your closets, and your fridge, and find candies, chocolates, chips, desserts, you will most probably eat them. If not, you will spend 20 minutes looking for something sweet, end up eating a tiny piece of whatever you find, then go eat something healthy, since this is all what’s available. Now you may be frustrated for half an hour, but tomorrow, you’ll be happy!  

6- Not postponing exercising
You’ve decided to work out 4 times per week. On Monday, you came back home tired from your first day at work, so you postponed it till Tuesday. On Tuesday, you remembered that you needed to go meet some friends. On Wednesday, you got lazy. And finally on Thursday, you get up and exercise. Then, it’s the weekend. You’re tired? So are all those who are actually exercising. It just takes the effort of starting to be able to sustain any kind of physical activity for an hour. Unless you’ve got a fever, a broken ankle, or are going to vomit, you owe it to yourself to get moving.  

7- Cutting down on the alcohol I will never say it enough. Alcohol is fat, and alcohol is calories, so drink wisely. If not for your health, then at least for your waistline! Again, go for simple drinks, not cocktails or sugary drinks. In addition, drink sparkling water or diet soda between drinks. The end result will be: less dehydration, less hangover, less fat from alcohol, and of course, more energy the next morning.

Let's start applying the new year resolutions!

Dear readers, we’re finally back after all the holiday madness.

Around this time of the year, we’re full of new resolutions, low on cash, have some post-holiday blues, as well as a lot to worry about for the New Year.

Today, let’s give a thought to our New Years resolutions, andhow to pick reasonable plans with regards to health and fitness. I will not promise you that you will be Adriana Lima by the beginning of the summer. I will not promise you that you will be the healthiest of your friends. What I hope to teach you is self-improvement on your level, and most importantly, living without guilt on your journey to fitness and health.

Rule No. 1: Exercising progressively

When it comes to exercising, and post-holiday resolutions, we always aim for the impossible. We start by wanting to exercise almost every day of the week for at least 1 hour, and end up exhausted and in pain after week 1 or week 2; which makes us lose our drive after a short while. Why don’t you start according to your fitness level? If you haven’t moved your ass in a really long time, start by scheduling a work out twice a week. It doesn’t need to be overly intense since you are a “beginner”. If you are already used to exercising, then add a few sessions or increase the level of fitness, and find some way to make them fit into your schedule. You are less likely to give up if your exercising schedule is compatible with your lifestyle and fitness level. For instance, I’m not a morning person; I will never be able to sustain a morning jog, so I keep it till the afternoon.

Rule No. 2: Aim at healthy and not skinny

Please girls, don’t stick the picture of a model on your fridge to motivate you to lose weight, and most importantly, don’t aimtowards anyone’s body! First, getting as skinny as a model is not healthy (it’s no scoop). Second, not all bodies are designed to be skinny. Aim for healthy, fit, and muscular; it will be easier to obtain and maintain, plus it will never make you look or feel sick. Write down your goal, and put small reminders somewhere, so that you don’t forget what you are after.

Rule No. 3: Listen to your body

Sometimes, you just need a break and it’s no shame! You may have been able to work out as much as you planned to, stuck to your diet plan perfectly, and then comes the day where you feel like having a burger and munching in front of TV. On that particular day, don’t overdramatize, don’t fill yourself with guilt feelings, just give yourself a break on that day, and tomorrow you’ll be back on track. One cheat meal won’t waste all yourefforts!

Rule No. 4: Frustration is your diet’s number 1 killer

The problem with dieting, especially after the holidays, is that you are coming back from wonderland, and going straight to the military service with no transition period, and no time to adapt. You go back to work and bury your social life, along a very restrictive food menu. How long can one remain deprived of the many joys of life? Not so long actually. I’m not suggesting letting go completely and forgetting about your health, but rather, having a daily treat. For example, if you are a carb lover, don’t go on a high protein diet! Have your piece of bread daily, or your little piece of chocolate. It doesn’t fit into your ideal plan? Never mind, it will allow you to sustain your weight loss plan for longer, since you are satisfied. You adore snacking in front of TV at night, well; allow yourself a bowl of fat free pop corn, instead of hating carrots and salads after a few days. You hate to work out every morning? Allow yourself a morning inbed, and enjoy your coffee quietly. Be flexible, and let your resolutions be bliss and not a nightmare.

Any extra tips that you think might be helpful? Share them with us!