If you want to lose weight and feel better, you need to eat better. This requires some changes in your behavior. You can do it! From the best weight-loss concepts in science, the following list will help you as you enter the New Year, but it’s not too late to get an early start.

1. Be Determined – make a plan before you begin and follow it. Wishing isn’t doing! What are your alternatives to high-calorie foods? Do not choose them because they are convenient, buy healthier alternatives. Make a list of wholesome foods. Avoids the holiday cookies, cakes, eating and other office or home/weekend high-calorie, high-sugar foods

2. Get More Rest – more rest will help you curb your appetite. A lack of rest, sleep deprivation, will cause one to eat and snack more. If you’re rested, you’ll also focus more on your goals, which will help you achieve them.

3. Forgive Your Mistakes – so, you fell off the wagon and gained another pound. Do not let this defeat you, get back into healthy eating and exercise to lose those extra pounds. No one is perfect. So, if you fall off the healthy wagon, begin again. Keep doing this until it is a habit.

4. What do you want to Change? – To change, you need to make a list of what you want to change, makes goals for each change and stay on track. Don’t choose 20 items to change, but 1 or 2 so you can work on them. For example, I want to lose 5 pounds and eat better. These are two habits to work on rather than to try to tackle broad resolutions. After all, generally, a resolution can be very broad and self-defeating, while wanting to lose a specific amount of weight is much more finite and doable. Work on one habit at a time; when change is accomplished, move onto the next. It’s so easy to say I’m going to get fit and healthy for 2018. The big question is how are you going to accomplish it. Be specific such as, I’m going to lose 5 pounds the first two months of 2018 by reducing my calorie intake and exercising 20-minutes per day for 3-day per week. Next, create a basic workout schedule and how you will modify your food intake. An example would be to go without sugar 4-days per week and don’t eat any fatty or fried foods. This is being specific, which is required to accomplish your goal.

5. Fruits and Vegetables – make your plates lively by choosing brightly colored fruits and vegetables plus the brown of whole grains to fill them. Your diet should look like a rainbow with some brown in it.

6. Practice low-calorie and low sugar – instead of going to the lounge after work for a cocktail, try a diet soda or Virgin Mary, herbal tea, or black coffee. Typical cocktails have two items that, if avoided most of the time, will help you lose weight more quickly. The first item is of course sugar – sugar is the enemy of weight loss. Sugar spikes the blood sugar level and depresses your fat-burning metabolism. The next item in a cocktail is alcohol. Alcohol is what we term sugar-alcohol and has 7 calories per gram, unlike a general carbohydrate that has 4 calories per gram. More importantly, alcohol serves as an immediate energy source for the body and once satisfied, excess calories are stored as fat. Go to the lounge perhaps once per week as a treat for your hard work and watch the pounds dwindle more quickly.

7. Eat Slowly – as you eat slowly, you’ll enjoy your food more and your ‘brain’ will tell you when you’re full. When it does, stop eating; this will keep you from getting really stuffed to the point of being uncomfortable.

8. Do Not Multitask – when you eat, eat, don’t read, watch TV, drive, etc. Do it the old fashion way – sit at a table, eat, savor your food then, walk away. Try this – you’re on your way home and want to pick up something to eat at the drive through. Instead, walk in (let’s use Wendy’s as an example), order your food and sit down to eat it. Stay away from the fries and fat stuff instead, order a grilled chicken sandwich, chili or salad, and water or diet soda. Grab a table and slowly eat food as you contemplate the days work, the up coming weekend, or goals you want to work on. Eat slowly – without realizing it, you’ll relax some in the process and perhaps even avoid the hectic, rush-hour traffic.

9. Food Cravings – all of us crave certain foods sometimes. When a craving strikes have some alternatives with you or make some. Examples include diet soda instead of sugary one; glass of water, snacks such as celery sticks, carrots, etc. instead of cookie or similar; put the craving out of your mind for 20 minutes or so, if it returns, have a small snack, take a short walk, busy yourself with something else, etc. In short, don’t eat chips, donuts, or other high-calorie food when you get a craving.

These 9 steps will help you succeed in your 2018 goals for better health and nutrition. The best thing to do this month is to begin your plan. Include such things as alternatives to high fat/calorie foods; exercise; meal frequency (multiple small meals per day); always eat breakfast; seek out healthy snacks; don’t eat from bags of chips or other bags – place some in a small plate or bowl and stop eating when the plate/bowl is empty; and treat yourself occasionally for your hard work. Use moderation in all things and you’ll achieve your goals/resolutions and tell a friend who will help prod you along or get a friend involved who has similar goals. Now, go make your plan to attain your resolutions goals and stick to it!

January 1 will be upon us sooner than we realize and working together on goals to accomplish your resolutions is very helpful. As a family, it’s not just about you, but your loved ones too. For best results, work on your resolutions together, chopping them up into smaller parts so you can achieve them – choose just a few and make them both specific and manageable. For example, choose specific workout days, don’t just say we’re going to work out 3 days per week. With that being said, let’s looks at some general resolutions/goals for the family.

Families
• Activity – spend time outside together – walking, playing, etc. and, don’t let the weather bum you out;
• Add fresh fruit to your daily menus;
• Avoid white breads etc. in favor of whole-grain bread, pasta, and cereals – they digest slower with less sugar spike to your blood levels;
• Do not eat fast food more than twice each month – pizzas, hamburgers, etc.
• Eat together – talk about what’s going on with each of you, what you want to do as a family, etc.
• Gym or Play Time – find somewhere that allows the entire family to participate in a physical activity – if you have young children, find a place that offers child care or after-school programs. Many gyms now do this;
• Organize your pantry – remove all foods that do not fit with your new plan – those high in fat, sugar, or just not as healthy as they should be;
• Participate in a joint project such as a 1-mile walk/run event or even longer if your family members are able; and
• Plan a family vacation – one that keeps all of you active.

Adults
• Be active – find an activity or sport that you enjoy and participate in it at least three times per week;
• Small and Slow – take small steps slowly as you begin. Do not over-exercise. Work first on creating an exercise habit before going all gung ho and torturing yourself because of pain and a work load you didn’t anticipate. Achieve one small goal at a time then, increase your intensity as you go to your next goal;
• Treat yourself – have a nice treat once or twice per week, for both yourself and family, however, do not use food as a reward. An example would be a family pizza, etc. and,
• Variety of foods – provide foods from several food groups at each meal. Focus on less processed foods, especially fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and cereals.

Kids
• Ensure they wear safety gear, especially for biking, skating, skateboarding, etc.
• Find activities – choose those your kids enjoy such as a ball sport to enter them in, dance, biking, etc. for at least three times per week;
• Focus on nutrition – ensure they drink milk and water for strong bones in lieu of soda or fruit drinks;
• Outdoors – on bright sunny days have your kids wear sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, etc. and dress appropriately for the weather, but don’t let the weather prevent the activity; and
• Walk or bike to school if it is safe to do so.

Teens
• Ensure they are active, either in family activities, or physical activity during or after school;
• Limit TV time – limit to 1-2 hours at most each day. The average teen watches 35-40 hours of TV per week, which is a great de-motivator. Let’s put this in perspective. Unless the teen is watching educational TV such as National Geographic or history programs, the time spent is a colossal waste. Let’s compare the time. If you earnestly practiced a guitar for ½ hour per day for 7-days per week (3.5 hours), within one year your teen would be at a semi-pro level on this instrument. Thus, assuming 35 hours of TV per week, what could he/she do with the remaining 31.5 hours? The human mind is capable of so much learning, but not from 35 hours per week of TV;
• Reduce stress – when you notice your teen is stressed, find out why and help them cope. Help them to find constructive ways to deal with the stress, such as exercising, reading, writing in a journal, or discussing problems with a parent or friend. This is especially important in the world of social media where bullycide, many forms of bullying, and other degrading actions are now so prevalent;
• Sleep – make sure your teen gets adequate sleep every day. This will help them be able to handle daily stresses much better, as well as contract fewer sicknesses and will enhance overall performance; and
• Watch their nutrition – like adults, add vegetables and fruits each day, but have them avoid high sugar and fat foods.

Whether you’re the adult, kid, or teen in the family, working together in healthy activities and nutrition is fun. Psychologists suggest that spending time together as a family makes the family unit stronger and that working on specific goals makes it stronger still. May you and your family have wonderful holidays and may you begin your 2018 health journey together.

No Excuses
Just training with the body allows exercise and fitness training to be done anywhere. There are no excuses about crowded gyms, lack of time, dislike of exercise, no facilities, and a host of other excuses. Best of all, you need no gym memberships or fancy equipment, which means a big savings in money over time. And, you don’t need to worry about working out in front of the muscle behemoths in the gym. It’s really you against the world. More importantly, space requirements are small. A square space the height and width of your body height is all you need or, you can expand into city parks, backwoods trails, or any other location. But, in the privacy of your own home you can do an extremely invigorating workout. This also means that you have the same opportunities during travel for work or vacation. So, do this – commit to high intensity workouts 2-3 times per week; perform body workouts for 10 minutes, 3 times per day (they can be done at work too); and add in some low-intensity time for walking, etc. This leaves you with no excuses not to work out.

Efficiency
The real advantage of body-weight workouts is sheer efficiency – no time needed to travel to the gym, adjust weight loads, choosing different dumbbells, no waiting for machines, etc. You’re ready to go in an instant and spend all your time burning calories and enhancing cardio. This leaves shorter rest times between sets of different exercises, which builds training density, i.e., more work over a shorter time and therefore, BWE will help you get leaner and stronger faster, notice we did not say bulkier.

Fat Burner Supreme
One of the best results of BWE is that they burn fat quickly and efficiently because they can be done anywhere for long or short periods; they allow you to alternate between body parts any time you want; you can make them easier – even in the middle of a set, which will allow you to complete the exercise; but more importantly, BWE works multiple muscle groups at the same time.

To burn fat most efficiently with BWE you should use very short rest periods between sets of specific exercises. This releases key hormones such as growth hormones that promote fat burning. In science, we call this metabolic resistance training, which provides maximum fat burning in minimal time. By keeping your heart rate up, fat will melt away, even that stubborn belly fat, which is usually the last to go.

Enhance Balance
Performing BWE actually enhances ones balance and helps to prevent injury because they make the body so well balanced and help to incorporate connecting muscle groups to each other without focusing on what we term weak-area training. Both pushing and pulling exercises are equalized almost without planning this is because, unlike other exercise regimens that focus on the upper or lower body, chest, back, etc., BWE requires working all parts all the time as groups. Factually, unless all you did were push-ups or pull-ups, it would be difficult to exclude the lower body during a BWE. And, most of one’s muscle mass and metabolic potential resides in the lower half of the body. As an example, running stairs, while seeming to focus on the lower half, requires much work from the upper half to maintain balance and momentum, even though the exercise doesn’t focus on upper body strength in and of itself. The key is to spend equal amounts of work on BWE that focus on both upper and lower body. And, make sure you perform full ranges of motion and multiple angle direction for joint improvement.

The Core
Performance is enhanced with body-weight exercises because they naturally help develop your core muscles, which are key in athletic performance and improvement. In fact BWE targets the core and ab muscles far more and better than crunches, planks and individual exercises in the gym, because the core constantly needs to perform to keep the body in balance. In a great many BWE, the back muscles are unsupported, which requires surrounding muscles in both the hips and trunk to ‘fire’ in support of those muscles. This helps align the spine more, prevent it from compressing due to weight loads, and reduces changes of lower back injury while building increased ab strength.

Other examples of this include narrowing your base of support, such as in ballistic or one-arm push-ups that reduce your points of contact with the ground/floor thus, requiring all of your muscles to work together to prevent spinal extension and rotation in what is termed multiple planes of motion.

Beginner Friendly
A real advantage of BWE is that anyone can do it. If you cannot perform a full push-up you can do a half push-up. You can start or stop anytime you like, alter number of sets and reps if you’re not in shape and totally control the workout. As we said earlier, no equipment is required and in fact, the basic movements of BWE are perfect for beginners, young or old, male or female. Like any program, start slow and build up. You can also build muscles since BWE focuses on time and tension. Tension is the amount of muscular force required to perform a given movement. Thus, by selecting movements that are very intense, maximal force is required, which in turn, recruits and activates more muscle fibers that helps build muscle mass. This means pushing yourself with more challenging workouts, not doing the same number sets and reps of the same exercises such as push-ups during each workout.

The Perfect Body?
Almost everyone aspires to look better, but more importantly proportional. The great thing about BWE is that in addition to helping you become very fit, your body will naturally and proportionally sculpt itself with time. The legs and arms will be in an aesthetic proportion to each other because bodies are naturally symmetric. After all, initially, you’ll burn most of the fat away and typically, the fat is what generally makes most of us look out of proportion. So, say hello to the new you. Not only will BWE make you look proportional, they’ll make you smarter. Just kidding, but, BWE will help you concentrate more on what you are doing, which requires more focus and use of the brain to communicate with muscles than say a machine exercise. For example, compare a lat pull-down to a pull-up. The former doesn’t stabilize the muscle or joints in what we term ‘free space’, however, the pull-up, which is a full BWE forces your brain to communicate with your body during the entire exercise, which is recruiting your central nervous system for every second of the movement. This also activates many more muscles than the lat pull-down. You may not be smarter, but you are required to use your brain to communicate with your muscles. Science illustrates this will keep your brain younger for longer.

There are so many kinds of exercise regimens and all have some benefits. You should try BWE because you will likely discover that they are more natural, functional, and athletic. Every exercise you do will prepare you for the long day at work or play and adjust to sitting or standing, by using the legs and body naturally without needing assistance by your arms to rise or sit. Because you will naturally become more athletic, your reaction time will decrease, which can help you catch yourself in a fall, change direction with the body more quickly and is used in a host of other sports from ball sports to climbing, from skiing to shooting, and so many more. In short, you’re not just developing muscles, you’re enhancing your entire neuro-muscular system for better body awareness and more importantly, coordination. Thus, if you want to shoot for peak performance, try body-weight exercises; don’t forget to add good nutrition as well.

So, you went to Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other holiday dinner and even though you didn’t need it, you succumbed to another serving and maybe another round of drinks. After all, the holidays are about having fun and indulging with family and friends, right? And, because January 1 is right around the corner you have already made the commitment to get out and be healthier so, a little indulgence won’t hurt right now. Wrong! You’re already indulging and life after December will just be a continuation of now. This is why so many keep their excess body weight and remain sluggish because there is always tomorrow, despite the fact you didn’t get any of your resolution goals accomplished today.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone; million around the U.S. are in the same boat. Every year in the gym there is the huge rush and crowds for the first 4-8 weeks of the year, which slowly dwindles down to the same old crew you ended the last year with. While the objective to get fit and lose weight is a noble one there is a tiny problem – to accomplish this you must follow through.

Face it, the dream of a fitter and healthier you will take time and that’s the main commitment you need to make to yourself. And, the longer you’ve been inactive, the harder it will be to make this commitment.

However, there is hope. Exercise doesn’t need to be an all-consuming endeavor, just a persistent one. While you may not be a professional athlete or look like one during the first 6 weeks of 2018, you will succeed. Those commercials you see on television and social media, with athletes, men and women, sweating and hard looking as a ripped cheetah, are not realistic for most. You should realize that about perhaps 1% of our population or less can perform such high-intensity exercises. Thus, don’t be unrealistic about your goals.

First, you need to commit to time. I want you to commit to 30 minutes per day, 5-days per week. Second, you need to begin slow. As you begin, if you are not currently active, you will find soreness and pain and discomfort associated with your exercise. There is after all an inexorable link – you have heard the adage ‘no pain, no gain.’ However, do not shoot for this as a beginner in the gym at the beginning of the year. A great many people do not return because they over-exercise the first couple of times in the gym and get so sore, they can barely move after a few days. Pain will come naturally to the inactive or active so, do not succumb to the temptation. Do not compete against Joe or Jane bodybuilder who are already fit, they were not always so. Take your time, but be persistent. There’s a connection between exercise and pain, discomfort, and soreness.

Let’s just focus on the average person, because if you’re not currently active, physically you are an average person. And, for the average, the best fitness program consists of exercises that work the entire body. You can begin with just basic body squats (also misnamed air squats by some) that only require folding your arms and doing squats in place. Then, there’s biking, fast (or slow depending on your fitness level) walking, biking, jogging, etc. for cardio portions of your workout. Thus, think of both strength and cardio when you begin. The latter improves the functioning of the heart and lungs, as well as blood vessels, while resistance in strength training will increase bone density and help build muscles, and strengthen joints and connective tissues.

Overall, you will get fitter in the new year by stimulating your body. The best way to do this is to initially stay a little out of your comfort zone. In other words, challenge yourself, but don’t try to be or compete with a pro athlete in your current condition. While you can ‘do it’ as you go, you need to use a little common sense. We will help you with our free 30-day express program, which for both December and January will be for the beginner. While there are also what we call pre-beginner’s, we will discuss them in another article.

To summarize so far, make a 30-minutes per day time commitment 5-days per week then, begin slowly. Do not overdo it or feel you need to compete with others. You are competing with yourself – to make yourself better than you were yesterday. Once you’re fit then, compete with others if you wish. This all means that you need to set realistic expectations for your health and fitness goals. Assess where you are and then set stepping-stone goals to get where you want to be – do not overwhelm yourself. For example, if you want to lose 20 pounds, do not try to do it in one week. A loss of 1-2 pounds is better and healthier. Also, to lose a pound requires burning about 3,500 calories and the average workout for 20-30 minutes creates a loss of 200-500 calories depending on your exercise so, be patient, but very persistent.

All of this means to limit your resolutions to something you can accomplish. Breaking it down, set one small nutrition goal, a small physical activity goal and perhaps a health goal. Examples, in order, could be to control your food portion size at meal time; lose 5 pounds the first 6 weeks of 2018, not 20; and, determine to take stairs, leisurely walks around the park, enjoy nature, or other basic health goal. By making small, stepping-stone, yet achievable goals, you will become more fit and begin devoting more time to your body and mind. As time passes and you are persistent, you’ll eat healthier, exercise more intensely as you work into and thus, become a more fit and healthy you. Track your progress always.

From all the clients, pro and average, I have worked with, once you make the time, choosing the appropriate fitness program becomes a challenge. Especially since each of us are uniquely different, which means that different activities fit different people. As an example, I love to speed sprint and despise using cardio machines in the gym. On the other hand, many are content to do the latter. Find what works best for you and do not give up trying.

In the Gym
What exercise equipment will work best for you? The ones you like to do most. If you do not like exercising on a specific piece of equipment, don’t – all you’ll end up doing is not enjoying your time in the gym. And, if you have a workout program and you do not like exercises, substitute them with others. This is the best way to get through the initial workout phases of your New Year’s Resolutions.

If you are bored in the gym, you will fail so, choose exercises you enjoy and that challenge you. Some people like to jog, others like to sprint – what kind of person are you? Perhaps you would have more fun in a pick-up basket ball game. Then, do it! Whatever you like to do most, make that the center of your fitness program. Personally, I like to run stairs/bleachers and not bike. Just a personality thing – find yours. Next, challenge yourself with it by slowly increasing your intensity.

A friend of mine, Dave, has always enjoyed walking his dog. Lately, he decided to get a backpack that holds a water bladder, put about 20 pounds in it and run with his dog in the park, up hills, and down the jogging path. He’s lost 15 pounds in the last 7 weeks. His goal is to be more fit on January 1, 2018 and then, increase his intensity, lose another 10 pounds, and build lean-muscle mass after that. As you can see, he started slow, without a pack, then added some intensity and began challenging himself. It all started from something he loved to do. After all, there are more ways to become fit than just spending time only in the gym. Also, as you can see, his exercise wasn’t a formal activity, but an activity he already liked to do, he just added more to it and changed it up.

If you look at how Dave began, his routine changed to a basic activity that doubled as a weight-bearing exercise. First, just the walking, then adding the pack with some weight, which was a camera, 3 liters of water, snacks for his dog and other items. In other words, he used his body weight against gravity that became more intense over time. Other examples of this include walking, push-ups, basketball, martial arts, cross-fit, weight training, Olympic lifting, bodybuilding, etc.

As you get into the gym and find time running short on some days, work your larger muscle groups first – legs, back, trunk, and chest. Then, if you have time, get the rest of your exercises done. After all, time is the big complaint so, use it efficiently and as my dad used to say, “Don’t let your bull-dog mouth bite off more than your puppy-dog butt can chew.” This means to begin slow and work up.

So, begin setting your goals today. Make them realistic, start slowly, and be persistent. Above all, choose exercises you like to do and if you do not know how to do them properly, ask one of the trainers in your gym who will be happy to help or, hire your own personal trainer to push you along.

While you’re getting a handle on your exercises, start looking at your nutrition. You cannot learn it all in one day, but our website has many articles that can enlighten you to help you make the best choices and, make your nutrition, like your workout, individually you! Take a few minutes on the weekend to play your weekly food intake. The more you do it, the easier, like fitness it will be. Avoid eating out more than once per week and plan nutritious snacks and meals that work best for you and that you like. Keys are to watch your portion size, eat slowly, add fruits and vegetables and reduce sugar intake – the latter is the enemy of weight loss. As a matter of fact, I’ll give you a challenge. Abstain from sugar for 30 days and you’ll lose at least 10 pounds, even without exercise. This means no wine or alcohol either. Keep snacks with you that have 100-200 calories and have them mid-morning and mid-afternoon to keep from getting too hungry. Healthy snacks, not chocolate bars. If you get too hungry, you will overeat your meals and gain weight, not lose it. Weight loss is all about energy in minus energy out and food is your energy.

Do not be so exuberant in the beginning that you injury yourself or try to modify your nutrition too much. When you do such things, you can get injured quickly causing a set back and hate what you’re eating and go back to your old ways. The latter is why diets do not work – diets do not modify your eating habits, which took years to develop so, take control and go slowly. Eat foods you like, but not high fat and sugar types. Use common sense.
To figure out whether you are exercising at the right level, try the talk test. The goal is to carry on a basic level of conversation without being out of breath. If you find that you are too chatty, however, chances are you are not working hard enough.

Summary
1. Make your resolutions – work on small goals that you can achieve such as a 5-pound weight loss instead of 20. Do this for your fitness, nutrition, and health (incorporate all together) and write them down to hold yourself accountable;
2. Make a time commitment – 30-minutes per day 5-days per week; you got it, put it in your calendar to stare you in the face;
3. Start slowly choosing exercises you enjoy whether in the gym or out. If you get hurt, work around it; use the rest of your body as much as you can while the injured portion heals – do not let this be an excuse to stop! Once healed, slowly increase your intensity; and
4. Be persistent!
These simple steps will help you reach your 2018 fitness and health resolutions. Have a happy and healthy day.