So it’s, what, day 13 of the New Year — And I haven’t lost a pound despite the fact I’ve been starving myself!!!
That, says Kara Mitchell, a dietician and director of the Fitness Program at the Duke Health and Fitness Center in Durham, may well be your problem. “The biggest mis-conception for weight loss is that the more you deprive yourself, the more weight you lose. But that does not help you lose body weight.”
Some recommended reading, viewing and listening, especially for those of you who have recently renewed your efforts to lose weight and get in shape.
Reading
“How to lose 10 Pounds in Your 30s, 40s and 50s,” Health.com. It’s not your imagination, losing weight becomes more of a challenge as you age. For one thing, your metabolism slows. For another … well, read the article.
Yesterday, we shared five of the top 10 —
Well, pardon me, where’s my sense of propriety? Happy New Year, everyone! Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes … .
— exercise trends for 2010, according to the American Council on Exercise. Today, five more.
Got a coffee shop addiction? I do. I’m in one at least once a day. Fortunately, my addiction is straight up caffeine, my delivery system of choice: the Americano.
I say “fortunately” because, caffeine aside, you can get in a lot of trouble in your neighborhood coffee shop. Walking into my local Carribou a few minutes ago I picked up their “Beverage Nutrition Guide: On The Trail to Better Health,” which gave a hint of the caloric chaos a trip here can cause. I could have my 5-calorie Americano (12 ounce) or I could have a small hot cocoa for 230 calories. And that’s the range of their smart choices. A visit to Caribou’s online nutritional guide, which details all its drinks, shows the extent to which a coffee shop habit can derail an otherwise exemplary diet.
Feeling guilty about all those holiday leftovers?
Then turn ‘em into a salad!
For lunch yesterday, Marcy took leftover turkey, cut it into bite-size pieces, tossed it in with some arugula, walnuts and blue cheese crumbles. She added a dollop of cranberry sauce and topped it with dressing, which we pretended were croutons. Save perhaps for the dressing-as-croutons, it was a healthier use of leftovers than, say, putting a couple slabs of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy between two pieces of white bread and calling it a sandwich. It was also mighty tasty, and if you’re into point counting I’m guessing it had about a third the calories of a leftover sandwich.