The New Year brings the promise of new beginnings, and for many people, starting over means the commitment to taking charge of their wellness and living a happier, healthier lifestyle. Unfortunately, 30% of all New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by February, according to time-management firm Franklin Covey. How can you make sure your weight loss resolutions don’t fall to the wayside this year? The following are the top tips for finally losing weight in 2017.
Know Your Starting Point
Lao Tzu’s adage “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is especially fitting when you’re trying to make lasting changes to your health. The first step in your weight loss journey should be having a good idea of where you’re starting from. Scheduling an annual wellness check, testing your levels for a baseline, and meeting with a nutritional therapy specialist for a functional evaluation and plan are all great moves for sticking with your weight loss resolutions.
Dream Big to Get Small
Can you picture your end goal? Doing so will help you achieve it. Visualization is a meditative exercise used by athletes, celebrities, and everyday people, and is an essential tool to use for setting and accomplishing your weight loss goals. A study by the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University in Poland determined that when your mind enters a deep, relaxed state brought on by visualization and other meditative practices, it becomes primed for suggestion—including those about loving exercise and hating chocolate. Also, visualization can help lower stress levels, and consequently your body’s production of the stress hormone Cortisol, which affects functions like blood glucose levels, abdominal fat accumulation, metabolism, appetite and mood.
Pace Yourself
Need to lose 30 pounds? That’s a great long term goal, but many people hoping to lose weight in 2017 will fall off the healthy-eating bandwagon with such a lofty expectation. Instead of focusing on big numbers and getting discouraged by an imperfect day or week, concentrate on the big picture and pace your weight loss milestones. Focus on losing just one pound a week through simple changes like cleaning up your diet and adding exercise, and over the course of 2017, up to 52 pounds could be off your frame.
Detox Your Diet
As your body changes because of the improvements you’re making to your lifestyle, it’s important to supplement your diet with the nutrients essential to support the changes and to aid in detoxification. Chemicals in the food chain and environment called Persistant Organic Polutants, or POPs, are notoriously hard for the body to break down, and can get stored in fat tissue to protect the body from them. When large amounts of fat are burned, these POPs can get released back into the blood stream, actually putting you at higher risk of developing metabolic issues like diabetes, high blood pressure and even weight gain. A study by the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky suggests that eating an anti-inflammatory diet can help reduce the dangers of POPs. Also, consuming a fiber supplement, gelatinous foods like chia seeds or aloe, natural detoxifiers like triphala, and taking up dry body brushing to support the lymph system, are all great ways to see results from your weight loss resolutions.
Need a Jump Start To Meeting Your Weight Loss Resolutions for 2017?
Atlanta Medical, our nutritional therapy specialists are trained to assist in correcting the foundations of your health through nutritional evaluation, recommendations and education. Contact us today for more information about achieving great health and wellness in 2017!