Most people treat
themselves by indulging in a gallon of ice cream or by lounging around
the house, watching TV. Blatner wants "treat yourself" to mean exactly
the opposite. Her definition is designed to give you more energy, help
you lose weight and keep your body healthy.
"It's preplanning your
grocery list. It's being in the grocery store and buying foods that
nourish your body. It's eating mindfully," she told the audience at the
Obesity Action Coalition's annual Your Weight Matters convention. "Those are really good things that when you do them, it's treating yourself right."
In other words, you
deserve to feel good and look good, Blatner says. So putting in five or
10 minutes to plan your meals for the upcoming week or spending 30
minutes at the gym is the ultimate act of self-love.
"There's no bigger gesture in this world that says, 'You know what, Dawn? You matter.'"
Follow these 10 tips to "treat yourself" to a healthier, slimmer body:
1. Table. Plate. Chair.
Every time you put food in your mouth, you should have three things, Blatner says: a table, a plate and a chair.
These three items ensure
you're not sneaking snacks from the refrigerator late at night or
gulping down 1,000 calories in your car from a fast food joint. And
having them probably means you're consuming more nutrients than a bag of
potato chips would offer -- unless you're one of those weird people who
puts potato chips on a plate.
"It's my answer to eating mindfully," Blatner says.
Eating mindfully, research shows,
helps people pay closer attention to the enjoyment of eating and to
feelings of fullness. Studies suggest people who eat mindfully consume
fewer calories at meals, no matter how much is on their plate.
2. Willpower is a mental muscle. Exercise it.
Willpower is a limited
resource, psychologist Sean Connolly of San Antonio says, but we all
have it. The trick is in knowing how to use it efficiently.
"People list lack of
willpower as the No. 1 reason holding them back from improving their
lives in some way," says Connolly, who works regularly with bariatric
patients. "Willpower is not a gene. It's a tool that we all have that we
have to learn to use, develop and manage."
Like any muscle, your
willpower gets tired. So you have to plan, Connolly says, and know what
you will do in situations that offer a healthy choice and an unhealthy
choice. You also have to be prepared for emergencies, such as at the end
of a long work day, when your willpower is exhausted and the drive thru
window beckons.
Willpower also needs to be replenished daily. The best way to do this? Get enough sleep.
3. Be realistic.
Let's be honest, most of
us want to lose a lot of weight. And when we don't -- when we drop 5 or
10 and then hit a wall -- we get discouraged and jump back on the fried
food wagon.
One of the biggest
obstacles to losing weight is unrealistic expectations, says
psychologist Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research
and Education at Temple University.
"The less you weigh, the
less you need to eat and the more you need to move (to lose weight),"
Foster says. "And that's not fair."
It's nice to aim high,
but successful losers drop an average of 8.4% of their body weight. If
you weigh in at 200, that's about 16 pounds. And losing those 16 pounds
improves your health dramatically.
In other words, hoping to weigh what you did in high school will derail your plan before it starts.
"Life changes, and
that's not an apology or a cop out. It's a realistic assessment," Foster
says. "What else in your life is the same at 45 as it was at 20?"
4. Find better friends.
It's known as the
"socialization effect." Cigarette smokers hang out with other cigarette
smokers. Drinkers hang out with other drinks. And overweight people hang
out with other overweight people, says Dr. Robert Kushner of Chicago.
"What do you do if
you're hanging out with a group of people who are overweight?" he asks.
You pick a restaurant. You go out for burgers and a beer. "You're
probably not talking about going rollerblading."
We tend to pick up the
habits of those we hang out with the most. So find some friends with
healthy habits, and you'll become healthier yourself.
5. Do a cart check.
You know the MyPlate diagram
-- the one that shows how your plate should be split into fruits,
grains, vegetables and proteins? Your cart should look the same, Blatner
says. When you think you're finished shopping, do a quick eye check to
make sure it's filled with about 25% protein, 25% whole grains and 50%
produce.
"Choice is the enemy of
weight loss," Blatner says. She recommends planning out two healthy
breakfasts, two healthy lunches, two healthy snacks and two healthy
dinners for the week. Buy the ingredients you need for each and then
rotate them throughout the week.
This gives you enough
choice that you won't get bored but not enough choice that you're
overwhelmed and end up looking for the nearest vending machine.
6. Do not eat in response to that thing.
You're at the movies.
It's your cousin's bachelorette party. Your son is at the top of his
graduating class. It's a ball game -- and what's a ball game without a
hot dog? If you want to lose weight, avoid eating in response to "that
thing," Foster says.
Plan what you're going
to eat at these special -- or not so special -- occasions so you don't
have to rely on your willpower. And only eat when you're hungry. There
will be more food at the next thing.
7. Tell yourself: "I have the right to be thin."
Self-sabotage is a real
problem in weight loss, Connolly says. A lot of times his clients say
they want something and then go out of their way to make sure it doesn't
happen.
It's not a lack of desire or motivation. "Something holds us back," he says.
We have to learn to
validate ourselves, Connolly says, because we'll never get everything we
need from other people. Tell yourself daily that you deserve to be
healthy. You deserve to look and feel good. Then believe it.
8. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals.
If you haven't heard
this acronym before, memorize it now. Any goal you set should be
specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely, says Eliza
Kingsford, psychotherapist and director of clinical services for
Wellspring. If it meets these qualities, you'll be much more likely to
achieve it.
9. Stand up.
Most of us now spend
eight hours a day sitting at our desks at work, and two to three hours
sitting at home. That kind of sedentary lifestyle is nearly impossible
to counteract, Dr. Holly Lofton of New York says, even if you hit the
gym for two hours a day (and who does that?).
She suggests wearing a
step counter that will keep you aware of the movement -- or lack of
movement -- you're making throughout the day. Try standing up at your
desk while on a conference call, or walking to a colleague's desk
instead of e-mailing him. Take the stairs. Park farther away. Everything
counts!
10. Life will never be stress-free. Learn to cope.
Scientists disagree
about whether stress itself produces a physical change in your body that
can lead to significant weight gain. But we all know the effect a
stressful day can have on our willpower.
The problem, Kushner
says, is that there never will be a long period in your life without
stress. And if we cope with everyday stress by indulging in brownies and
vodka, the weight will continue to pile on.
"Life happens. It's not so much stress that causes weight gain, it's the coping, the push back," he says.
The key is to learn
positive coping skills. If work is stressing you out, take a 10-minute
walk instead of hitting up the cookie tray in the breakroom. Take a yoga
class at the end of a long week. Use deep breaths to get through a
phone call with your mother.
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