How Far Can Healthy Choices Go?

By John Oxnard

Losing weight is one of the most common resolutions people make to welcome in the New Year.  However, if you are interested in ways to lose weight fast, you don’t have to wait until January 1!  There are ways to jump start your weight loss goals and achieve your target weight in a healthy and enjoyable way.

There are lots of diet tips and tricks out there that suggest that to lose weight fast you need fancy products or expensive exercise equipment.  These products can be a big help, but the real power to change comes from inside.  The simple fact is that there isn’t a single product that will do the hard work for you.  But don’t let that discourage you!  There are lots of things that you can do on your own without spending a lot of money.  Here’s a few ways to begin planning your new health habits.

Identify some of the high-calorie food choices you can eliminate.  All of us enjoy snacks, desserts, and special occasion foods, especially around the holidays.  What’s a birthday without a birthday cake?  A New Year’s party just isn’t the same without a snack platter full of delicious finger food.  Enjoying these foods is just fine so long as they make only occasional appearances in your diet.  Did you know that foods like instant breakfast oatmeal, convenience lunch meats, and those easy-to-prepare boxed dinner mixes can be calorie bombs?  They can really pack on the calories and make your goals to lose weight fast much more difficult to achieve.

Practice reading food labels.  These labels give you all the information you need about the nutritional content of the foods you eat, including the fat, protein, sugar, and vitamin content.  You will also learn how many servings are in a package and how many calories each of those servings contain.  Many people are not aware that, for instance, a snack pack of potato chips contain more than one serving.  If an entire package is eaten, two, three, or even four times the calories might be consumed!  Take some time to study the food labels of the things you eat every day.  Identify those foods that contain more calories than necessary and begin replacing those foods with healthier alternatives.  You can prepare your own oatmeal in just minutes and then add your own flavorings.  You don’t need to rely on expensive packaged instant oatmeal to have a tasty, filling breakfast.  You can save money as well as cut out extra sugar, salt, and calories.

Aside from taking a close look at your dietary choices, you can make some small changes in your daily habits to increase your physical activity.  Do you drive to work even though you live close by?  Depending on where you live, you may have a bus line that takes you conveniently close to your work.  With just a little bit of planning, you can add a nice walk to your day.  Walking to and from the bus stop doesn’t take long and increases your daily exercise.

As you can see, healthy choices can go a long way. There are many ways to take charge of your weight loss goals so you can begin to lose weight fast.  With just a little work, you can make lots of healthy changes.