A Healthy Lifestyle: Looking Beyond the New Year's Resolution

  • Published
  • By Maj. Lisa Tauai
  • Health Promotion Flight Commander
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  With the new year upon us, one of the top resolutions undoubtedly is losing weight.

Weight loss is achieved through obtaining a caloric deficit--either consuming fewer overall calories and/or burning more calories through increased physical activity.

While physical fitness is paramount to overall health and wellness, it is also the most effective method in keeping off weight lost. Good nutrition is critical to achieving a desirable body weight and trimming the waist line. Ask any athlete and they will tell you that good nutrition contributes upwards of 80 percent to their overall performance and ability to reduce body fat while increasing muscle mass. Ironically, however, good nutrition often takes a back seat when our lives are busy.

The key to long-term, successful weight loss is to lose weight gradually. This is a difficult concept for many to swallow because as a society, we want to see rapid results.

However, when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, rapid weight loss is not the answer. In fact, rapid weight loss can eventually result in an overall lower metabolic rate and can even lead to various nutritional deficiencies if too few calories and nutrients are consumed. Gradual weight loss is defined as one to two pounds lost per week secondary to consuming 500-1000 fewer calories a day.

So, what is the best method in consuming 500-1000 fewer calories a day?

Portion Control!

Although reducing or controlling portion sizes of food and beverages is not a difficult concept, it can be very challenging for most people and requires a certain element of discipline. An important first step is to understand what a portion size of food actually is. An adult portion size of food is simply about the size of the palm of your hand. Using a normal sized plate, a meal would then equate to three to four palm-sized portions of food--keeping in mind that you can load up on non-starchy vegetables!

When it comes to gradual, long-term weight loss, eating frequently (every two to four hours) is vital. This not only keeps up energy levels throughout the day, but also jump starts metabolism rates making the body more efficient at burning calories while at rest.

More times than not, though, members skip breakfast, have a large (high fat/high calorie) lunch and often eat from when they get home until they go to bed. This is one of the worst dietary routines people can adopt--often leading to many chronic health problems and a much larger waist line over time.

January is the Air Force's Healthy Weight Month and the beginning of a brand New Year! By adopting the simple, but very effective, principles above you can achieve your goal weight, and, more importantly, keep off the weight for years to come!

For additional information on this topic or to learn about the nutrition, fitness, and tobacco cessation programs and services the Ramstein Health and Wellness Center offers, please call 480-4292 or log onto our home page at: https://sg2.usafe.af.mil/RamsteinHAWC/