GILROY — It’s January.
It’s a lot harder to find a parking spot at the gym and the
health food aisle is too busy to push a cart through.
Now that the holidays are over, family has left town and we’re
left alone, we’ve begun to look down and find ourselves about 10
pounds heavier than we were before that first bite of turkey just a
month and a half ago.
GILROY — It’s January.
It’s a lot harder to find a parking spot at the gym and the health food aisle is too busy to push a cart through.
Now that the holidays are over, family has left town and we’re left alone, we’ve begun to look down and find ourselves about 10 pounds heavier than we were before that first bite of turkey just a month and a half ago.
It’s no wonder so many people make a New Year’s resolution to get into shape. The only problem is that people quickly seem to give up on their weight loss goals after just a few weeks.
Registered Dietician Heidi Sanchez, who works at the Gilroy Health and Fitness Center, 8540 Chuch St., has seen this behavior year in and year out, seeing the gym packed in January only to have the numbers fizzle by February or March. She said the reason for this is people making major lifestyle changes they can’t stick with and giving up when they don’t achieve quick results.
“If you really want to keep the weight off, you need to look at it as a healthy lifestyle – not just this year, but next year and five years from now,” said Sanchez, who added that the average person gains 10 to 12 pounds during the holidays, and it takes a month to safely lose one or two pounds of body fat.
“That means it will take several months to get the weight back off. You’re not going to see the loss until April,” she said. “That’s a long time to be committed to something.”
According to Charlie Cheng, a personal trainer at Gilroy Health and Fitness, expecting the pounds to come off right away is the first mistake people make.
“A lot of people are setting themselves up for failure,” he said. “The expect too much from themselves too quickly.”
Cheng said this leads to “yo-yo diets,” where people constantly go on and off of diets and exercise.
Sanchez said that if people are serious about getting healthy, they need to approach it seriously.
“The first thing is they need to decide what they want to do,” she said. “Second, they need to set clear goals.”
These goals include deciding how much weight one wants to lose and setting milestones along the way to stay on track. Next they need to get educated, including visiting a doctor or a nutritionist, reading books on nutrition and talking to a personal trainer if they want to begin an exercise program.
Sanchez said consulting a doctor is important because they can make sure you aren’t endangering yourself by taking on too hard of a workout program and can pinpoint other dangers, including those associated with medications and high blood pressure.
Sanchez also said that people should be weary when buying a health book. She said only buy books from registered dieticians, not doctors.
“M.D.s are experts on the body, but they typically only have one class on nutrition. Ph.D.s are smart, but they may not have any valid experience,” she said.
Gilroy Health and Fitness does not promote dieting, but Sanchez instead works with clients to make gradual improvements in eating habits.
“Watch the portion sizes, follow the food guide pyramid, which promotes variety and balance in the diet,” Sanchez said.
Some people tend to give up on their health goals if they give up foods they really enjoy. After about a month they give in and soon are back to all of their old habits. However, Sanchez said being more health conscience in one’s diet doesn’t mean having to give up on meat and candy bars.
“I think that all foods can fit, but the serving size and the frequency determines it,” she said. “They say if you can eat healthy 80 percent of the time, 20 percent can be whatever else you want.”
Sanchez also stressed that skipping meals like breakfast can actually keep one from losing weight.
“You actually end up eating more calories,” said Sanchez, who added that by skipping a meal a person may get extra hungry before meals, which leads to overeating and making bad food choices.
Skipping a meal like breakfast also can lead to a lack of concentration, a poor immune system and lower energy levels. The effects can hurt someone’s ability to exercise.
“By not eating, you will have a hard time getting through your workouts,” Cheng said.
Sanchez said the best way to eat is to have five or six snacks or small meals per day rather than three larger meals.
“It keeps you blood-sugar level, which is your energy level, up the whole day,” she said. “It also makes for more variety in foods and more nutrients.”
But Sanchez knows this isn’t always possible with how busy people are.
“I encourage food that fits their lifestyle,” she said.
People trying to shed pounds after the holidays also may be enticed to take diet pills instead of exercising and eating healthy. But trying the easy way out not only doesn’t help keep the weight off for a long period, but it can be dangerous as well.
“I strongly recommend not taking (diet pills),” Sanchez warned. “They’re not regulated at all. There are multiple documented cases of all sorts of harmful effects – including death – with pills that claim to be natural or stimulant-free.”
However, Sanchez said there is nothing wrong with adding a multi-vitamin to the daily regimen.
“Absolutely,” she said. “Multivitamins are regulated so you do get what it says is there on the bottle.”
Another import part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is exercise. According to Cheng, the average person should get 30 minutes of exercise per day.
And for those who aren’t comfortable joining a health club or simply can’t afford the costs associated with it, there are many different exercises that can be brought into daily life. Plus, the 30 minutes of exercise doesn’t have to come all at once. It can accumulate over the course of the day.
“They can begin slowly just by doing things a little differently,” Cheng said. “That can mean parking farther away from work in the parking lot, taking the stairs, going for walks at lunch. Thirty minutes adds up pretty quickly.”
