TWO MONTHS INTO THE NEW YEAR! HOW'S THAT RESOLUTION GOING?

It's hard to keep New Year's resolutions.  It sounds good, to make a firm decision to do or not to do something.  But the problem lies in the fact that most of us are depending on our own abilities to get it done.  That works for very few of us.

The key to long-term success is to make permanent lifestyle changes gradually. When I started my lifestyle change February 2008, the first thing I did was start changing the way I ate.  The first change was increasing my amount of water intake to at least 64oz a day.

After a week, the second change I made was eliminating all "whites" and replacing them with all "browns": whole wheat or multi-grain bread for white bread; whole wheat pasta for white pasta; sweet potatoes for white potatoes; brown or wild rice for white rice; using natural sweeteners like honey, molasses and pure maple syrup instead of sugar; etc.

After about two weeks, the third change I made was eliminating "processed foods": no more sausage, bologna, margarine, etc.  The final food change I made was eliminating red meats.

I did not start exercising until April 2008, two months after I had started my lifestyle change, because I had discovered that "Exercise changes your shape, but eating 'right' changes your size!"

However, exercise was the logical next change because even though I had lost weight those first two months without exercising, I needed to make sure that I was toning my body as I lost, to avoid any extra sagging skin.

Over the past six years, I have gradually reintroduced some of the foods I originally eliminated back into my diet, but in moderation.  I've learned that in the beginning, you have to take extreme measures to train yourself how to control food, because for most of our lives we've let food control us.  Once we have the control, then we can trust ourselves not to lose control when we eat certain foods again.

If you are the kind of person that can make a resolution and stick with it, that's great! However, for the majority of us, change comes gradually, but gradual lifestyle changes will help us be successful for the long-term!

Check out AMPSLifestyleChange.com February 2014 Newsletter!