Making your weight-loss resolution stick
12/19/2024 by Luke Hafdahl, M.D.
As the Earth completes another trip around the sun, many people reflect on the previous year's weight-loss resolutions that didn't work out as planned. You have undoubtedly seen an explosion of weight-loss medication advertisements over the last year. While these medicines can potentially be helpful, they need to be used in conjunction with healthy lifestyle changes. Here are some tips to make 2025 the year your weight-loss resolutions stick!
Start with a diet to lose weight. Weight loss is 20% in exercise and 80% in the kitchen. You will get far more weight loss by focusing on diet to start.
Think small! Aim to lose about three to five pounds per month. Rapid weight loss is usually a sign that you're doing something that will be hard to keep up. Don't go on a "diet," instead make a "lifestyle change" by focusing on small things you can sustain for the rest of your life. Remember: Small changes over a long period yield big results.
Rethink your drink. Calories are experts at sneaking into your diet without you even noticing, especially in beverages. Reducing or eliminating sugary drinks and alcohol can make a HUGE difference. Consider these simple substitutions: diet soda instead of regular soda, skim milk instead of whole milk for your coffee, flavored water instead of fruit juice, etc.
Avoid portion pitfalls. Oversized portions derail the best weight-loss plans. Give these quick fixes a try:
- At restaurants, put half of your meal in a to-go box as soon as it comes to the table.
- At home, keep serving dishes away from the dining table to discourage seconds and thirds.
- With snacking, put your snack in a bowl or container rather than sit and munch with the whole package at hand.
- Spoil your dinner! A healthy snack before dinner that leads to eating less at your meal is A-OK!
Ease into exercise. Exercise is key to a healthy life, but if you're not doing much exercise to start, going from zero to 60 is a recipe for crash and burn. Start low and go slow. Start with 10 minutes of exercise per week. Add 10 minutes weekly and slowly build up to 30 minutes five days a week. How do you know if you're exercising right? If you're breathing hard enough that it would be challenging to have a conversation with someone, then you're doing it right!
Put a dietitian in your pocket. Have a smartphone or tablet device? Use it to work for you! Knowing which foods are good and bad is only part of the struggle. MyFitnessPal is a fantastic, free app that helps you set weight-loss goals and track your calories.
Most important: Don't focus on weight too much! Weight is only one piece of the health puzzle! We tend to focus on weight as it is the easiest to see and measure, but being healthy is much more than your weight. The quality of the food you eat, the exercise you get and the unhealthy choices you avoid are just as important!
Remember that your healthcare clinician is there for you. Don't hesitate to ask for guidance and talk about available tools to lose weight and be healthy. Make 2025 the year your weight-loss resolutions stick so you have many more trips around the sun.
Luke Hafdahl, M.D., is a Community Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care physician. He has a particular interest in medical education.