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Dr. Mike Recommends

Finding it hard to shed those few extra pounds acquired over the holidays. Here are some of the key points that I picked up from an article in the Globe and Mail. Most are common sense and we all know these intuitively but it never hurts to be reminded and refocused: 1) You can sweat for 30 minutes and loose 200-300 calories but if you then snack on a couple of cookies or have that extra helping at dinner you are back to square one. 2) The best way to win the battle over the pounds does not involve a strict diet or big changes. Small, consistent changes are what add up and make the difference. 3) If you want to lose weight permanently, you need to start focusing on what “forever” will look like. In other words, what you will have to do to maintain your goal weight. 4) Most people gain weight gradually over time adding 1-2 pounds each year. 5) Weigh loss is broken into 2 parts: changes you make to take weight off and changes you make to maintain your goal weight. 6) The “energy gap” is what matters. This is the difference in calorie that you intake compared to what you burn. For example, a 220-pound man will have to adjust his lifestyle by 200 calories to hold a steady weight at 198 pounds (10% change) after reaching that goal or just to halt middle-aged weight-gain. That is because maintaining a body weight of 198lb compared to 220 lb takes 200 less calories daily. A 15% change would require 300 less calories. 7) Some of the small changes that help burn calories or reduce caloric intake including the following: a)walking 2000 step, jogging for 10 min, swimming for 15min and peddling a stationary bike for 12 min will burn 100 calories, b) Eat half or a medium-sized bagel instead of a whole bagel and save 142 calories, c) Serve pasta with tomato sauce instead of creamy Alfredo sauce and save 130 calories for a ½ cup, d) say not to buttery topping at the movie theatre and save 300 calories e) use 2% milk instead of half and half cream in coffee and save 80 calories for a ¼ cup. The important thing to remember is to take is slow and make small changes that you can commit to, so that your results last. Hope this was helpful.

Dr. Mike