Fitness Make Diet Resolutions Reality: 10 Tips

By eDiets StaffThe New Year is at hand and you're so determined to stick with your weight-loss resolutions that you've even written them down... in permanent

... planning guide to make your New Year's fitness resolutions a reality

The New Year is at hand and you're so determined to stick with your weight-loss resolutions that you've even written them down... in permanent black marker!

Sure, you've gone through the same drill year after year. Come Jan. 1, you break out the carrot and celery sticks and push the chips and cookies to the back of the pantry, determined to shed that spare tire once and for all.

For a whole week or so, you're "good" - you cut calories and find time for a rigorous exercise regimen. But then, in a moment of weakness, you down a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream. And then, in another weak moment, you gobble several slices of greasy stuffed pizza. To make matters worse, you skip a workout - or five.

It's all downhill from there as you throw in the towel and resolve to try again - next year.

Does this frustrating scenario sound all too familiar? Don't give up the fight. Like millions of other overweight men and women, you're the victim of a few common dieting mistakes.

Katherine's updated best-seller is chocked full of proven weight-loss pointers backed by recent science and research. Diet Simple also offers 29 new recipes - including desserts and party foods - and easy-to-follow tips for all.

"If you want to lose weight, the key is finding strategies that you can easily work into your lifestyle," she notes. "Don't make sweeping overhauls that are doomed to fail. People who fail end up going on extremely rigid diet plans. They're depressing diet plans or pills or supplements that they can't keep up.

"Don't try to change too much at once. Set goals that are realistic and simple enough," she said. "Studies show that people are more successful at keeping resolutions that are widely believed. In fact, a recent study found the success rate of resolutions is 10 times higher than the success rate of adults desiring to change, but not making a resolution."

First, make a resolution. Then boost your odds of success by integrating these 10 simple secrets into your life.

1. Defuse calorie bombs! Get rid of the foods in your house that you have a problem controlling. Bottom line: If that saves just one 500-calorie binge per week, you could lose 7 pounds in a year.

2. Irritate the waiter! Shake up the usual order of things in a restaurant by ordering your entree before drinks or appetizers. This will take the edge off your appetite so that you'll order more modestly. Count on saving at least 400 calories per night out. Bottom line: If you "irritate the waiter" just once a week, that adds up to losing 6 pounds a year!

3. Hit the ground running! Wake up in the morning, yawn, roll out of bed, go to the bathroom, have a drink of water and slip into your workout clothes. Don't check email or phone messages. Start moving. Then you'll have your exercise finished before you're even awake. Bottom line: Do it for just 15 minutes a day and lose 10 pounds in a year!

4. Get sexy lingerie! After accomplishing just one of these strategies, reward yourself - or ask your spouse to - with something that's not a box of chocolates or an elaborate dinner out. Make the substitution just once a week and you'll save at least 1,200 calories. Bottom line: Lose 18 pounds in a year.

5. Say no to food pushers! Take a positive approach. Sample the offered food, but tell your host, "This is delicious. I'd love to have more, but I'm wonderfully satisfied and can't take another bite." Be positive, yet firm. Bottom line: If you resist a food pusher once a week, and decide not to have the 500-calorie dessert, you can easily lose 7 pounds in a year.

6. Afternoon delight! If you're hungry in the afternoon - even if it's close to dinner - eat something! Do it now. Approaching dinner in a ravenous state is asking for a binge. It is especially important to eat an afternoon snack if dinner is late. Bottom line: A planned snack can save you at least 300 calories a night.

7. Breathe deeply! Before you eat anything, take your food to the table. Sit down, close your eyes and take three or four deep breaths to relax your mind and body. Listening to your body's real hunger signals is one of the keys to long-term weight maintenance. Bottom line: If being deeply aware of your body and the food in front of you causes you to eat two fewer slices of bread than usual, you'll save 160 calories.

8. Eat then shop! When you're trying to lose weight, nothing is more hazardous than shopping when you're hungry. Foods that would never catch your eye when you're in your right mind will suddenly look very appealing. Do yourself a favor. Eat, then shop. Bottom line: My guess is that if you go shopping twice a week, and if you manage to eat before leaving home, you can count on saving yourself at least 300 calories each trip.

9. More snacking, fewer calories! People who snack between meals find it easier to lose weight because they actually take in fewer calories. Snacks keep you satisfied so you're less likely to experience runaway hunger or emotional cravings. Snacks have to be planned. Otherwise, you'll find yourself stuck with whatever's available. Bottom line: If your healthy snack keeps you from your usual vending machine pick-me-up, you'll save about 250 calories right there. Do it every day and you'll lose a lot of weight in a hurry.

10. Eat by the clock! Your body gets hungry every three to five hours. Impulse eating, or bingeing, is usually a result of poor planning. If you eat at regular times and never let yourself get too hungry, you'll be less likely to overindulge. Eat five times a day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. Just three meals can work too, provided the meals are balanced, and your breakfast, lunch and dinner are roughly equal in calories. Bottom line: This is a very significant change. You can lose tremendous amounts of weight just by planning meals carefully and sticking to a regular mealtime schedule.

For more help with your diet resolutions, continue to these posts:
- Complete Weight-Loss Checklist
- How to Get Started on a Fitness Plan
- Controlling Your Hunger

... moretaking daily exercisedo you make resolutions at New Year

Diet&Exercise

Diet Resolutions with Self Magazine

Exercise vs Diet - Which is Better for Weight Loss?

Source : http://healthnews.ediets.com/diet-weight-loss/make-diet-resolutions-reality-10-tips.html

Related video about Fitness Make Diet Resolutions Reality: 10 Tips

How to Keep Your New Years Resolution to Exercise

How to Keep Your New Years Resolution to Exercise Getting into a new exercise routine is easy - its sticking with it that takes a little stamina But with a few simple tips youll be in Fitness Make Diet Resolutions Reality: 10 Tips

Commonly question about Fitness Make Diet Resolutions Reality: 10 Tips

Question :

Is a six pack an unrealistic goal to maintain?

Do you think a six pack is an unrealistic goal to maintain? This article pretty much claim keeping one year round is unrealistic. Do you agree? Disagree?

--quote--
Attaining those six-pack abs is only half the battle

For the first half of 2009, Jason Dinant morphed into a gym rat. He worked out four times a week in a gym cycling on a stationary bike, lifting dumbbells and doing hundreds of sit-ups to attain his New Year s resolution of having "six-pack" abs.

He ditched the junk food and scarfed down 16 hard-boiled egg whites, one and a quarter pound of meat and four cups of vegetables a day.

After six months of diet and workouts with a trainer, the fruits of his labor surfaced from his stomach in June. He got his six-pack.

But months later, reality set in. After relaxing his diet and fitness routine, Dinant s six-pack whittled down to a two-pack.

"I got worn out from working out and took a break from it," said the 28-year-old.

Six-packs are difficult to maintain because they require less than 10 percent body fat, said Jordan Yuam, a fitness trainer and owner of Jordan s Virtual Fit Club in Valencia, California, who was not associated with Dinant s fitness.

"It s really, really hard to keep that up," said Yuam, who trained "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner.

"Most people, in terms of bodybuilding or any kind of figure modeling, they have something called off-season training. They re going to look best during competition time. People don t realize there s two different worlds of the human body that you generally don t see when they re in magazines. They think they look like that year-round -- it s not true."

Even bodybuilders need a break from the intense workouts. And Dinant plans to follow that route.

"I have friends who are bodybuilders," said the Las Vegas, Nevada, resident. "Two months before competition, they re in competition mode. Then they relax, then go back to competition mode. They don t put stress on the body 24/7. They regulate it for certain things. I found that s the best thing for me. I still do my ab routine. I m not as strict though."

Switching between intense and moderate training is not harmful, because the body needs a break, Yuam said.

"It s like an Ironman athlete," he said. "There are times you re working out really hard, and you cool down and rest and go back at it."

Dinant was one of the contributors chosen last January when CNNhealth.com asked viewers to submit their 2009 New Year s resolutions and chronicle their journey to change on iReport.com.

His public quest for a six-pack also landed him a spot on the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March in June. That afternoon, after parading around shirtless and flaunting his newly sculpted stomach, he felt a pang.

As the festivities wrapped up, Dinant dashed across the street to sink his teeth into a footlong sausage sandwich sold by a street vendor. He also wolfed down a pastry. "Then I got a stomachache," Dinant said.

But Dinant is not mourning the loss of his six-pack.

"I eat a lot more vegetables than I ever did," he said. "I still eat zucchini and rice. It makes you feel better. ... I do feel like it was the best thing I ve ever done. I m happy I went that course this year."

He credits this year s fitness resolution for getting him healthier.

"I find that there s a happy medium for me," Dinant said. "I eat healthier. I m happier. I m at the shape I m happy at."

Despite the bevy of taut and toned bodies on magazine covers, better body self-image is important, said Yuam.

"People need to realize you can t look like that year-round. The magazines and their covers, they re all Photoshopped. That s not what they look like. Acceptance is something that people don t understand."

While six-packs are possible to build in several months, Yuam cautioned that the feature doesn t serve any health function.

"It s more for show. It s a cosmetic thing," he said.

But for those who seek tighter abs, here are more of Yuam s tips:

-- Diet is a big part of the battle. Avoid starchy carbohydrates before going to bed. Incorporate good fats such as avocado and olive oil into the diet. Eat frequent, small meals.

-- When picking food, go the caveman route. Does this product occur in nature or come from trees? If not, try to avoid it.

-- Most people spend pointless hours in the gym, because they are not following proper technique. When people work on their torso, they may be swinging too much or using too much momentum. "It s not a race," Yuam said. "You want to feel them, doing 15 minutes the right way, that s equivalent to doing an hour the wrong way."

-- Work on your abs every other day, because overworking your abs won t give you results. "There has to be time for recovery for the muscles to come in," he said

--quote

source - http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/23/6pa

I would say... It is not difficult to

Answer :
It can be because you have to maintain a low percentage of body fat. This is easier for some people to do than others. People with ectomorphic or mesomorphic body types and fast metabolisms would have an easier time keeping their body fat low enough to see their abs compared to people with endomorphic body types and slow metabolisms. So it really depends on the individual.