Our Weight Loss Goals for 2010

Alright, so we are 2 weeks into the new year and I'm sure many of us made weight loss goals for this year. My question would be: "Are they reasonable?", "Are you trying to lose weight in a safe, affective way?" and lastly "Are these changes something you are able to do from here on out?" If your answers are yes to all of them then you're probably on a successful path to weight loss and good health. That is, if you stick to it.

I don't ever suggest counting calories. It is so unnecessary! But I do suggest you learn to read food labels so you can glance at calories per serving, fat content, kind of fat in food product, sugar, protein, sodium, etc. If you don't know anything about food labels, grab any item out of your pantry and take a look at the label. Get familiar with the label. It's your best friend when you shop! I say this because you can quickly glance at a label and know a lot about the product and you can compare it to other products.

For example, margarine vs. butter, which one should I buy. Well, let's look at the label. Blue Bonnet Margarine has 70 calories in a Tbsp and Challenge brand Butter has 100 calories in a Tbsp. Let's look at the fat now, the Margarine has 8 g fat in a Tbsp which is 12% of your daily value while the Butter has 11 g of fat which is 17% of your daily value. So far, margarine is looking better to me. Now, let's look at Saturated and Trans Fat. Margarine has 1.5 g vs butter 7 g. Whoa, that's a big difference. Margarine wins again. But let's see, margarine does have 1.5 g trans fat vs. butter with 0 g. Saturated fat and trans fat are connected to heart disease so really it's the lesser of two evils you are looking at. The content of saturated fat in butter is 7 g which is 35% of your daily value. This is high so I would opt for the margarine when baking unless butter is absolutely necessary and would not use either, butter nor regular margarine on a regular basis, actually. I would suggest light margarine in a tub for spreading on bread and for use in recipes other than baking as it wins over both of these items with only 40 calories in 1 Tbsp, 1 g sat fat and 0 trans fat!

So Light margarine in a tub wins, in my opinion! Unless you are baking, it works as a fabulous substitute for butter or regular margarine.

Again, you don't have to count calories, nor do you have to restrict your calories too much. A typical woman needs about 1800 calories and men 2000 calories, this varies according to weight, height and activity level. My fear for cutting calories, let's say for a woman cutting down to about 1200 calories when she is like 5'7" would be that #1 she is not getting enough calories to function in a healthy manner, #2 she's starving by 3 or 4 in the afternoon and risks a major binge in the evening, which will just make her feel like a failure for not sticking with the plan. Unrealistic goals are sure fire ways to fail!!! Make small, attainable goals that motivate. For example, I will cut out high calorie sodas and fruit juice and replace them with water or low calorie/or calorie free drinks.