It is never too late to reevaluate and change your lifestyle

Heart disease is the number one killer in the world, affecting more than six million people each year. heart disease has  developed into a lethal epidemic and the problem is set to continue since many people have unhealthy lifestyles. Expert agree that eating properly is one of the best ways to combat this.

Yet heart disease is potentially avoidable and preventable.

If you want to beat heart disease, rethinking your lifestyle can help reduce many of the risk factors of heart disease such high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and being overweight.

If you already have heart disease, it's never too late to reevaluate your lifestyle, and there is overwhelming evidence that changing your eating habits can save your life.

I changed what I eat and it worked for me. For two years I have been eating healthy and I lost weight, lowered my cholesterol, and lowered blood pressure. I lowered blood pressure so much that I was able to discontinue blood pressure medication entirely.

I eat unlimited amount of fresh non-starchy vegetables, lots of fresh low-sugar fruits lean protein (lean turkey breast, skinless chicken breast, fish). whole grain bread, and healthy fats (daily Omega 3 supplement daily). I also take multivitamin supplement once a day. I drink hot tea (no milk, no sugar) three times a day and lots of water.

No single approach, formula, or plan for weight loss can work perfectly for every person. The eating method I describe below worked for me. I have lost weight, and most importantly, have kept it off.

You may want to look at what worked for me and then adopt it to your unique circumstances, lifestyle, likes and dislikes.

It is hard not to eat when you get hungry

Hunger is the most significant problem with weight loss and a diet that results in hunger will never be successful. It is hard not to eat when you get hungry. It goes against human nature and you can only stand being hungry for so long.

The feeling of an empty stomach is very difficult, if not impossible, to tolerate and at some point you give in. When you get very hungry, you tend to want to eat more.


Feeling hungry the hardest part of losing weight. If your weight loss strategy involves going hungry, it is unsustainable.

You don’t have to go hungry in order to lose weight.  In order to feel full, you need to fill your stomach.  The key is in knowing which foods to fill it with.

Most people are satisfied by the amount (i.e. volume) of food they eat rather than the calories in said food.

I consume a low number of calories, but get all the fullness and satisfaction. Eating large amount of the right food to fill up my stomach and avoid feeling of hunger is my key to success.

My healthy choice last night

Eating healthy while eating out is a big challenge for me. Last night I at the restaurant where people were eating steaks or hamburgers. It was difficult, but I was strong and ordered grilled chicken salad with balsamic dressing. The waiter didn’t even try to hide his reaction, after I requested no cheese and no croutons in the salad, but it didn’t matter to me.

I was trying to be consistent with healthy choices and managed to do so last night, but it is difficult. When you're trying to lose weight, dining out too often can make it difficult to stay on track. Restaurant meals are often full of empty calories that can quickly steer a weight loss plan off course. Here is the picture of my success.

 

 

Why only 5% of dieters achieve success

Over the course of the past two years, I've learned a lot about myself and the strategies that are important for me to use to maintain my new weight.

Maintenance is not a destination. To me it's a continuation of a process of refinement of the habits that I developed to lose weight. Once I reached my goal weight, I was determined to make this a lifestyle and not to return to my old ways. I knew that to keep the weight off my new behaviors needed to continue.

Long-term maintenance of behaviors is something we can all achieve when we focus the reasons that forced us to lose weight. For me focusing on my health was the catalyst that changed my whole perspective and allowed me to take a different look at my life.

I better understand now that my experiences both good and painful are here to help me grow and evolve. I continue to take personal responsibility for the decisions I make throughout my day.  Sure they’re not always the best but I've learned that it's okay not to be perfect.

Tracking was a very important weight loss tool for me and one that I've continued in maintenance. I continue to weigh myself daily.

Why is it that only 5% of dieters are able to lose weight and keep it off? Who knows the exact number, but it's a very small percentage. I’m sure, there are many more that lose weight initially, but keeping it off is a whole other story.

Big challenge

 

Making healthy choices during holidays is one of my biggest challenges.

Make an eating plan for tomorrow

Planning in advance of what and when to eat is an important element of our struggle to lose weight. We are more likely to make good choices if we have a plan of what and when to eat. Our day will go more smoothly and our weight loss efforts will stay on track if we have an eating plan. Take time to plan eating for weight loss success and keep your plan simple so it will be easy to follow through. This does take some time and effort, but it's well worth it, because if we maintain healthy eating long enough it will become our “new normal”.

NYC 2013 Half Marathon

 

I ran NYC 2013 Half Marathon last Sunday.  It was very cold but it was also a lot of excitement.

 

Almost fifteen thousand runners from twenty-two different countries participated in the race.

 

It was so inspiring to be there with thousands of other runners.

 

Running South on Seventh Avenue and through Times Square with no cars around will be a memory I will cherish forever.