First, let me apologize for the long gap between posts.  I got into a battle with the web posting system, and I lost!  After a number of attempts to take care of it myself (I should be able to do this, shouldn’t I????!!) I swallowed my pride and asked for help.  So….here is the column I promised a few weeks ago.

Last time, I discussed the pitfalls of setting unrealistic weight loss goals versus the virtues of small changes.  After all, the grand gestures and promises that we make (you know the ones…”I’m going to quit eating fast food”; “I’m going to cut all of the [fill in the blank] from my diet”; “I’m going to the gym for at least an hour every day”; “I’m going to wake up 30 minutes early to make sure I can exercise”, etc) aren’t nearly as valuable as the small changes that you really can sustain to improve your health and lifestyle permanently. 

So, how does this small change approach work? To be successful, we need to acknowledge our current lifestyles and not make unrealistic promises to ourselves. For example, if you get lunch at a fast-food drive-through every day, it’s probably not realistic to try to quit eating fast food.  The good news is, it’s not even necessary!  My recommendations are to take three simple steps to a healthier weight:

• MOVE MORE: This isn’t a push to get you to sign up for a health club or buy the latest collection of home video workouts. If these are already part of your routine, that’s great. But if they’re not, don’t worry about it!  Instead, try to slightly change your routine to add more steps to your day.  When you go grocery shopping or to the mall, consider the best parking space the one that is furthest away rather than the once that is closest!  Consider taking the stairs instead of the elevator; when you do this, remember that it’s not all or nothing. For example, if you have to go from the 1^st floor to the 9^th floor of a building, perhaps walking all the way up is just too much…that’s OK!  Consider walking up one or two flights before taking the elevator, and perhaps you could take three or four flights on the way down.  Consider getting up from your desk to talk to your colleagues at work rather than always sending e-mails.  Go for a walk or play catch with your kids instead of watching TV after dinner.  Walk your dog instead of letting your dog in the back yard while you sit inside (of course your neighbors will appreciate it if you clean up after your dog!).  You get the idea…look for opportunities to be active instead of passive as part of your normal daily routine. It’ll become second nature and you won’t even notice the extra effort.

• EAT SMART: OK. This is where he’s going to get me.  The food cops are going to make me starting cooking all of my meals (and putting strange sounding things in them!) and bar the entrance to my favorite fast-food drive-through, right?  NOPE!  Not at all.  Healthy weight management is all about balancing what we do (Move More) with what we eat (Eat Smart). Our weight problems didn’t emerge from massive episodes of “pigging out”, and won’t be solved (for most of us) with massive dietary changes that are difficult to sustain. Our weight problems are the result of a chronic, but very small, imbalance between what we do and what we eat. To correct the problem, in addition to moving a bit more, we need only modestly adjust our diets.  This doesn’t mean going on a diet.  Instead, it means finding ways to “trim the edges” of our diets by eating just a little smarter.  From a practical perspective, this means finding ways to cut just 100 calories from your daily diet. You can do this without actually dieting.  Examples?  If you routinely eat fast food, we don’t suggest that you quit, or even that you reduce the frequency of drive-through visits. Instead, perhaps you could substitute a medium order of fries for a large one…that would save 100 calories.  Or perhaps you might order a single instead of a double cheeseburger…that would save even more!  If you drink a lot of soda, you probably already realize that is a major source of hidden calories.  But you don’t have to quit drinking soda.  Perhaps you could substitute a diet soda for one of your regular sodas.  Doesn’t work for you?  Maybe you could drink just one less regular soda each day.  That’s all it takes.

• INCLUDE DAIRY: People often try to cut dairy from their diets when they are trying to lose weight, but our research at the University of Tennessee shows that doing that just makes your weight control efforts harder.  As I wrote in an earlier posting, we now know that the calcium and other components of milk work together to make it harder for your body to store fat and easier to burn fat. The result? People who include at least three servings of dairy in their daily diets lose nearly twice as much weight and fat as those who don’t include dairy while cutting calories.  However, calories still count! You still have to follow the move more and eat smart messages to make this effective.

We have a program to put all of this together.  It’s called AMERICA ON THE MOVE IN TENNESSEE.  This is a program that's based in The Nutrition Institute at The University of Tennessee; it’s supported by a great website (www.americaonthemove.org/tn) which will help you track your activity and find lots of ways to cut 100 calories from meals, snacks and beverages.  Check it out…go to the site, register (this is a free service to help support healthy weight management) and take the first step towards permanent healthy weight management.