Dr. Aron brings you fun and important weight loss tips, exciting diet recipes, medical weight loss breakthroughs, and a steady source of weight loss motivation.
Her medical weight loss program provides real results for overweight and obese persons seeking non-surgical medical treatment, with lasting results.
Food awareness is important for all of us. Whether or not you are trying to lose weight, you still need to be concious of the calories you consume and quality of the nutritional content.
Nowadays, with food labels as available as they are, they don't always capture the complete picture of the quality of your food, most notably the source and processing of the ingredients, as well as informed knowlege of the additives and non-food ingredients therein.
Keeping a food diary can provide powerful insights into your habits
Best Steps
Your best diet plan starts with choosing real foods with minimal processing, and solid nutritional value. Ideally, if you like to cook, you are able to steer yourself to healthier recipes and freshest ingredients. If cooking is not an option for you, you can still work within your plan and fill in as many healthy options as able, such as a fresh salad bar instead of packaged foods, etc.
Food Journal
Keeping a food diary can be a powerful insight tool, as well as a habit tracker, for what, when and how you are eating. Choose a method that works best for you:
Paper Journal This may be the easiest way, as you can just jot down what you are eating and other observations, and go back to fill in any details when you have more time.
Online (free) The USDA provides a national database that is most often the source for many other websites, tools and apps. You can access their database to get current food facts, via their MyPlate app.
Other apps Many third party food trackers are available if you are more inclined to do your research for which one suits your personal style and needs. Some are visual, some more technical, some incorporate fitness tracking and more. Ideally what will work best is what is easiest for you to maintain on the go, and not be bogged down trying to keep up with a fussy app. Popular apps include Lose it and My Fitness Pal and many more popping up every year.
Thick and Thin
Most importantly now is what to log in your journal (or app). Hopefully, as Dr. Aron advises, you are eating at a mealtime in a relaxed setting, eating mindfully not rushing thoughtlessly at your desk or tv. You can facilitate this in your log:
Why am I eating
How hungry I am
Where I am eating
How I am feeling
and of course, What am I eating
Include portion sizes and calories as minimal facts, with fat and other elements as you wish to track. Consider any condiments, and snacks and more — be honest with yourself, this is a guide for you only.
You’ve got enough in your life, how can you fit fitness into that too? —Oksana Aron, M.D.
Human Nature
Firstly no beating yourself up. It’s human nature to defy all the best logic and intentions and keep the status quo. So acknowledging that lack of inertia is a good place to start. You don’t have to want to start exercising to actually start! In fact ask anyone who does work out regularly, it’s a big part of it to just get yourself to get going each day to keep the habit going too.
Once you start, you will see you will still have good days and bad days, and that is ok. You just need to accept your mood doesn’t have to be the reason you don’t get moving.
Motivators
For many, the fun of fitness includes friends. If you have a workout buddy that does give a lot to help, though be sure you both focus on the fitness part and not fall into just socializing. Lunchtime powerwalks can be an easy place to start. Or morning dog walks (dogs are people too, right?).
Finding and setting up the routine is key here. Do you have a regular place to practice, whether a walking path, or yoga mat, or room in your home to exercise without distraction?
Youtube or even old school DVDs can make for easy access to fun workouts daily. You can keep the same channels and workouts or mix things up when want to break into a new skill or new drill. So even a tv, phone or tablet can be your workout partner and trainer.
Ready or not?
Overcoming any mental or physical constraints of course is essential to moving ahead into new fitness zones. Be mindful of your limitations and start simple, don’t get ahead of yourself, even once begun, keep the bar low to develop the habit not any desired result. Most important is to have compelling cause for wanting to workout. That will drive you ahead when feeling doubt, as much as enjoyment of the activities of choice.
So, finding a time and place, person to workout with, a clear mind and body, and good cause…
Keep it simple
Accept the bare minimum initially — getting suited up and psyched for some activity is first, so once there, just do what you can not what you think you should do. Maybe 15 minutes or walk one mile, or one block — do what you can to feel safely within your limits and return to repeat tomorrow!
You can mix it up too, especially with seasonal and other concerns. Indoor bike or floor stretches on Sunday, Yoga on Monday and Friday, Tuesday and Thursday strength exercises, and Wedneday walk, for example.
For some, variety breaks out of the perception of drudgery and also your body can experience the excitement of something different each workout. For others, the daily drill works best — taking that daily walk can become mentally as well as physically therapeutic. It may seem unlikely now, yet truly once you own your fitness experience it will carry you into higher levels of wellness you cannot walk away from!
Move on up
There is no goal or expectation for when you can exercise for 30 minutes every day. Avoid any talk that makes you feel discouraged or punitive. Compare yourself only to yourself. Hey I am not at my desk or couch. I am outside walking and that is 15 minutes of huge benefit for myself, both by working out, but also by not NOT working out!
Your momentum can carry you over those days when you feel discouraged. Know that the doing is more important than the feeling, and also once you get started your mood will change. Don’t be surprised if that 5, 10 or 15 minute workout turns into 20-30-40... good for you! Yet keep it simple and safe. Getting injured will set you back far more than any extra gains you are striving to achieve today. Remind yourself you are on the lifetime fitness plan!
Keep track
Recognize your interests and attempts,
Decide what your lowest bar is for the particular workout routine you’re wanting to establish (50 steps, 5 minutes of pedaling or jogging, one round of sun salutations) and use this tiny benchmark whenever you catch yourself dreading exercise to at least maintain the framework of the routine.
Focus on the behavior, not the ideal duration or outcome
and find the zones that inspire you most.
You don’t have to keep a fitness log, but may want to mark off what days you worked out and for how long, to give yourself a sense of history and purpose. There are even apps that help track streaks — how long you can maintain a good habit over time.
Shake off the Shoulds
Now you’re getting in stride. It’s called your workout because it is yours. So keep to yourself about your gains and just get into the enjoyment of the game. Healthy habits are priceless, in comparison to doing nothing!
Setup the structure to win, and then get into it!
One pitfall though is to reward yourself for fitness, with something bad! Ouch. Don’t do it. Make fitness the reward! This cannot be understated. Make physical activity the fun highlight for each day.
You have a grocery list, make a fitness list! What are some activities you’ve often aspired to do. Make a list of them, skiing? bike riding? even horseback riding! Reaching those milestones are far more life altering than any food or counterproductive “reward”
Mix it up more now
Fill in fitness to everything you do! Do some easy yoga while the coffee brews. Some leg stretches while you brush your teeth. Take the farther (less crowded!) parking spot and walk those extra blocks. Oh yeah. It’s really that simple. You do not need a gym membership! You just need to use your time the right way.
Make extra trips when setting/clearing the table. Carry LESS than you can to make you make more steps — that adds up to a lot over the course of a day, week, year
Put down your phone in another room so you have to get up to get to it. Especially if that keeps you from just sitting down and doom scrolling! Don’t carry the phone around, make yourself have to get up to answer it.
Now you’ve got it. There’s no reason to NOT exercise. Just move your body more, stay away from sedentary habits. The more you move, the more you get results. Give yourself a big hug and get walking!
About WeightLossNYC™
Dr. Oksana Aron is medical weight loss physician: A medical expert trained in treatment of overweight and obese persons who may have struggled to lose weight other methods and seeking results where others have failed. Visit weightlossnyc.com for more information about the doctor and her weight loss programs.
Start losing weight today, with Dr. Aron and her team at WeightLossNYC.com
We’re all familiar with the popular adage 10,000 steps a day, yet recent research has tested this assertion for validity, with helpful results. The origins of this value were the the invention of a pedometer marketing campaign and seemed to have stuck with us ever since. Now we know more:
Popular convention asserts 10,000 steps daily, yet how many steps are really needed for health results?
[The] word mile was derived from the Latin phrase mila passum, which means 1,000 paces — about 2,000 steps. [The] average person walks about 100 steps per minute — which would mean it would take a little under 30 minutes for the average person to walk a mile.
Walk on by
With so many health guidelines encouraging fitness in varying degrees, this recent study from Harvard Medical School found 4,400 steps to initiate benefits, with increases up to 7,500 steps a day, as a metric centered on women and mortality risk. Note this also addressed the urgent need to reduce sedentary lifestyle habit, as these values are in comparision to 2,700 daily steps.¹
Fat Metabolism
Fat metabolism is also a component of fitness. Studies have shown walking fewer than 4-5,000 steps per day can affect your fat metabolism the next day.² Many health benefits are associated with low impact fitness, so you can simply try and step up your game to adding more steps each week to maintain a stable plateau of activity.
If you want to increase how many steps you get daily or want to move more, one easy way to do that is to increase your current step count by about 2,000 steps a day. … And given that even small amounts of physical activity positively impact your health, taking regular breaks to move around if you’re working at a desk all day will easily get more physical activity.
Learn More
If you are looking to improve your health and fitness outcomes in a weight loss context, visit WeightLossNYC.com for more actionable advice and information on how to lose weight.
¹,² Sources: gratisography, inverse, cited research studies: Walking and Measurement, Daily Step Count and Fat Metabolism, Effects of Moderate/Intermittent Low-Intensity Exercise on Lipidemia
Vitamins are a group of … compounds which are essential for normal [function] but which are not synthesized … by the body and [must be included] in small quantities from the diet. In total, humans require adequate amounts of 13 vitamins: four fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and nine water soluble vitamins, which comprise vitamin C and the eight B vitamins… {NIH}
Lipotropics are a class of nutrients that target body fat and aid in its metabolism. Particularly, choline, inositol, and methionine have clinically shown to increase fat metabolism thus aid in weight loss. {NIH}
Along with B vitamins, these may be administered to intensify fat burning. B vitamins help convert energy from the compound protein, carbohydrates, and fats you eat.
What are B Vitamins?
These vitamins help a variety of enzymes do their jobs, ranging from releasing energy from carbohydrates and fat to breaking down amino acids and transporting oxygen and energy-containing nutrients around the body. {HSPH}
B1 (Thiamine): Conversion of carbohydrates into energy and glucose metabolism. Important in nerve, muscle, and heart functions, as well as brain and digestive systems.
B2 (Riboflavin): Breaking down proteins, fats, and carbohydrates; maintaining the body's energy supply; assists in blood circulation and thyroid activity.
B3 (Niacin): Helps lower LDL cholesterol
B5 (Pantothenic Acid) Production of blood cells, skin, hair, and eyes; assists functions of the nervous system, liver and digestive system.
B6 (Pyridoxine): Improve mood and promotes brain health
B7 (Biotin) Metabolizes food components into energy; and aids in blood glucose levels, insulin resistance and glucose tolerance.
B9 (Folate, Folic acid) Helpful in a number of domains including memory loss, sleep problems, nerve and muscle pain, also in prevention of high blood pressure and heart disease.
B12 (Cobalamin) Improve mood and symptoms of depression and provides an energy boost -- helps with fatigue and weakness.
B-ring it on
Vitamins help the process your body uses to get or make energy from the food you eat. They also help in development of core components such as red blood cells. B vitamin deficiencies can also cause disease. Your best plan is to seek out foods that naturally contain the vitamins and nutrients your body needs for normal, healthful, growth and development.
Learn More
Dr Oksana Aron can help guide you to proper food choices to aid in weight loss and fundamental good life practices. Visit weightlossnyc.com to learn more about her medical weight loss programs and also for additional online weight loss resources.
