Transcription:
How to Lose That Holiday Weight

Melanie Cole (Host): Healthy weight is about balancing food intake with physical activity and small changes can make a big difference, but how do you begin working towards a healthy weight loss, especially after the holidays? My guest today is Jill Rolfson. She is a registered dietician at Bryan Health. Welcome to the show, Jill. So, if we're looking at the holidays and we have tried not to do too much damage, but we’ve still managed to pack on a few extra pounds, what's your best advice in starting that New Year's resolution as it were, to get that weight back off?

Jill Rolfson (Guest): A lot of us can find us in this situation where we have gained a little bit of extra weight after the holidays and we are trying to work towards the new weight loss goals or just healthier lifestyles. A great way to do that is continuing to watch our portion sizes. Trying to reduce the quantity of the foods by just small amounts can really do reduce your calorie intake. Also, increasing your exercise based on your current level of activity. We need about 7,500 steps per day to be considered moderately active and not sedentary, but I always say 10,000 steps a day, working with your Fitbit or your Apple watch is a great goal to try to stay active and even just adding some extra walking, gardening, climbing the stairs, other things to help you be more active than you were before can be a great way to help you lose weight. Also, don’t try to skip full categories of food. Instead, try to eat a variety of nutrients that you need. Try to include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Whole grains which are high in fiber that help with normal gastrointestinal motility and digestion, but also can help you feel fuller longer because they take longer to digest. Try to include low fat dairy products and lean proteins like skinless chicken breasts, fish, any meat that is a loin like sirloin or a tenderloin is leaner cut of meat. Also, eggs are great portion of protein as well.

Melanie: And, you mentioned taking our physical activity, getting our steps. What do you think of using wearable technology as a way to sort of be accountable and keep track of what you are doing?

Jill: I think it's a wonderful idea. We often can think without a really active day--that we've been really busy and I personally wear a Fitbit and sometimes when I have those days I take a look at my Fitbit and realize, wow, I really haven’t been as active as I thought I was. It's really important to use that as a great tool to motivate yourself, set a goal for yourself and to really use it as an accountability factor to make sure that you are working towards those goals and really realizing how active you are being during your day.

Melanie: So, after so many hours of cooking and having people at your house, then we just sort of feel like not cooking, ordering out, going out. What do you tell people about their endeavor to lose weight after the holidays and that desire to just not have to cook anymore?

Jill: Yes, we often want to go out to eat after we have cooked so much during the holidays, but planning ahead when you go out to eat, looking at the menu, trying to decide on a healthier entree before you arrive at the restaurant can help prevent you from choosing a less healthy option when you are sitting at the table feeling hungry. Also asking for low calorie beverages when you eat at a restaurant or at home can really help you save on the calories and the added sugars. Try to always choose a healthy side dish, whether that's a steamed vegetable, a fresh fruit, a salad with the dressing on the side can be a great option to help you fill up on some of those lower calorie healthy foods. Try to order and prepare steamed, grilled or broiled dishes instead of something that's fried, sautéed and higher in calories. Just go with the main dish that you feel comfortable with the portion or try to split your meal with a family member or a friend or sometimes even packaging half of it away before you even start eating it at a restaurant. Then, you can choose your portion size beforehand, preventing yourself from overeating.

Melanie: Jill, as a registered dietician, do you advocate that when the holidays are over, that we start by stepping on the scale and knowing where our starting point is and then keeping track of our weight or journaling our food? Give us some of your best weight loss advice and is the scale a part of that?

Jill: Absolutely. I think it's very important for us to know our weight and kind of help us set a goal based on that weight. Achievable weight loss is recommended for somewhere between one to two pounds per week is considered healthy weight loss. I think setting a realistic goal for yourself is a great way to keep yourself accountable. To lose one pound, you need to burn, unfortunately, 3500 calories more than you eat, which is reducing your calorie intake by 500 calories per day for a week to try to help you lose one pound a week. A 200-pound person who eats the same amount of calories, but also walks briskly each day for a mile and a half can lose up to 14 pounds per year. So, the exercise really comes into play along with the calorie intake to help us work towards a healthy weight loss goal.

Melanie: In this age of fast food, people drive through these fast food restaurants, some on a daily basis and some of that food is so high in fat and high sugar in the drinks and snack foods. So, what do you tell people every day about fast food, driving through and even feeding their kids lunches at school? Some people pack fast food for their kids because it’s easier or more convenient.

Jill: That is a great question. Eating smarter doesn’t always have to mean you immediately go sugar-free, fat-free or no more fast food convenience items. It just means you have to make a difference in your calorie intake by eating and drinking smaller portions or trying to avoid some of those empty calories, more often trying to eliminate them. The key is moderation not elimination. Watching your portion sizes is an easy way to cut back without cutting out. If you are trying to cut back on sugar, drinking water instead of soda pop or sugary drinks or eating less desserts can be a great way to really reduce that sugar intake very quickly. The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily calories. So, for women, that is no more than 100 calories per day or 24 grams of added sugar, and for men, that's a 150 calories per day and 36 grams of sugar. Of course, that's not coming from fruits and milk products that have natural sugars. It's the added sugars. Unfortunately, our convenience items can be higher in calories, higher in sugar. So, there are some good numbers for us to be aware of because they add up really quickly, but also can help us be a great way to monitor our weight and our nutrition.

Melanie: What do you tell people when they ask you, should they be eating breakfast or, by skipping breakfast, are they more likely to lose weight? What do you think also about smoothies? This whole new generation of people eating smoothies, but you can make really healthy low-fat smoothies with avocado and coconut milk or almond milk. So, speak about breakfast.

Jill: Absolutely. Breakfast is the perfect way to start your day. Eating a good source of fiber at breakfast, choosing cereals with three grams of fiber or more, trying a breakfast bar, if you are needing to eat on the go, that's high fiber. Also trying fresh fruit juices in moderation, limiting to probably less than one fourth to one half of a cup. That can be a big caloric intake when you drink a lot of juices at breakfast. But, trying to eat something that's going to help you stay full, to help you start your day on the right foot can prevent you from overeating at lunch, dinner and snacks later because those hunger hormones when we don’t eat from dinner the night before until potentially the lunch next day, when we skip breakfast really kind of rage and our hunger hormones increase, and it has been shown by a lot of research that we overeat throughout the day when we skip breakfast. So, smoothies can be a great option for breakfast, if you are adding some sort of healthy fats, fruits, fiber. You can even add some oatmeal. The one thing I hesitate with that is that because they are broken down into a smoothie consistency, they go through our stomach a little bit quicker and they're often something that doesn’t keep us full necessarily until lunch. So, may be pairing it with a higher fiber or a good protein like a scrambled egg with our smoothie might keep you fuller longer. So, try to do a small, may be half a cup of smoothie and then scrambled egg might be a better option to keep you fuller longer.

Melanie: So, then, wrap it up for us if you would, Jill, with your best advice as registered dietician. What is the key to getting the weight off and keeping it off? What do you tell people every single day?

Jill: To maintain weight loss, you need to maintain behaviors that help you lose weight in the first place. Weighing yourself regularly is one of those good behaviors, eating breakfast to prevent overeating at other meals, journaling to keep track of the food intakes and your exercise habits and practicing portion control are key actions for success. Try to write down your short-term goals for the next week or month that you feel challenge you but also are goals that you are capable of achieving, and post them somewhere that you can see them often to help you motivate yourself and be reminded to follow through with those goals. Work with a friend, a co-worker, a family member who can help you be accountable to work towards your goals and also encourage them to work towards their weight loss goals as well.

Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today, Jill. It's great information. If you'd like to learn more about healthy living you can go to bryanhealth.org. That’s bryanhealth.org. You are listening to Bryan Health Radio. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.