Tips for Summer Shape-Up

"In the summertime, we have pool parties, weddings, family reunions, beach vacations ... everyone wants to look their best," says Molly Gee, manager at Methodist Health Care System's Institute for Preventive Medicine. "The first step is to change your behavior, not just your eating habits."

Gee's basic summer dieting tips:

• Be committed from the beginning and understand your motivation to lose weight.
  
  
• At the beginning, keep daily food records for four days, and be sure to include weekends. Pay attention to where, when and how much you are eating.
  
  
• Monitor your weight only once a week. Focus on overall health versus the pounds lost.
  
  
• Identify a person to support you through your lifestyle change.
  
  
• Choose an exercise routine you will enjoy and do consistently. Exercise along with diet is the only way to successfully lose weight.
  
  
• Set reasonable weight loss goals of 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Gee also recommends drinking 6-8 cups of water a day; eating smaller portions; eating lots of fruits and vegetables; passing on the ice cream, instead enjoy a Popsicle; limiting alcohol intake; grilling more, frying less; and eating salads, dressing on the side.

Other tips:

• Slow down your meals by putting down your fork between bites, or by using chopsticks.
  
  
• While cooking, avoid tasting by brushing your teeth or by wearing a surgical mask.
  
  
• Resist temptation to nibble from the refrigerator by storing leftovers in opaque containers and removing the refrigerator's light bulb.
  
  
• Close the kitchen after dinner unless it is needed as a fire escape route.
  
  
• Hide the remote control and get up to change the television channels.

- From Methodist Health Care System

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Courtesy of Texas Medical Center News

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/health_briefs/06_15_99-shapeup.html