YOGA & NUTRITION. NEW YEAR RESOLUTION.

No one likes to make New Year resolutions – not because the promise you give to yourself isn’t serious, but mostly because you can’t keep it: two weeks tops! It would be much safer not to make any resolutions at all; at least this is how I feel.

Well, on this note I decided to make another New Year resolution. My logic includes the following: I am quite an accomplished individual, I finish what I start and with the best results possible. There are only two things in my life that I am always failing at – quitting smoking and losing weight.

I lost weight once, in year 2000, dropped approximately 25 pounds, but over the past 13 years I got it all back and more. Quitting smoking was never successful. I tried every year, a few times a year over the last 17 years and failed every time. Year 2012 was the worst – I lost a job that I really liked followed by a serious back injury leaving me immobile for a few months. I could not run, could not walk, I could not even sit; lying down on the floor was my only option. Unfortunately, my appetite was not affected by the injury, so I gained a few more pounds.  

This year was good to me and I feel accomplished and successful, after all 13 is my lucky number! I graduated with my second Master’s degree, got an amazing job offer, fully recovered from the back injury and guess what? I QUIT SMOKING FOR GOOD! Yes, it’s been 6 months and I have not had a single cigarette!  

Now it’s time for the second task – lose weight. Generally speaking, I try to stay active and healthy as much as possible. I walk, ride my bike sometimes, and even started jogging again. I don’t eat junk food (chips, soda, etc.), and try to have a nutritionally balanced diet. But something is still missing. Slowly but surely my sizes go up and I start avoiding scales in the bathroom. One day I was reading the Health Magazine (not the best publication, but it happened to be in my hands at the time), and suddenly experienced a ‘light bulb’ effect. Eureka! I realized what was missing in my life – structure!  So, as a nutritionist with training in counseling and dietetics I decided I should start with an assessment which includes a diet log (three non-consecutive days per week), calculations of BMI (Body Mass Index), and BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate).  

For nutrition nerds and just curious folks I’ll be posting formulas, calculations and examples of a diet log in my next post. Stay tuned!

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