Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

It's that time of year when so many people decide to make a commitment toward losing weight. Unfortunately, most fail when it comes to keeping their resolutions. I don't know if it's because their expectations are too high or they are unprepared for the amount of work it takes to get healthy.

For those that are ready to start working out at the beginning of the year, I don't understand why so many fitness centers are closed on New Year's Day. I know it should be closed on Christmas day, totally understandable, but why on New Year's Day?

I've been at 212-215 pounds for so many months now and I'm not trying to lose weight. My personal trainer told me that my weight would most likely go down a few pounds as I try to get my body fat percentage down. He said to expect it to go down maybe 5 pounds or so. He thought my calorie intake was too high and adjusted it so that my body fat could get lower.

My calorie intake was about 3100 calories a day and it is now about 2500 calories. Today I weighed myself and I am lower than I've been in years. I am now 210 pounds. The number made me nervous at first as I don't want to lose weight. But knowing that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing made me relieved.

I know many people give up eating healthy over the holidays. There is so much temptation with all the Christmas cookies, egg nog, etc. Plus, all the Christmas parties. I had four of them last week!

So how do you avoid weight gain over the holidays? For me, it's the goal I have of tightening my abs. I know my diet has to be clean in order to achieve this goal. I don't want to let a few days of eating bad set me back for months.

I heard this comment again today and it made me crazy thinking about it.

"Don't lose any more weight or you'll waste away…"

Losing weight is one thing, but many people forget about the maintenance after losing weight. So many dieters end up gaining the weight as they go back to old habits and eating the wrong foods. I'm proud to say that since early December of 2012, I've been maintaining the same weight of about 212 pounds.

Yes, it's gone up a few pounds every now and then, but it basically is in the same range. It's been quite a journey losing the weight. I wasn't prepared for all the talk about my weight loss from people around town. It's died down now as everyone is used to me at this weight, but every once in a while I'll run into someone that didn't know I lost weight and of course they're usually amazed at the transformation.