January resolutions are just around the corner! For this blog, I’ll be summarizing an article written by Alice G. Walton for Forbes.com in September 2013. If you’d like to read the entire article, which I highly suggest, please click here.

1. Dieting beats exercise. Of course, you’re doing your best when you do both, but you simply cannot out-exercise bad eating habits. Eating fewer calories is 80% of weight loss effectiveness. Phentermine can help reduce your appetite; come see us to learn more about it.
2. Exercise does boost your metabolism. Exercise helps keep your metabolism up, which makes maintaining your weight loss so much easier. And of course, it provides tons of other benefits as well: better sleep, feeling stronger, better heart health, stronger bones and joints… I could go on and on!
3. You may have to work harder than others to maintain your metabolism. Research has shown that formerly sedentary people who recharge their metabolism may never quite get back to normal, so they may have to work harder than their always thin friends to get and stay trim. Not a pleasant fact, but something you may have to deal with.
4. There is no one best diet. Paleo, low-carb, low-fat, vegetarian, and dozens of others will all work, but you have to decide to stick with it.
5. A calorie is a calorie…BUT! It’s true a calorie can come from any source, be it fat, carbs, or protein. But to be healthy, you want to eat mostly highly nutritious foods, like fruits and veggies and whole grains and low-fat meats. Avoid the junk food – you’re likely to feel full quicker with higher fiber foods like fruits and veggies, and therefore eat fewer calories.
6. Habits are the key. You can’t eat right for just a few weeks or a few months and then expect to stay thin and healthy. You have to decide that this journey is about a change in lifestyle, one where you are constantly learning about your food intake and exercise habits for the rest of your life. Start with a few small changes, and once those are ingrained, add a couple of new ones. You can make it happen!