Get Healthy & Active Plan - Week 1

I mentioned yesterday that I am starting a plan to get myself back on track.

Every two months TOPS provides it's members with a magazine full of ideas, recipes and motivational stories.  The latest magazine is the December/January edition, so it has lots of ideas to be healthy over the holidays.

Their Get Healthy & Active Plan caught my eye.  It's a 10 week program with weekly plans for eating better, moving more and staying on track.  I read it and felt it was completely do-able and not overwhelming.  I'm hoping it will help me stay on track over this difficult holiday season where we tend to over-indulge.

Below is the program, I hope after you read it, you will join me and together we can create a great team of support.

Get Healthy & Active Plan

Ready to make healthy changes and get fit?  This simple plan encourages you to eat better, move more and stay on track with three weekly goals.  Designed by a registered dietitian, a certified personal trainer and a certified professional coach, the plan builds upon itself, so that you continue to work on goals from previous weeks as you incorporate three new goals each week.  These healthy behaviors are recommendations, but you can do as much or as little of the plan as you like.  If you want to focus on simply eating better first, for example, you can work on just those goals.  Do what is right for you now.  We hope this plan helps you as you work toward weight loss - and keeping off pounds.  Here's to a healthier, happier you in 2015!

Here is a better view for Week 1

Eat Better

• Begin keeping a food journal, writing down everything you eat on at least 3 days

Move More

• Begin wearing a pedometer for at least 3 days a week.  At the end of this week, calculate your average number of daily steps

Stay on Track

• Choose a positive statement or mantra below that supports your goals.  Repeat it to yourself while brushing your teeth.

1. Today I choose joy!
2. Good things take time.
3. I can, and I will!

So there you have it!  I promised you something that is manageable...it's not asking you to make these changes every day....3 DAYS!!!  That's it!  Tell me you can devote 3 days of small changes to making yourself healthier!    Let's do this together and use my Facebook page for support when you start to feel yourself get off track!  Trust me, I need this just as much, if not more, than you do!

TOPS

I have come to realize that while I talk about TOPS a lot on here, I have never really explained what it is.

TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly and is a non-profit weight loss support group.  It was founded in 1948 around the kitchen table of Esther S. Manz.  From there is has grown and spread to countless chapters around the world.

Why should I join you might ask?  Well, studies show that people who have support during weight loss have more success than others to try to do it alone.  A recent study has shown that participation in TOPS is just as effective as Weight Watchers.  

Ok you ask...why should I join on over the other?  For me the deciding factors were both location and cost, with cost being the biggie.  Let's face it, Weight Watchers is pricey.  Part of that is they pay for endorsements and heavily advertise, TOPS doesn't.  Currently my yearly membership is $32 with a monthly fee to my branch of $10.

Have I peaked your interest at all yet?  Let me continue some more...TOPS can help you reach your weight loss goals by providing you with the tools, information, support and accountability you need to be successful.

Now say you want to check out a meeting, but don't feel ready to sign up just yet....good, we can help you with that.  The first meeting at TOPS is free, with no pressure to sign up.   Right here, right now, I'm going to be honest and share my personal thought.....JUST SIGN UP!!!  Do it right there that first night!  If you leave with plans to think about it, chances are you may talk yourself out of it or convince yourself you can do it yourself.  Don't tell me you haven't spent more money on other plans....gym memberships, protein shakes, body wraps, etc.  

Ok, so you have talked yourself up and have decided that today is the day you choose to change your life....what should you expect from a meeting?  Meetings typically last for about an hour.  You can expect a private weight in, discussion about member's weeks and what was challenging for successful.  Roll call is taken, meeting business discussed and typically a program is put on.

Does TOPS offer an eating program and do I have to follow it for success?  The quick answers?  Yes it does and no you don't.  Details of the programs can be found here, but you can also use whatever method works best for you.

Ok, so I have gone over the basics for you and if you are still making excuses as to why you can't join, don't let one of them be that the meeting times in your area don't work for you....wanna know why?  Because if you have just 3 other interested people, you can start your own chapter.  A chapter only needs 4 members to start.  Maybe you have some friends at work that have similar goals, here is a chance for all of you to work together.

I know I haven't been the most model TOPS member as of lately, but the truth is, I haven't quit.  I keep going and getting on the scales, attempting to get myself back on track.  I just want to tell you that YOU CAN DO THIS!!!  You do not have to do it alone and support is only a click away.  Make today the day to change your life!