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In order to have a positive start and continued success on your diet, there are a few things that you should do consistently. Over time these small and simple things could mean the success or failure of your diet plan.

• Stick to your diet and fitness plan. Following your plan consistently and carefully. Small departures at the beginning tend to turn into bigger departures over the course of time. Work hard to ensure a great start and then to stay there.

Last night I watched the premiere of the new season of Celebrity Fit Club. I’ll admit, I get a kick out watching the out of shape celebrities get worked over by Harvey. And the nutrition advice given by Dr. Ian Smith is spot on. The show airs on VH1 on Thursdays at 9:00 P.M. ET/PT. Click here for a sneak peak of the first show.

The season kicked of to a great start with four of the eight contestants returning for another round. In the case of Toccara and Dustin Diamond, I’m not sure that they gave enough abuse out the first time. They both claim to have reformed, but Toccara is already throwing her weight around with temper tantrums. We will just have to wait and see how Mr. Diamond behaves this season.

In order to make changes to your eating habits and behaviors, you must know what they are to begin with. Keeping track of the things you eat and how much you eat, has several benefits to your diet success. This is also known as self-monitoring your diet behavior.

It’s spring vacation time, and for me an upcoming visit with family and friends actually.  But as innocent as it sounds I know if I asked you what it is like to sit down and eat with family you’d probably tell me it is worse than going to a restaurant. 

It’s not the company per say, it is the food.  The food we grew up with.  I confess; I’m looking forward to my mom’s lasagna.  I think she is making it special because we didn’t make it home for Christmas.  It is great lasagna, and she isn’t even Italian.  You can take bets right now, I’m eating that lasagna. 

When we begin a new weight loss program, our enthusiasm and motivation are generally pretty high. This is both good and bad. While being motivated and having enthusiasm are good at helping us to focus on the task at hand, they can be detrimental when we try to change everything all at once. When we do not meet our weight loss goals we can become very frustrated and feel like we are failing. We may feel like giving up when in fact we are making adequate progress…we just don’t recognize it.

Cabbage, here is a food that we used to consume 27 pounds of in the 1920’s.  Today we are lucky if we consume 9 pounds of this nutritional vegetable.

Coming in many shapes, colors and sizes, cabbage is readily available and a great source of vitamin C.  It is full of iron, calcium, potassium, and many other vitamins, notably vitamins B1, B2, B3, and vitamin A (of which bok choy contains the most in comparison to savoy and napa).

That what the latest Johns Hopkins research says.  If you want continued weight loss, then stick with your weight loss program.  Longevity in a commercial weight loss program does pay off.

According to the John Hopkins study, individuals sticking to their program commitment lost 13-16% of their body weight.  Those who didn’t stick it out, dropping out in the first month only lost 1%.

Of the individuals studied, only 7% remained in their program for one year; and 42% dropped out in three months.

Let’s take the time to make more than a commitment to weight loss.  Let’s make it a long term commitment to weight loss.

When many people hear the word “diet”, they conjure up images that just aren’t pleasant. Too often they associate the word “diet” with hunger and deprivation. They begin to feel irritable and contemplate when they can “go off a diet”. In short, they view the word “diet” as ‘DIE’ with a ‘T’. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The actual word “diet” comes from the Greek word diata. This word simply means: way of life. This is a sound suggestion that a diet should be a manifestation of eating well; and is one part of a lifestyle that is balanced and can be maintained. That doesn’t sound so scary, does it?

So you have decided to start a diet. Which day is your start day? If you are like most dieters, you have chosen to start on a Monday. While this is a very popular day to start, it may not be the best choice. We all like to have a clean beginning when we start a task. Dieting is no different. It is far too easy to decide to put it off just one more day. This is a dangerous place for a dieter to be and a dangerous game to play. Pretty soon that tomorrow becomes next week or perhaps even next month. The vicious cycle begins yet again.

The Biggest Loser has been featuring Wrigley’s Extra sugar-free gum as a weight loss tool.  The Wrigley Science Institute claims it can help dieters relieve stress and stress related snacking.

Studies funded by Wrigley say that individuals choosing gum over high calorie snacks following meals consumed about 36 few calories less during snack time.  While this seems to be fewer calories saved than one cookie over time it could add up over a year.