Your Goals are the Key to Weight Loss Success

‘Weight loss’ – the most common New Year’s resolution.  Also the one that is often broken by the first week of January!  I think that it is great that people are trying to be healthier but I believe how many try to do it is what is causing the high ‘failure’ rate.  When people go ‘on’ a (quick fix) diet they have often not made effective goals for their journey.  Goals are the groundwork for the journey to health and often I find that when it is just based on a number it is easy for life to take over and old habits to creep back.

It is good to know what your goal weight is, but make sure that this number is realistic and achievable.  If you are striving for a number you were in your early 20’s pre kids, try again!  It is often also helpful to aim for a smaller weight loss to start with and reassess once you have achieved this (how easily did the weight come off, how much work did you have to put in etc.).  Also useful at this point is to ask if you have any other goals aside from weight goals.  These could be as simple as improving energy throughout the day to more health related ones such as lowering your cholesterol level.  Write down all your goals – this will give you a reference down the line when you feel like you have lost track. 

Because weight loss is such a common goal, and in my experience not a good enough goal to keep people focused, I also generally get my clients to work out why they want to lose the weight.  Is it for health reasons (good) or more for vanity reasons (not so good!).  There is nothing wrong with wanting to fit into nice clothes or feel better about yourself, but I believe you need something a little more substantial to keep you going.  Once you have lost weight you feel great, but then after a while the ‘high’ you felt from it is gone…  Will you be able to continue with the good eating habits then?  However, if your main reason is to have good energy throughout the day and you notice that this is keeping you from dozing off at 4pm, chances are you will stay with the better eating habits…

I would also suggest that you put a time frame on your goal, but please, a realistic one!  You cannot lose 10kg in 1 month; at least you can’t do it healthily!  It helps to have some sort of guide to make sure that you are keeping up with the healthy lifestyle and also to make sure that what you are doing is in fact working for you, or whether you need to change something or work harder to get to your goal.

If you have often wanted to lose weight, but have never managed to get to your goal weight or to keep the weight off, it might be time to reassess your ‘number’.  Ask yourself these three questions: What do you expect to feel when you reach your goal weight?  Are you absolutely sure you will feel like that once you reach your goal or do you think you might be disappointed?  And would it be possible to start trying to feel any of those feelings now?  This is important because we often associate fantastic feelings with our ‘number’, but feeling great comes from so much more than just your body – being in a happy relationship, having wonderful friends, enjoying your job etc.  And if any of these are out of sync your happiness with your weight loss will be limited.

If you have never reached your goal weight, can you think why not?  We often have certain habits that get in the way of our weight loss journey.  Habits that keep recurring because of our lifestyle.  You may need to adapt your lifestyle slightly to enable weight loss.  For example those friends that you meet once a week may need to start accepting that you will not drink alcohol every time that you meet with them!

Was there ever a time in your life when, to your surprise, you didn’t struggle with your weight?  If there was a time, how different is your lifestyle or are your circumstances now as to when you were at that weight?  Interestingly, often when people answer this question they often admit that they were at their lowest rate during some sort of crisis in their life, and were actually not happy at that time.  For your success in weight loss try to find the formula that works for you.  What steps can you take to adapt your circumstances to successfully lose the weight?  This can be the same or different ones to what you have tried in the past, depending on their success rate.

Once you have worked out all the answers to these questions, you will be ready to embark on the lifestyle change.  Remember though that this means for life…  So are you ready?

Kim Hofmann RD(SA)

Phone: 021 674 4666

Cell: 084 206 2715

E-mail: kimh.rd@mweb.co.za

Website: www.nourishdieticians.co.za

Are Your Motion Detectors Outdated?

A new trend is being practiced by some criminals in the attempt to defeat detection from passive infrared detectors. This comes in the form of covering the detector or trying to make one’s body temperature cooler so that the passive infrared detector won’t see the criminal.

The technique used by the criminal is known as “masking & cloaking”.

Fortunately there are devices that have been specifically manufactured to defeat the criminal`s intent and the technology is known as anti-masking and anti-cloaking.

Please feel free to contact Adam; Josh or Liezl on 0860 222 820 for further information.

Compiled by Adam Pye
Princeton Armed Response

How Long Will It Take To Get Better?

By Dr Murray McDonald

So you've done the right thing and consulted your chiropractor for your pain. But you need to know and thus ask a very tough question: how long until I’m better?

How many treatments will it take?

This is dependent on so many factors:

• the specific condition being treated - a 1st time sacroiliac pain could take 1 or 2 sessions, whereas a traumatic disc injury can take months
• how long you had the pain before getting treatment - generally the longer you wait, the longer it takes to treat
• the patient’s individual immune/neurological system - some people’s body’s bounce back quickly, some stay sensitive for a long time
• biomechanics and daily stress levels (physical and mental) - how much daily strain are you under?

From the 1st consultation, a plan should be discussed for how long it should take, along with ways to track your progress. On average, for most conditions, 3-5 treatments are usually adequate to control the worst symptoms – more severe and/or chronic pain will often take longer. And once the worst is over, future appointments in the future are sometimes advised to ensure a full return to health and activity.

Avoiding re-injury or aggravation

Generally speaking, the cause of most pain in the muscles and joints is due to some sort of overload. This may be sudden (like a fall or lifting heavy stuff) or build up for a long time (poor sitting posture). While you’re healing, it is very important that you avoid any overload to the area. This could mean avoiding lifting/carrying heavy things, correcting poor posture, avoiding repetitive movements, and avoiding placing the joints and muscles in compressed/stretched positions for long time periods. That being said, the sooner you can start your regular activities and exercise, the better you’ll recover. Your body needs activity to stimulate recovery of the bones, muscles, and nerves. Load your body, don’t OVERload it.

Homework!

Here are a few things you can do to improve your recovery

• Avoid things that may aggravate your condition (as mentioned above)
• If the area is throbbing and painful: ice for 20mins every hour; or 15mins on/15mins off as necessary. Don’t use raw ice on your skin or leave it on for longer than 20mins as it can cause frostbite.
• A heat pack can also be used for pain (except if the area is swollen), but try not to leave the pack on for longer than 20mins as it causes blood to pool in the area.
• Tight muscles can be lightly stretched: stretch the muscle until you feel light tension, then gently pull the stretch slightly deeper and hold for 30 seconds; release the stretch slowly, rest for 5-10s and then repeat 2-3 more times
• Rub-on gels and creams that make your skin tingle (e.g. BioSoothe) can provide some relief
• Pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication can be used to manage the pain but don’t become dependent on them – they are treating symptoms not the underlying cause.

In the end, it takes a combination of correct diagnosis, an appropriate treatment schedule, and paying attention to your ‘homework’ that gives you the best chance of recovering swiftly. So make sure you have all three!

Thank you for reading.

Claremont Chiropractic Centre

HONEY AND MUSTARD COATED SAUSAGES

These go down so well as snacks.

Preheat your oven to 180°

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons clear, runny honey

1 teaspoon English Mustard

40 cocktail sausages

3 teaspoons sesame seeds

METHOD:

Combine honey and mustard and pour over sausages.  Stir well.  Put in oven for 15 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with seeds and shake pan.

Put back into oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

Easy to make and Delicious.

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT OUTDOOR SECURITY BEAMS OR PASSIVES

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT OUTDOOR SECURITY BEAMS OR PASSIVES

When considering installing outdoor beams or passives, it is important to understand that intrusion detection equipment is not 100% fool proof!

1. Point-to-point beams - this technology can be bypassed by placing a piece of tin foil on the transmitting end of the beam. The active beam then bounces back as if it has been received, and therefore no breach will be detected. You are also able to crawl under the beam.
2. Outdoor PRIs -  this technology operates on the detection of the movement of infra-red:

• Pet-friendly PIRs will always offer less detection capabilities, as they allow for the infra-red of your pet. In some cases, you can crawl under the device, but if the mounting height is correct, this will lessen the chance. 
• Intruders have been known to 'mask' their infra-red signature by wrapping themselves in bubble wrap, or a wet suit, and in some cases they can bypass the sensors. 

There are only a handful of anti-masking and anti-blocking devices on the market, so be sure to ask your installer for this technology.

HAR-LYN NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ("HNW"')

HNW aims to help people protect themselves and their properties, and to reduce the fear of crime by means of active, visable citizen patrols, improved home security tips, greater vigilance, accurate reporting of suspicious incidents and crime, and by fostering a community spirit.

HNW operates in Sectors 1 and 4 of the borders of the Claremont Police Station: Sector 1 is the area from Kenilworth Road to Keurboom Park and Belvedere Road/ Rosmead Avenue to Palmyra/ First Avenue; and Sector 4 is the area from Doncaster Road to Belvedere/ Milner roads and Rosmead Avenue to the M5. Their 24/7 contact number is 071 802 2454.

Currently HNW has 50 active patrollers of which only 6 live in Harfield Village. Obviously the more patrollers on the road, the greater the security visibility and the safer the area becomes. If you are unable to offer your time as a patroller, there are other ways to help the Watch by donating money to fund equipment, or assisting with fundraising or recruiting new members. If you have a particular skill set, please let them know as they can perhaps utilise these to promote HNW. For further information either e-mail info@harlynwatch.gov.za or contact Derek on 076 078 1827.

Kind regards 

THE HVCID TEAM

 admin@hvcid.co.za            

+27 (0)81 412 6109