Yesterday I went on a diet....

The Anatomy of a New Year's Resolution in Time Magazine

17 strategies for constructing a New Year's goal

On January 1, we’re all in. I’m going to do it! A month, a week, or a day later, we’ve backed out. Helloooo double-decker corned beef! To avoid the same fate in ’15, use these tactics while creating your diet and exercise declarations. Nowadays, the word “resolution” almost comes with the understanding that you’re going to fizzle out by February. Better to re-frame the process and call it a goal. Or give it a life of its own with a name, like Operation Less-Jiggle, or The 2015 Strategic Body Re-Engineering Implementation Strategy, or Fred. Vague platitudes (“lose some weight”) are less effective than specific directives (“I will set my alarm for noon every weekday for a 30-second stretch of my adductor longus muscles”). Go back to the drawing board if your resolution includes the words “more selfies in the gym locker room.” Motivation research tells us that three things need to be present to sustain your fire over time: autonomy (you control what you do, rather than letting others dictate it); competence (you have some success the more you do it); relatedness (you share the experience with others). Which means: You can manufacture your own motivation by choosing an action that includes all three elements.

Resolutions often fall into the all-or-nothing category. Therefore, rates of failure increase if you attempt an outright ban on gravy. The common characteristic of exercise-quitters: Too much too soon. For newbies, three days a week in January will be better in the long run than six. Slow and steady won’t win many races, but it will this one. Trying to stick to a daily resolution comes with pressure and stress that often leads to midnight lasagna binges. Instead, try weekly metrics. Rather than count daily calories, which can be frustrating and destructive if you miss your mark, give yourself a weekly benchmark to hit. (Note: There is some debate about whether calorie-counting works for everyone, but self-monitoring certainly can be effective for some people.) That gives you some flexibility to stray, incentive to eat well most of the week, and more of a global picture for what you’re trying to accomplish—that is, eat right most of the time. If you want wiggle room in your clothes, you have to give yourself wiggle room in your expectations.

Tweet/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat your goal so that you can feel accountable. Do not do No. 8 when the reasoning centers of your brain may be compromised, such as at 12:03 a.m. on January 1. #HappyNewYearImGivingUpBreakfastMeatsFOREVER won’t stick. If you want to rid yourself of your dietary Achilles heel, cold turkey can be a rocky road. But eliminating your most evil temptation can work if you can choose some kind of substitute behavior for the addiction or habit, so that you give your brain something to do in its place. Do not make the substitute barbecue corn chips.

If your resolution involves a new exercise plan, make a 5-minute backup workout for times you just don’t have the oomph to complete your intended session. It can be as simple as a handful of pushups, jumping jacks, lunges, and squats (no equipment required). The point: Do something that gives you some energy, so that you don’t beat yourself up for missing your workout on days when life gets in the way

Pick a skill rather than a size. One of my favorite yearly goals came when I vowed to stand up on a surfboard (on a wave). Picking something you physically can’t do right now (run a certain distance, climb a small mountain) requires you to break down the steps that will help you get there—physically, nutritionally, mentally. The declaration of a goal isn’t what gets you to the goal; process is what gets you to the goal. One of the best goals I heard in 2014 came from one of the spiritual leaders of the Sub-30 Club—a club I started a few years ago for people who wanted to run a sub-30-minute 5K, but includes many folks who were already speedier than that, like Laurie Canning. Laurie had said that her only running goal this year was to run with as many new people as she could, including those she had never met from our virtual group. Between training, new races, and meet-ups all over, she ended the year running with 25 new people. She says, “I have never enjoyed running as much as I have this year—ever.” By the way, Laurie also completed the year doing 20,000 strict military pushups and crushed her previous best marathon time, running a 4:11. My takeaway: You can use a deeper goal to help achieve other ones.

The best resolutions are also ones that you can share with other people. Recruit a couple of friends to join you (live or digitally). Report your progress, kick each other’s butts, high-five successes, hold regular meetings to discuss ups and downs. Do not bring cupcakes to those meetings.

Set a date on the calendar, not a number on the scale. Find something—an event, a vacation—that means something to you. That’s where you’re headed. That’s why you’re running or swimming or getting your butt whooped by a boot-camp instructor. That’s why you reach for radishes when you need something to crunch. No, it’s not a finish line in this seemingly never-ending struggle, but it does give you a vision of where you want to go—and a few hints about why you want to get there.

8 Healthy Meal Rituals of Lean Families

There are few things that Americans agree on, but here’s one of them: Eating dinner together as a family is a good idea. And yet, The Walking Dead eat together more often than today’s families. For most of us, getting the whole group together for mealtime is a ritual reserved only for Sunday nights or special occasions. Otherwise, it’s the drive-through gobbled in the car, the takeout snarfed in front of the TV, or the leftovers shoveled down while standing over the sink. And this style of eating is bad for a lot of reasons. Number one among them: Families who eat together stay lean together. In fact, in one study, 80 percent of healthy weight kids ate dinner with their families at the table, compared to 55 percent of overweight kids. Families of overweight kids mostly tend to eat in family rooms, offices or in bedrooms. Set the table for a lifetime of healthy living by setting the table tonight. Use these 8 Eat This, Not That!-approved tactics to fool your kids into eating right—while you lose weight too! (And remember: Better eating all starts at the supermarket—click here to discover the 8 Foods You Should Eat Every Day.)

Healthy Ritual #1 Pass bowls family style. You may think you’re imposing portion control by dishing out servings for your kids, but in fact, you’re robbing them of a very important lesson. When kids serve themselves, they learn to read their own body’s hunger cues, according to a recent study printed in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Children who are given control at the dinner table are also more likely to try new foods, the researchers said.

Healthy Ritual #2 Make the meal last 4 ½ minutes longer. That’s the difference between how long healthy-weight kids spend at the dinner table, and how long overweight kids spend there—18 minutes on average for the slim kids and 13.5 for the heavier ones. That might not make a lot of sense—more time at the table means more time to eat, right? But in fact, eating slower means eating more mindfully, and not shoveling down food in an attempt to get back to whatever else is on your mind. Related: Lose Weight Eating Cheese Fries (and other comfort foods like Mac and Cheese), with this free Cook This, Not That! family recipes app. Learn how to save time, money and calories in just minutes while still eating the foods you love.

Healthy Ritual #3 Leave a little something on the plate. Whether it’s a Clean Plate Club membership drive or castigations about starving kids in Africa, efforts by parents to get their children to eat healthy foods can backfire. In a study of 63 children, Cornell researchers found that those whose parents insisted on clean plates ate 35 percent more of a sweetened cereal later in the day. If kids ate 35 percent more than 1 serving of Froot Loops every day for a year, they’d gain 4 pounds! Rather than forbidding certain foods, set up specific parameters for when treats can be enjoyed.

Healthy Ritual #4 Put away electronics. Say “nevermore” to Evermoor and snap off Snapchat. Parents who let their teens use electronic devices or watch TV during family meals tend to serve less nutritious food and have poorer family communication, a new study by the University of Minnesota suggests. Researchers found families that reported frequent media use at meal times also served up less fresh fruit and vegetables and more sugar-sweetened beverages. In fact, distracted eating is almost as dangerous as distracted driving: A separate study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that distracted eaters consumed 10 percent more in one sitting than they would otherwise. (While you’re sliding that iPad to “off,” also check out these essential Secrets to Losing Weight While You Sleep.)

Healthy Ritual #5 Use smaller bowls and plates. Our eyes always tend to be bigger than our stomachs. A recent Cornell study found bigger bowls (16 oz vs 8 oz) caused children to request 87% more food, and eat 52% more of it, than they would otherwise. And while adults aren’t as susceptible to the visual illusion, research printed in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) found larger bowls caused people to serve and eat an average of 16% more. And with the typical manufacturers’ snack package being 2.5 times bigger than the appropriate amount for young kids, health-conscious parents fight an uphill battle. Control what you can. Keep in mind that restaurant portions—even for kids—are egregiously oversized, so don’t force them to wolf down every last tater tot. Splitting a dish with a sibling is never a bad idea (as long as you ask for two toys). At home, use smaller bowls, plates, and utensils.

Healthy Ritual #6 Ask them if they’re hungry. Researchers at the University of Illinois suggest that asking the right questions can help children listen to important hunger and satiety signals. So acknowledging an empty plate with a question like “Are you full?” or “If you’re hungry, you can have some more,” is more conducive to teaching intuitive eating habits than a simple: “Are you done?” (You’ll also want to question exactly what’s in your food. Start with our latest Eat This, Not That! Lunchtime Special Report: Brand-Name Deli Meats Worse Than Cheetos.)

Healthy Ritual #7 Try all sorts of new foods. Nowadays, kids avoid vegetables like they’re out-of-style sneakers; only one in five of them actually eats enough plant matter. If you want to reverse that trend, a little scheming can go a long way. Research out of England found that giving children a taste of a new vegetable daily for 2 weeks increased their enjoyment and consumption of that food. Giving kids ownership over what they eat is also a powerful play. Turn a trip to the supermarket into a treasure hunt, and let them try to find produce they’ve never eaten before; letting your children choose their vegetables can lead to an 80 percent increase in their consumption. Pick any from this definitive shopping list: The 34 Healthiest Foods for Kids.

Healthy Ritual #8 Set the example, Dad. In less than five years, the percentage of our calories that come from food outside the home has risen to 43 percent—the highest since the USDA began tracking such statistics. Parents’ increasing penchant for restaurant food or delivery can translate to nutritionally unsound decisions by kids. One study laid the heaviest blame on fathers. Researchers at Texas A&M University say dads carry the most influence largely because when they take their kids to, say, Burger King, it’s often as a treat. This enforces the idea that unhealthy eating is positive. Next time it’s Day with Daddy, choose a restaurant without Big Macs. https://www.yahoo.com/health/8-healthy-meal-rituals-of-lean-families-104073575158.html