As we approach the holiday season, I want to take a moment to express my thanks for those who supported us throughout the year. Special thanks goes to Caroline O’Halloran of Savvy MainLine who has shared various stories about Lifestyle Changes and our continued expansion in medical weight loss and corporate wellness.
To better prepare you for how to maintain a healthy weight and mindset this holiday season, we hope you will enjoy the below tips found in the most recent edition of Savvy MainLine.
Yours in health,
Dr. Janine Darby, Founder, Lifestyle Changes
With cookie swaps, office parties, girls nights and family get-togethers, the holidays can seem like one big fat fest.
How to stay on the straight and narrow?
- According to the area’s premier weight-loss physician/counselor, Dr. Janine Darby, MD, you need to plan ahead. Among Dr. Darby’s top tips for avoiding holiday weight gain:
- Game plan your trigger foods. If you can’t resist pumpkin pie, promise yourself you’ll take just a sliver. If you have a soft spot for sweet potato casserole, vow to take just one tablespoon. Tell yourself a small portion will satisfy you.
- Keep a food diary. Your trusty, nonjudgmental food log will show your pitfalls in black and white and inform wiser choices in future. It will keep you accountable.
- Fill your party plate with vegetables. Instead of one-third veg, one third starchy carb, one third protein, go two-thirds veg and one-third protein. And no poured-over cheese sauces or creamy dressings; a little dip will do ya.
- Drink a glass of water and eat a high-protein snack before you go. Try Greek yogurt, a handful of nuts, a hard-boiled egg. Train yourself to choose protein over the carby dinner rolls and yam casserole.
- Drink smart. Champagne has fewer calories than wine, which has fewer calories than fruit-juice cocktails. A vodka/club soda has negligible calories. Walk into the party knowing you’ll have just one, then switch to a fizzy water.
- Instead of a drinking buddy, enlist an “accountability partner” to keep you honest. Find someone going to the same gathering, share your food goals and rules in advance, and tell her to give you the stink eye if you start giving in to temptation.
- And finally, start moving. No excuses. Make the time – at least 30 minutes a day to move alone or with friends. Find what you love – power walks, dancing, yoga – and just do it already.
Dr. Janine Darby, MD, (right) walks with Dawn Murray, a patient with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome who shed 20 pounds in three months under Darby’s customized weight-loss program. Darby is board-certified in both Family and Obesity Medicine.
Great tips, right? But what if you need a little more handholding? OK, a lot more handholding?
Consider signing on for three months with Dr. Darby, who’s board-certified in both family and obesity medicine. She’ll do a comprehensive evaluation of your medical history and lifestyle, then create a meal plan and program customized to your body and situation.
Because she’s an MD, she can tweak meds and prescribe a stimulant to kickstart your metabolism. She can suggest supplements to balance hormones and support the sleep that’s vital to weight loss. She can identify and tackle underlying illnesses and psychosocial stressors that keep the pounds on. “I don’t just look at the person for weight loss, I look at the whole picture.”
A patient on steroids who couldn’t lose more than 10 pounds has lost 25 and counting with Darby. Another patient with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is down 20 pounds in three months. Lab tests on a third patient revealed an autoimmune disease that was keeping the weight on. “If you go to any other program, no one would ever know that,” Darby says. Many of her patients are physicians and nurses who trust her background in obesity medicine.
Work with Dr. Darby and you won’t even need to leave your house. She sees patients via secured video chat, monitors patient vitals via smartphone, and makes house calls as needed.
As written by Caroline O’Halloran of Savvy Mainline
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