It really is possible to quit smoking and maintain a healthy weight. Here are some things you can do *

• One thing at a time * Quitting smoking is enough of a challenge. Don’t try to diet at the same time. Instead, choose healthy foods, and eat actual meals, and watch your portion size.
• Keep a food diary * Write down what you eat every day, when you eat it, and how much you eat. It will help you avoid over-eating.
• Reward yourself * Spend the money you’ve saved on cigarettes on something special for yourself – but not food. Jewelry, a massage, a new outfit, a magazine subscription you’ve been wanting, tickets to a play – anything (but food) that makes you feel special.
• Get moving * Yes, we say it a lot, but it helps with not smoking. Exercise increases your metabolic rate, too, helping with weight maintenance. And it’s really good for your heart and lungs as they start to repair from the damage of smoking.
• Nicotine replacement * Check with your health care provider to see whether replacement therapies might work for you. After ending these therapies, be prepared to focus more on weight management.
• Eat smart * When you feel the urge to smoke, it will probably be between meals. Choose foods that are low in calories and fat but high in density (fiber and complex carbs), so you feel full without eating too much. Fresh fruit, raw veggies, and popcorn all fit. Skip all the processed snack foods and chemical-laden beverages. Drink water.
• Skip alcohol * It’s full of calories, but contains no nutrients, so it’s not doing you any favors in the weight maintenance department. Most smokers associate drinking with smoking, so the desire to smoke may be higher. And finally, alcohol affects your decision-making ability – you may not be able to stick to your goals. Why put yourself in a situation where you’re likely to relapse?
• Stay busy * Changing the behaviors you associate with smoking can be really difficult. Don’t hang around the table after you eat – clean up the kitchen and then get started on a project. Find something you can do with your hands while you’re on the phone – like cleaning out the silverware drawer, or your inbox at work. Start knitting or woodworking or some other hobby that uses your hands. If they’re busy, they won’t be looking to hold a cigarette.

Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day of food consumption, behind only Thanksgiving.

~ American Institute of Food Distribution

Six percent of Americans will call in sick the day after Super Bowl Sunday.

~ Dayton Daily News

The lesson? Pay attention to what, and how much, you eat on Super Bowl Sunday.

• Choose healthy options.
• Eat normal (not restaurant) portions.
• Choose one quarter of the game for “meal time” and don’t eat for the other three quarters.

Remember you’re with other people, and use your energy interacting with them, not with the buffet table.

And if you need a little guilt for motivation, think about the people who don’t have all that food available to them. Make a donation to your local food shelf or soup kitchen this week – maybe the amount of money you spent on Super Bowl food, or the weight of the food on your buffet table.

The CORE CLASS – Getting to the Heart of THM

This class will focus on using your personal strengths to help you succeed with your Total Health Makeover.

Online classes at Marilu.com offer you *

• Marilu Henner’s daily plan for your personal goals and priorities…
• Access to Marilu’s proven meal plan that works…
• Support for your exercise program…
• Live chats with Marilu…
• Ideas and tips for improving every aspect of your life…
• An expert coach who will be in touch with you every day…
• A community of friends who are doing the program right along with you…
• Don’t wait… make sure you’re signed up for Marilu’s new online class today!

You’re never too old to get healthy and to feel better than you do right now.

~ Marilu Henner

Life is a continuous process improvement program. Every day is an opportunity to feel better and be healthier than you were yesterday. Never give up on that daily opportunity – no matter how old (or young) you are, no matter what health challenges you’re facing. Choose to do better today than you did yesterday.

Start your day off right – and fit everything in with a simple routine. If you’re confused about how to fit in dry skin brushing, this morning jumpstart will help you understand it.

The night before *

• Check your calendar for tomorrow.
• Select your clothes for tomorrow based on your calendar. Lay them out.
• Select your workout clothes for tomorrow. Put them in the bathroom.
• Wash and moisturize your face!
• Drink a glass of water.

In the morning *

• Drink a glass of water.
• Skin brush.
• Put on those very convenient workout clothes before you talk yourself out of exercise.
• Work out!
• Shower and dress for the day.

The important thing to remember with portion size is that you have to listen to your body – but not the body that’s been created by emotional eating, your actual physical body.

Some portions on recipes are going to be too small or too large for you. Even if there’s food left over, that’s okay. When you’re full, stop eating. Save the leftover food for a snack in 2 hours, or save it for another meal.

If you’re eating consciously – paying attention to how the food tastes and smells and feels, chewing each bite thoroughly, and listening to your body’s response – you’ll know when to stop. As a guide, remember that your stomach is about the size of your fist. How many “fists” are on your plate?

How many times have you gone on some diet?
How many times have you lost the same weight over and over again?
How many times after gaining back the weight you lost did you look for a new diet?

We know how to get there.
We know how to go on some program short-term. (It’s a whole industry, and it’s everywhere.)
But Marilu and the Total Health Makeover® is not a short-term program that will “fix” you so you can do it all again. We’re not about losing those extra pounds and then going back to the old ways. That’s “getting there.” It’s a never-ending cycle, and it’s not good for your body or your mind.

What Marilu does – and what we support here at Marilu.com with our online classes and coaching – is focus on what it takes to stay there. The only way to stay there is to get there with something that works as part of your life, that gives you health and energy. It’s not just losing weight. It’s the process that counts, because that’s what’s going to help you stay there. Your health is a lifetime commitment, not a quick-fix plan.

Join us at Marilu.com for the next online class, starting Monday, January 3rd. “Get there” in a way that helps you “stay there.”

Take some time this week to look back on the year. You might want to write the answers to these questions (and more) in a journal. Really think about what was important to you, and what you want to carry forward – or leave behind.

• What were your Top 10 highlights?
• Who do you want to keep in your life? Who have you outgrown?
• Whom do you need to forgive?
• Where did you find beauty?
• How did you contribute to your community? The world?
• What are you proud of at work? At home?
• What goals did you set for yourself in 2010? Did you meet them?
• What obstacles did you face? How did you handle them?

The worst thing you can do during the holidays is starve yourself all day in preparation for pigging out at dinner or a party. It’s a common practice, but not a healthy one. In fact, it may be the best way to pack on the pounds and store more fat!

Instead, pace yourself and have small meals throughout the day so that your metabolism is regulated and balanced. If you’re famished when you arrive at a party or at the dinner table, the food becomes nothing more than gut-fill, and you pay no attention to what you’re eating and how you’re chewing and digesting. Your brain (always twenty minutes behind your stomach) finds out much too late that you’re stuffed.

Small meals throughout the day mean a healthier holiday.

Yes, treat yourself like a child – or rather, do for yourself what you would do for a child.

• Use positive words * You wouldn’t trash talk a child, and you don’t deserve to hear that from yourself either. Be kind and supportive in the words you speak to yourself.
• Feed yourself well * You wouldn’t give a child cookies and candy all day, just because it’s “treat day” at school. You’d still require balanced meals made with whole foods. You need those balanced meals, too.
• Drink water * You wouldn’t allow a child to drink soda all day, and it won’t do you any good either (and neither will a lot of coffee). Just as you’d have a child drink water through the day, you can drink water through the day.
• Dress for the weather * Yes, we know the fashionistas want to look good, but if your weather is cold or wet, you need to dress for it. There’s no shame in warm clothing if it keeps you from getting sick.
• Play – outside if you can * Fresh air and activity are good for children, and they’re good for you, too. Take time to relax, run around, throw a snowball, build a snowman, or play a game.
• Get a good night’s sleep * We all know children get cranky when they don’t get enough sleep. Make sure you avoid a cranky attitude (and poor decisions) by going to bed at a decent hour and getting a good night’s sleep.