A culture of new beginnings --

A fresh start for students in college but I've always wondered what New Years meant to people who are no longer in college. As students, we see this as the start of a new semester; picking different classes, choosing new organizations to join, but it's different for people outside of college. How do Adults see the New Year? Is the perspective about transformation? A new year meaning a different job, or a different lover? These are just questions that I would like to have answered but here's the actual topic of discussion:

Why change something at the beginning of the Year?

It's simple: if something is needed to be changed then why not just change it now instead of waiting for the year to pass by. Let's say you wanted to lose ten pounds. I can guarantee that losing ten pounds won't happen while you're eating that beautiful cheese filled calzone from the pizzeria down the street. If you want to lose ten pounds, start studying your body, start looking at gym memberships, start being more active in general.

It's amazing how much people fail to realize the potential they have in their own bodies. We teach our kids during their prime educational years about how to make chemical reactions, or how to analyze a text, but we don't teach them the practical basics. People at the age of 22 still don't know how to do taxes, and they don't know the major differences in their foods. Yes, junk food is bad and people realize that, but people aren't educated in what it actually does to the body and the mind.

Back to the calzone.

That calzone you just ate was one-fourth of a gym membership and as tasty as it was, there's always going to be more calzones waiting to be eaten. Just think, if you're eating a calzone now, and you ate a calzone last week and so on, then there's two signs.

The first one being that you really like calzones, but the second point being that the calzone that you just ordered for the third time this month will not go away. Your favorite pizzeria will not stop making calzones, and if somehow they were to go out of business in the next month; then I can guarantee that there's another pizza place five miles down the road selling better cal-zones.

This is just an example, but you can apply the situation to anything.

The point being is that businesses will tell you "Limited time only!" Yet, the product comes out every year at the same time. It was never limited, they just make it a specialty item for two months or so. Christmas season just passed and during the holidays, Starbucks offers a Peppermint drink, but did you know that you can order that drink anytime of the year? All one has to do is ask for the Peppermint drink when they order, and the Baristas will have the flavorings on deck, it's just no longer a "specialty item."

Again, it's all marketing to make a profit and I'm not arguing against it; because it's necessary for businesses to survive in a competitive market, but it all revolves around your goals. If you truly do not want to lose ten pounds, then don't. You can eat that calzone and drink that Peppermint latte all you want and live happily.

But,

If you want to lose ten pounds during the New Year here's some tips to help you out.

1. Write down your goals.

The moment you write your goals down, you can then web out how you will achieve your goal. It makes remembering the goal and how to achieve it easy. Also, it's like taking notes in class, the more you write it down, the more you'll remember.

2. Make smarter choices.

As stated, the calzone will be there after you lose ten pounds. I'm also not saying that you have to stop eating foods you like. What makes people gain weight is portion control. We don't monitor what we eat, and we don't weight it. It's essential to know how much of the food is actually going into your body.

I love peanut butter, but it's super fatty and calorically dense. I know I can take a jar of peanut butter down in my spare time, but I want to enjoy that peanut butter all the way up till the next payday; peanut butter is expensive. One serving of peanut butter is simply a spoonful and it says that on the labeling. The calzone that you're eating is actually portioned for three people. Meaning that you're eating three people's worth of food. Cut the food into portions of three, eat one portion and save the rest for the next two days. You save money, plus you can enjoy the calzone longer.

3. Drink water with your meals.

Stay away from sugary drinks, 0 calorie sodas, and fruit juices. These drinks either make you crave more sugar, or they add on to the meal ten fold. If I was eating a donut, not only am I in-taking the donut itself but now there's an unnecessary excess in sugar coming from the soda that I'm drinking with it. Spiking my insulin so much so that my brain is going numb, and the only thing I want more of is sugar.

As you eat more sugar, your body instinctively says that it wants more. Back in the old days, people never got sugar, so when they did their body would store it. Thus, creating "more space" in your stomach, leading to major weight gain, bloating in the mid-section, and an appetite that wasn't satiated. We live in a world where sugar is everywhere, but our instincts are still there. It's a lose-lose situation unless you make smarter choices and drink more water. Water will fill you up while you eat. It's natural, clean, and cheap if not free.

Sugar is essentially a drug, but media outlets will tell you it's the best drug around. They don't tell you the side effects (weight gain, loss of motivation) because all they want is the money from your pocket. What's the best way to do that? Advertisements starting at the youngest age possible, but that's a topic for another time.

Happy New Years.

Stop Wishing and Start Doing.