Starting The New Year With A New Diet
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- While his beloved eagles are ending their season, AJ Silver is starting his, resolving this new year to tackle some weight, hoping to get fit like Rocky on the Art Museum steps.
"It's pretty hard always get caught up going to Jim's Cheese Steaks, 5 or 20 and then 30 ponds over what I'm supposed to be," Silver said.
Time to shape up for the new year, even in the rain, folks were out on Kelly Drive, many with the popular resolution to lose weight.
Dr. Gary Foster, Temple's Center for Obesity Research & Education said it's best to take it slow.
"The idea is to take it one step at a time. If you do a total makeover of everything you eat and how you move, it's really going to be difficult to sustain."
So, if you've vowed to take a break from Terminis, those delicious canoli's and cookies, the diet experts at Temple say a daily food journal is helpful.
"Keep track of a couple things, one is what you eat and how much you eat. And from that you can get calories or carbs or fat."
Foster said to watch out for empty calories.
"Think about fruit punches, iced tea, all of those things have lots of calories. And the body doesn't process liquids like it does solids, so that's a very easy fix."
Experts say while exercise is important, weight loss is mostly related.
"Let's get the message straight, physical activity is incredibly important. It's great for fitness, great for health, great for reducing the risk of diabetes, but doing more activity this week rather than last week won't increase the amount of weight that you lose."
