Ask your pharmacist

My New Year’s resolution this year is to lose some weight. What’s the best way to get started for long-term success?

Losing a few kilos if your weight has crept up is a great goal to aim for, as it’s an effective way to help reduce your risk of a number of health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and even some types of cancer. Plus, losing weight can help you manage your type 2 diabetes, if you’ve already been diagnosed.

But, while weight loss is a common New Year’s resolution, it can be hard to maintain motivation after a few weeks, so it’s important to start with small changes, making sure they’re things you can integrate into your current lifestyle. This will help build your confidence in your ability to not only lose weight, but also to keep it off long-term.

A few tips for success include trying to:
Move more. Any type of physical activity is beneficial for helping you to manage your weight. You can even get creative about the type of movement you do – dancing, yoga, gardening and taking the stairs instead of the lift all ‘count’, and make a difference.

Eat more whole foods and fewer processed foods, and drink plenty of water. Bumping up your fibre intake, which is found in cereals, fruits and vegetables, is also a good idea, because high-fibre foods often provide fewer kilojoules per gram, but are typically bulky, and therefore filling.

Meal replacements are a great way to kickstart your weight loss journey, and your TerryWhite Chemmart pharmacist can help you with this.

Find an ‘accountability buddy’ to support you. A friend, family member or even your local TerryWhite Chemmart pharmacist can be a great source of support and encouragement.

Apart from my weight, what other ‘numbers’ should I keep an eye on for my health – and particularly my heart health?

To look after your health, it’s a good idea to look at both measurable health markers and personal goals to help keep you on track.

At TerryWhite Chemmart, our Heart Health Check covers five ‘measures’ – blood pressure, total cholesterol, random blood glucose, Body Mass Index and waist measurement. These provide a baseline of your health risks, which your pharmacist will explain to you.

You should also think about the personal health goals that matter to you and your lifestyle. For example, do you want to have more energy or feel more comfortable in your clothes?

These goals can help you to stay motivated beyond any initial weight loss you achieve.

I’m taking a few different medications, and keep missing doses because I can’t keep track of what to take when. How can I streamline everything?

Remembering to take your medications on time – as well as recalling how to take them, when you’ve been prescribed a few different ones – can be a real challenge. This is where your local TerryWhite Chemmart pharmacist can help.

As well as helping you to understand your medicines, we can provide you with the tools you need to get the most out of your medication. For example, by downloading our Health App, you can see a full list of your medicines and how often to take them, and you’ll also be able to easily order more from your phone, so that they’ll be ready and waiting when you go in to pick them up.