Working on weight loss? Then you probably want results — fast. However, you really want to lose weight the healthy way! Remember, if a diet plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is.Fad diets and fast plans may have results but the results don’t last. Fad diets also set you up for failure by depriving you of what you want. You can’t eat like that for long, and it’s too likely that you’ll rebel and end up back where you started. You deserve better than that! And you have healthier options you can start on — today!
Remember These Important Facts:
- Calories in/Calories out!
- Some experts believe that successfully managing your weight comes down to a simple equation: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Sounds easy, right? Then why is losing weight so hard?
- A calorie isn’t always a calorie.
- Eating 100 calories of high fructose corn syrup, for example, can have a different effect on your body than eating 100 calories of broccoli. The trick for sustained weight loss is to ditch the foods that are packed with calories but don’t make you feel full (like candy) and replace them with foods that fill you up without being loaded with calories (like vegetables).
- Eating 100 calories of high fructose corn syrup, for example, can have a different effect on your body than eating 100 calories of broccoli. The trick for sustained weight loss is to ditch the foods that are packed with calories but don’t make you feel full (like candy) and replace them with foods that fill you up without being loaded with calories (like vegetables).
Here are a Few Ways to Lose Weight the Healthy Way!
- Control emotional eating
- All too often, we turn to food when we’re stressed or anxious, which can wreck any diet and pack on the pounds. Do you eat when you’re worried, bored, or lonely? Recognizing your emotional eating triggers can make all the difference in your weight-loss efforts. If you eat when you’re:
- Stressed – find healthier ways to calm yourself. Try yoga, meditation, or soaking in a hot bath.
- Low on energy – find other mid-afternoon pick-me-ups. Try walking around the block, listening to energizing music, or taking a short nap.
- Lonely or bored – reach out to others instead of reaching for the refrigerator. Call a friend who makes you laugh, take your dog for a walk, or go to the library, mall, or park—anywhere there’s people.
- All too often, we turn to food when we’re stressed or anxious, which can wreck any diet and pack on the pounds. Do you eat when you’re worried, bored, or lonely? Recognizing your emotional eating triggers can make all the difference in your weight-loss efforts. If you eat when you’re:
- Stay motivated
- Permanent weight loss requires making healthy changes to your lifestyle and food choices. These tips can help you to stay motivated:
- Find a cheering section.
- Social support means a lot. Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to impact weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Seek out support—whether in the form of family, friends, or a support group—to get the encouragement you need.
- Slow and steady wins the race.
- Losing weight too fast can take a toll on your mind and body, making you feel sluggish, drained, and sick. Aim to lose one to two pounds a week so you’re losing fat rather than water and muscle.
- Set goals to keep you motivated.
- Short-term goals, like wanting to fit into a bikini for the summer, usually don’t work as well as wanting to feel more confident or become healthier for your children’s sakes. When temptation strikes, focus on the benefits you’ll reap from being healthier.
- Use tools to track your progress.
- Smartphone apps, fitness trackers, or simply keeping a journal can help you keep track of the food you eat, the calories you burn, and the weight you lose. Seeing the results in black and white can help you stay motivated.
- Get plenty of sleep.
- Lack of sleep stimulates your appetite so you want more food than normal; at the same time, it stops you feeling satisfied, making you want to keep eating. Try to get about eight hours of quality sleep a night.
- • Cut down on sugar and refined carbs
- Whether or not you’re specifically aiming to cut carbs, most of us consume way more sugar and refined carbohydrates than is healthy. Sugar is hidden in foods as diverse as bread, canned soups and vegetables, pasta sauce, margarine, and many foods labelled “low fat” or “no fat.” All this hidden sugar amounts to nothing but a lot of empty calories.
- Take charge of your food environment
- Set yourself up for success by taking charge of your food environment: when you eat, how much you eat, and what foods you make easily available.
- Cook your own meals. Cooking meals at home allows you to control both portion size and what goes in to the food. Restaurant and packaged foods generally contain a lot more sugar, unhealthy fat, and calories than food cooked at home—plus the portion sizes tend to be larger.
- Serve yourself smaller portions. Use small plates, bowls, and cups to make your portions appear larger. Don’t eat out of large bowls or directly from food containers, which makes it difficult to assess how much you’ve eaten.
- Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. You can create your own small portion snacks in plastic bags or containers. Eating on a schedule will help you avoid eating when you aren’t truly hungry.
- Don’t shop for groceries when you’re hungry. Create a shopping list and stick to it. Be especially careful to avoid snack and convenience foods.
- Limit the amount of tempting foods you have at home. If you share a kitchen with non-dieters, store indulgent foods out of sight.
- Maintain moderation:
- No food should be off limits. Studies show that depriving yourself of the foods you love, especially in the name of dieting, may cause you to overeat later. Embrace a delicious and healthy way of eating that you can sustain for your whole life. The bottom line is that maintaining a healthy weight comes down to balancing the amount of calories you eat with the amount you expend during the day. The best way is to reduce portion sizes of unhealthy foods and not eating them as often.
- Eat with good habits:
- Taking your time, eating with others, and timing meals can lead to great benefits.
- Stop eating before you feel full and drink water throughout your meal. It takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body it’s had enough. Drinking water not only slows down eating, but also hydrates your body. Being dehydrated can often make one feel hungry when they are not.
- Enjoy meals together and at a table. When everyone sits down together to eat, there’s less chance of children eating the wrong foods or snacking too much. In addition, you can model healthy eating habits for your kids. Kids and adults often have mindless overeating when eating alone or in front of the TV or computer.
- Time meals so that you always have a healthy breakfast and have small healthy meals throughout the day. Also avoid eating late at night so that you’re eating when you’re in more active times of the day and fast overnight.
- Get moving
- The amount exercise aids weight loss is open to debate, but the benefits go way beyond burning calories. Exercise can increase your metabolism and improve your outlook—and it’s something you can benefit from right now.
- Lack time for a long workout? Research shows that three 10-minute spurts of exercise per day are just as good as one 30-minute workout.
- Remember: anything is better than nothing. Start off slowly with small amounts of physical activity each day. Then, as you start to lose weight and have more energy, you’ll find it easier to become more physically active.
- Find exercise you enjoy. Try walking with a friend, dancing, hiking, cycling, playing Frisbee with a dog, enjoying a pickup game of basketball, or playing activity-based video games with your kids.
Good luck and enjoy losing weight the healthy way!