Tips on how to lose weight for life not just a season
Maintaining a healthy weight can be challenging but the benefits are immense. From feeling more energetic, good and healthier, avoiding the risk of many diet related diseases, there are so many benefits. With our busy schedules, raising children, work and life stresses, many people find it hard to lose weight and keep it off. To make matters worse, the market is flooded with fad diets, supplements, and miracle fixes to help people lose weight. While some of these fast weight loss products may work, their results are only temporary and many people end up regaining their weight
However, the good news is that there are healthy and proven ways of losing weight and keeping it off or good. To lose weight for life, you have to watch what you eat, move more, and chose a healthier lifestyle. Below are the top tips to help you lose those pounds and keep them off, for good
1. Improve your diet
The first step in losing weight for good is maintaining a healthy diet. You can do this by:
Reducing the number of calories you eat. For the success of your weight loss efforts, you need to burn more calories than you are consuming. Calories that don’t get used up by the body are stored as fat for future use. Reduce your intake of sugars, fast foods, and other unhealthy foods
Eat more of the good fats - Studies shows that consuming foods high in monounsaturated fats such as fish, nuts, avocados, and soybeans can help prevent accumulation of fat in the body. Saturated fats and trans-fats found in baked and processed foods tends to lead to make people gain weight
Eat more foods high in fibre - Eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grain foods. Eating foods such as pineapples, and oats with soluble fibre lowers the insulin levels which enhances weight loss
Drink enough water - Water is essential to help remove toxins from the body. The recommended amount of water is around 8 glasses daily
2. Exercise
Follow a workout routine that encourages burning of calories. Some of the best exercises to help you lose weight include:
Cardio – Performing Aerobic exercises such as biking, running, swimming will get your heart pumping and improve weight loss.
Resistance training - Studies indicate that combining cardio with resistance training will enhance the weight loss process.
Other exercises that can help in weight loss include walks, sprinting etc. Just choose a workout routine you are comfortable and passionate about.
If you have any health issues, always talk to a physician for advice on the exercises that are good for you and which ones can worsen your condition. Work out at least 3 times a week for best results
3. Manage stress
Studies show that too much stress is not only bad for health but can actually lead to weight gain. Too much stress results in the production of cortisol - a stress hormone. Cortisol enhances fat production and accumulation in the body. In today’s word it’s almost impossible to be stress free, but it’s important to adopt better stress management methods such as meditation, yoga, getting enough sleep or talking to someone.
4. Get enough sleep
Your body needs around 8 hours of sleep to function properly. As you rest, your body rejuvenates and gets rid of toxins for a healthier you. Make sure to get enough sleep to give your body time to get rid of waste and renew itself. Make sure your body is well rested to improve your weight loss efforts
5. Lifestyle improvement
You would be surprised at the impact a few lifestyle changes can have on your weight. Reduce alcohol, smoking or stop them altogether. Alcohol contains empty calories, which only makes you add weight. If you want to lose weight for life, quitting alcohol and smoking may be steps you may need to take
6. Improve your eating habits
Many people wanting to lose weight think skipping meals will actually help them lose weight. In most cases, this is not the case. When you skip meals, the body sees it as a lack of enough food, which leads to the storage of excess fats for future use. The metabolism slows down and less fat is burnt. To lose weight permanently you need to improve your eating habits. Start the day with a healthy breakfast, eat healthy snacks throughout the day, and don’t skip lunch and dinner. Eating healthy will keep your body energized and will prevent cravings
To lose weight and keep it off, you need to improve your diet, exercise and change your lifestyle. Avoid fad diet, and fast weight loss products as they only lead to temporary weight loss, not to mention the many side effects they come with. To help jumpstart your weight loss you can consider attending a weight loss retreat where you can learn among other things healthy ways to lose weight, how to manage stress how to sleep better, how to stay on track etc. Losing weight comes with many benefits, consider healthy ways to help you lose weight and keep it off for good
