It is natural that anyone who wants to lose weight wants to do so quickly. However, studies show that those who lose weight gradually and steadily do better at keeping it off. Following a diet or exercise program won’t help you lose weight in a healthy way. It is a way of life that combines regular exercise and a balanced diet.
Once you’ve attained a healthy weight, you can rely on good eating habits and regular exercise to help you keep it off.
Losing weight is difficult and requires dedication. But if you’re ready to get started, we offer a step-by-step guide to help you on the path to weight loss and better health.
Even moderate weight loss can have significant benefits.
The good news is that no matter what your weight-loss target is. Even a small amount of weight loss, such as 5–10% of your total body weight, is expected to have positive health effects, such as lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels.
For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, a 5% weight loss equals 10 pounds, bringing your weight down to 190 pounds. While this weight is still considered overweight or obese, this moderate drop may reduce your risk factors for obesity-related chronic diseases.
Despite the size of the overall objective, consider it more like a path to follow than a destination. You’ll be suitable to acquire new eating and physical exertion habits that will help you lead a healthier life. These new routines can assist you in maintaining the weight you gradually lose.
The healthy best way to lose weight Getting Started
To lose weight it takes further than just the desire to lose weight. It’s necessary to commit and have a well-allowed plan. This is a step-by-step companion of what you can do to get started.
Step 1 Commit.
Making the decision to lose weight, change your life, and become healthier is a big step. Start exclusively by making a commitment to yourself. Many people find it simple to express their commitment in writing.
This contract may include effects like the quantum of weight you want to lose, the date you want to have lost it, healthy changes you’ll make to borrow healthy eating habits, and a plan for regular physical exercise.
It’s also helpful to list the reasons why you want to lose weight. It could be that your family has a history of heart disorder because you want to see your children get married, or simply because you want to look better in your clothes. Post these reasons as a day-to-day reminder of your reasons for change.
Step 2: Discover your reality.
See your healthcare provider for an evaluation of your weight, height, and weight-related threat factors. Make a follow-up appointment to cover changes in your weight or health-related situations.
Keep a food daybook for many days, where you write down everything you eat. This daybook allows you to be more conscious of what you eat and when. By being conscious of this you can avoid careless eating. Next, take a look at your current life. Identify obstacles that may hamper your weight loss efforts.
For example, does your work schedule or trip help you from getting enough physical exercise? Do you tend to eat foods high in sugar because that is what you buy for your children? Do your associates frequently bring high-calorie foods like donuts to participate? Suppose what you can do to overcome these challenges.
Step 3: Set realistic targets to lose weight.
Set some short-term targets and award your efforts throughout the process. However, you can set short-term eating and physical exercise targets like starting to eat breakfast, and walking 15 twinkles in the evening, if your long-term goal is to reduce 40 pounds while still controlling your high blood pressure.
Focus on two or three targets at a time for losing weight. The most effective targets are
- Concrete
- Realistic
- Understanding (we aren’t perfect)
For example, “exercise more” is not a goal that is clear. But if you say, “I am going to walk 15 minutes, 3 days a week, in the first week,” you are setting yourself a concrete and realistic target for the first week.
Keep in mind that making simple improvements every day will eventually have significant effects. Also, remember that realistic targets are achievable targets. By reaching short-term targets day by day, you feel good about your progress and are motivated to continue. Setting unrealistic targets, like losing 20 pounds in 2 weeks, brings feelings of defeat and frustration.
Being realistic also means knowing that there may be reversals. Setbacks happen when you go off plan for any reason, similar to vacations, working longer hours, or going through another life change.
When you witness a reversal, try to renew your plan as soon as possible. Also, take some time to suppose about what you would do else if faced with a similar situation, to avoid reversals.
Remember everyone is unique; what works for one person may not work for another. Even if your neighbor loses weight only by running. This does not mean that running is the best way for you to lose weight.
Try to do a variety of physical exercises that you enjoy the most and that are compatible with your life, similar to walking, swimming, playing tennis, or taking group activity classes. You will find it easier to continue doing these activities in the long term.
Step 4: Identify information and support resources.
Seek support from family and friends in your efforts to lose weight. You’ll find it easier to make life changes if you have people you can speak to and who can support you. Maybe you have co-workers or neighbors with similar goals, and together you can share recipes and come up with a group exercise plan.
Joining a weight-loss support group or seeing a health expert, such as a qualified dietitian, may also be beneficial. Health care providers, if they feel it is indicated, can give you more information about medications, devices, or even surgery to help you manage your weight.
Step 5: Keep track of your weight-loss progress.
Review the targets you set for yourself (in Step 3) and assess your progress on a regular basis. If you’ve made it a goal to walk every morning but find it hard to walk before work, consider changing your work schedule or trying to go for a walk at lunchtime or after work to estimate which zone of your plan is working well and which needs accommodation. Then rewrite your goals and plan based on this assessment.
However, keep adding targets to stay on the path to success, if you’re constantly achieving your weight loss targets.
Reward your achievements! Value your achievements and take pride in your progress. Use non-food-related rewards as incentives, such as giving yourself a bouquet of fresh flowers, going out with friends to play sports, or taking a relaxing soak in the tub. Impulses keep you motivated on your path to good health.
How to Improve Your Eating Habits to lose weight
Many of us have developed habits as to how we eat. Some habits are good (“I always eat fruit for sweetness”), and some aren’t so good (“I always have a sugary drink after work as a price”). Even if you’ve had the same eating habits for years, it’s not too late to improve them.
Unexpected and radical changes in eating habits, similar to eating nothing but cabbage soup, can lead to short-term weight loss. But these exaggerated changes are not healthy or good and will not help in the long run. To permanently improve eating habits, a Reflect, Replace, and Reinforce approach is needed.
- REFLECT all of your eating habits, both good and bad, as well as the things that trigger unhealthy eating.
- REPLACE your unhealthy eating habits with healthier bones.
- REINFORCE your new eating habits.
Reflect:
Make a list of your eating habits.
Keeping a “food diary” for a few days, where you write down everything you eat and the time you eat. It will help you figure out your habits for losing weight.
For example, it may be that you always want something sweet when you feel a drop in energy in the middle of the afternoon. Use My Food and Drink Diary to create the list. It’s good to write down how she felt when she decided to eat, especially if she wasn’t hungry. Was he tired or stressed?
Underline the habits
on the list that is causing you to eat more than you need to underline the habits. Eating habits that can often lead to weight gain are:
- Eat very fast
- Eat everything on the plate
- Eating when not hungry
- Eating standing up (may cause you to eat without thinking about what you are eating or very quickly)
- Always eat dessert
- Skipping meals (or just breakfast)
Review the unhealthy eating habits
You’ve to highlight unhealthy eating habits. Be sure to identify all the factors that spark those habits. Identify a few that you will try to change first.
Don’t stop congratulating yourself for the things you do well. Maybe he almost always eats fruit for dessert or drinks low-fat or skim milk. These are good habits! Recognizing your achievements will motivate you to make more changes.
Make a list of “triggers”
By reviewing your food journal, you will become more aware of where and when “triggers” arise for eating without feeling hungry. Write down how you usually feel at those times. Often, an environmental “trigger” or a particular state of mind is what prompts us to eat without feeling hungry.
Common reasons why people eat when they are not hungry include:
- Open a box and find your favorite snack.
- Sitting at home to watch TV.
- Before or after a meeting or a stressful situation at work.
- Coming home from work and not knowing what to eat
- Have someone offer you a dish they made “just for you!”
- Pass in front of a sweet dish at a counter.
- Sit in the lunchroom at work near the vending machine for sweets or snacks.
- See a plate of donuts in the morning during a work meeting.
- Going to the drive-thru of your favorite fast food restaurant every morning.
- Feeling bored or tired and thinking that eating something will cheer you up.
Circle the “triggers” from the list that you face on a daily or weekly basis.
Gathering with your family for Thanksgiving can be a “trigger” to overeat. It would be good if you had a plan ready to counteract these factors. But for now, focus on the ones you have most often.
Ask yourself the following for each “trigger” factor you have circled:
Is there anything I can do to avoid this situation or trigger it? This option works best with triggers that are unique from one another. For example, could you take a different route to work to avoid stopping at your favorite fast-food restaurant? Is there another place in the lunchroom at work where you can sit that is not near the vending machine?
Of the things I can’t avoid, can I do something else that is healthier?
Obviously, you can’t avoid all situations that trigger unhealthy eating habits, like work meetings. Under these circumstances, consider your options. Could you provide ideas for healthy snacks and drinks?
To divert your focus from those snacks, may you offer to take notes? Could you move your seat farther from the food so you can’t easily take something? Before the meeting, might I please have a nutritious snack?
Replace:
- Replace unhealthy habits with new healthy habits: For example, when you reflect on your eating habits, you may find that you eat too fast when you are alone.
- To counteract this, agree to have lunch weekly with a coworker or have a neighbor over for dinner one night a week. Other strategies may include placing silverware on the saucer between bites or minimizing other distractions (such as watching the news at dinner) where we are unable to pay attention to the time it takes to eat or the amount of food.
Here are some more ideas for replacing bad habits in order to lose weight:
- Eat slower: If you eat too quickly, you may finish all the food on your plate without realizing that you’ve already had your fill.
- Eat only when you are truly hungry: rather than because you are tired, upset, or in any other mood. If you find that you’re not eating because you’re hungry but because you’re bored or anxious, start doing something else that doesn’t involve eating. You may feel better with a brisk walk or by calling a friend on the phone.
- Plan meals ahead: of time to ensure they are healthy and well-balanced
Reinforce:
Support your new healthy habits and be patient with yourself. Habits are formed over time, they aren’t borrowed overnight.
When you see yourself engaging in an unhealthy habit, stop quickly and ask yourself: Why am I doing this?” When did I start doing it? What do I need to change?
Don’t be too hard on yourself or think that one mistake will ruin a whole day of healthy habits. You can do it! You can do it one day at a time!
How to avoid regaining weight loss
If you have recently lost excess weight, congratulations! This achievement will likely benefit your present and future health. Now that you’ve lost weight, let’s talk about some ways to keep it off.
The following tips reflect common characteristics of people who have been able to lose weight without gaining it back over time.
Take care of your diet in order to lose weight.
- Follow a realistic, healthy eating pattern: You have started a healthy lifestyle, and now the challenge is to maintain the positive eating habits you adopted along the way. In studies of people who lost weight and kept it off for at least a year, most continued to eat a diet that was lower in calories compared to what they ate before dieting.
- Keep your eating patterns consistent: Stick to a healthy eating pattern regardless of changes in your routine. Plan ahead for weekends, leaves, and special occasions. By having a plan, you’re more likely to have healthy foods on hand when your routine changes.
- Eat breakfast every day: Eating breakfast is a common practice for people who have lost weight and have not regained it. A healthy breakfast can help you avoid building up hunger and overeating later.
Stay active
- Get physical activity every day: People who have lost weight and kept it off generally spend 60 to 90 minutes doing moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week and don’t consume more calories than they need.
This does not necessarily mean 60 to 90 minutes in a single session. It can be 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity, three times a day. For example, brisk walking in the morning, at lunchtime, and at night. Some people may need to check with their doctor before engaging in this level of physical activity.
Hold your course
- Watch your eating and activity: Keeping a journal of your food and physical activity can help track your progress and spot trends. For example, you may notice that your weight increases during periods when you travel a lot for work or when you have to work overtime. Recognizing this tendency may prompt you to try other behaviors, such as taking your own healthy meals for the plane or finding some time to exercise at the hotel gym. If you work overtime, during breaks you can take short walks around the building.
- Watch your weight: Check your weight regularly. To manage weight loss, it’s a good idea to keep track of your weight in order to plan and adjust your exercise and eating plan as needed. If you have gained a few pounds, you can correct this trend quickly.
- Seek support from family, friends, and others: People who have successfully lost weight and kept it off often rely on the support of others to stay on course and overcome setbacks. Sometimes having a friend or partner who is also losing weight or trying to maintain their new weight can help you stay motivated.
Conclusions
In conclusion, losing weight in a healthy way is crucial for long-term success and overall well-being. Crash diets or extreme weight loss methods may provide quick results but can be harmful to the body and may result in a rebound effect. To achieve sustainable weight loss, one must adopt healthy lifestyle habits, including a balanced diet, regular exercise, and proper sleep hygiene. It’s important to focus on making gradual, realistic changes and to seek support from healthcare professionals, family, and friends. Maintaining a positive attitude and being patient with the process is also key. With dedication and consistency, healthy weight loss is achievable, leading to improved physical health, mental health, and overall quality of life.
