It is estimated that more than 94 million people in the United States are suffering from obesity. There are many serious health issues that can worsen if you are suffering from obesity or have excess body weight. These conditions include hypertension, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Many choose crash diets as a means to shed excess weight, although they are not sustainable. The best way to lose weight safely is to have lifestyle changes in a gradual and permanent manner. Discussed below are a few beneficial changes you can make to your lifestyle to help lose excess weight.
Eat Nutritious Food
Your primary diet should consist of healthy meals and snacks. The best way to make your meals healthy is to ensure that each meal is made up of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protein in adequate amounts. At least 50% of the entire meal should be vegetables and fruits, while the total intake of fiber should be within 25 to 30 grams every day. You should include foods such as nuts, seeds, fish, legumes, brown rice, and oatmeal in your daily diet.
Saturated fats have a strong link with coronary heart disease so you should minimize saturated fats in your diet. The same goes for trans fats, which you should totally avoid. Food to generally avoid include bagels, white bread, processed red meat, or any food with added oil, sugar, and butter. Rather, you should include unsaturated fats in your diets such as polyunsaturated fatty acids or monounsaturated fatty acids.
There are a number of supplements that aid in the weight loss process. You can check out BioFit supplements among others as a solid weight loss aid.
Keep a Diary for Your Weight and Food Intake
An important factor for weight loss is monitoring your daily activities. You can record all items that you consume each day using a mobile app, a dedicated website, or simply a paper diary. You also need to measure your weight on a weekly basis to mark your progress. Being able to track and identify your success by measuring the physical changes in small increments will help you to identify and stick to a weight loss regimen.
You can also use a BMI calculator to track your body mass index. Food intake and specific diets will differ in individual cases depending on requirements. So, it is advised to consult a nutritionist to set up a diet for your specific needs.
Exercise Regularly
It also helps to be aware of exercises that will enhance particular aspects of the male and female anatomy. Women can, for instance, perform Kegel exercises to build stronger and tighter vaginal muscles for easier labor, better bladder control, and a quicker recovery after childbirth.
Both your physical and mental health can be positively affected by regular exercise. Successful weight loss is accredited to bringing up the frequency of your daily physical activity in a purposeful and disciplined way. You can take up brisk walking for an hour every day. If you cannot manage an hour every day, the Mayoclinic suggests you should at least aim for 150 minutes minimum every week.
If you are not a physically active person, you should gradually increase the amount of daily exercise, and slowly increase the intensity as well. This is the perfect way to incorporate regular exercise into your daily routine. Tracking your physical activity also psychologically helps you to lose weight. There are plenty of mobile apps that help you record food intake and exercise.
A full workout may seem daunting to a beginner, so they can start off by doing activities such as raking leaves, gardening, dancing, walking the dog, taking the stairs, and playing outdoor games to help increase their exercise levels. If you are not prone to coronary heart disease then you are less likely to require a medical assessment before starting on any particular exercise regimen. However, it is advised to consult a healthcare professional if you are unsure about what levels of exercise will be safe for you.
Watch What You Eat
If you are watching what you eat, how you eat it, when and where you eat, you will definitely benefit by becoming more mindful of what you are eating. It’s also advised to savor the taste of your food by eating slowly. Your body can register all the signals for satiety if you can make your meal last for at least 20 minutes. Instead of focusing on becoming full, you should focus on being satisfied at the end of the meal.
Plan Your Meals Ahead of Time
You can easily achieve your weight loss goals if you stock your kitchen with foods that are diet-friendly and create a meal plan that is well-structured. You have to have ingredients that will allow you to easily prepare healthy meals and you must keep your kitchen clear of processed or junk food. This way, you will be able to avoid unplanned, quick, and impulsive eating. You can make the weight loss process easier by planning ahead what you will eat at restaurants at social events.
Keep a Positive Outlook
You must realize that weight loss is not going to happen overnight as it is a gradual process. Hence, you must not feel discouraged if you don’t see the results as quickly as you anticipated. It is logical that there will be harder days than others when you are sticking to a weight maintenance program. You need to be committed to the program in order for it to be successful. Don’t give up if you feel that it is too difficult for you to carry on.
You might also need to adjust your calorie intake or patterns of exercise according to your threshold and overall progress. You just need to keep a positive outlook towards the whole program and be persistent. Staying positive is the easiest way to overcome the barriers towards achieving your weight loss goals.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, maintaining a healthy weight loss regimen takes commitment. There will always be special occasions when you will take a break, but you should be mindful not to stray too far. It is important not to lose focus, and to stay committed to the adopted lifestyle changes in the long term. So, in order to lose weight and keep it off, you must be conscious of what food you are putting in your body and get daily physical activity done. Best of luck to you!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
