How to lose weight and maintain weight loss
There is a better way to lose weight. These diet tips can help you avoid diet pitfalls and achieve lasting weight loss success.
What is the best diet for healthy weight loss?
Weight loss : Pick any diet book and it will say it has all the answers to successfully losing all the weight you want and keeping it off. Some people claim that the key is to eat less and exercise more, others believe that a low-fat diet is the only solution, while others call for reduced carbohydrates. What should you believe?
The truth is that there is no “one size fits all” solution to lose weight permanently and healthily. What works for one person may not work for you because our bodies respond to different foods differently, depending on genetics and other health factors. Finding the right weight loss method for you will likely take time and require patience, commitment, and some experimentation with different foods and diets.
While some people respond well to calorie count or similar restrictive methods, others respond better if they have more freedom to plan their weight loss programs. Having the freedom to simply avoid fried foods or cut back on refined carbs can set you up for success. So don’t be discouraged if a diet that worked for someone else doesn’t work for you. And don’t blame yourself if the diet is too restrictive for you to stick with. Ultimately, a diet is only right for you if you can maintain it over time.
Remember, there is no easy way to lose weight, but there are many steps you can take to build a healthier relationship with food, curb the emotional triggers of overeating and achieve a healthy lifestyle. healthy weight.
Four popular weight loss strategies.Cut calories
1. Cut calories
Some experts believe that good weight management can come down to a simple equation: if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Sounds simple, right? So why is losing weight so difficult?
- Weight loss is not a linear event over time.. For example, when cutting calories, you can lose weight in the first few weeks and then change. You ate the same number of calories, but either lost weight or you did not lose weight. This is because after losing weight, water, lean tissue and fat are reduced, metabolism slows down and other changes have taken place in the body. So, to keep losing weight every week, you need to keep cutting calories.
- Calories are not always calories. For example, eating 100 calories of high fructose corn syrup and 100 calories of broccoli can have different effects on your body. The trick to sustainable weight loss is to throw out foods that are high in calories but don’t fill them (like sweets) and replace them with foods that don’t fill you with calories (like vegetables).
- Many of us don’t always eat to satisfy our hunger. We also use food to reduce comfort or stress, which can disrupt any weight loss program.
2. Cut carbs
Another way of looking at weight loss identifies the problem not as excessive calorie consumption, but rather as the way the body accumulates fat after consuming carbohydrates, specifically the role of the hormone insulin. When you eat, carbohydrates from food enter your bloodstream like glucose. To control blood sugar, your body always burns this glucose before you burn fat from a meal.
If you eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates (too much pasta, rice, bread, or chips, for example), your body releases insulin to help move all that glucose into your blood. In addition to regulating blood sugar, insulin does two things: it stops fat cells from releasing fat that the body burns for fuel (because its priority is to burn Glucose) and create more fat cells to store everything what your body needs. the body cannot be burnt. As a result, you gain weight, and your body now needs more fuel to burn, so you eat more. Since insulin only burns carbohydrates, you crave carbohydrates and therefore start a vicious cycle of consuming carbohydrates and gaining weight. To lose weight, according to the reasoning, you have to break this cycle by reducing carbohydrates.
Most low-carb diets recommend replacing carbohydrates with protein and fat, which can have long-term negative effects on your health. If you are trying a low-carb diet, you can lower your risk and limit your intake of saturated and trans fats by choosing lean meats, fish, and vegetarian sources of protein, low-fat dairy products, and consuming lots of fat. green foods without fat. – Vegetables with starch.
3. Cut fat
It’s the backbone of many diets: if you don’t want to gain weight, don’t eat fat. Walk down any supermarket aisle and you’ll be bombarded with low-fat snacks, dairy, and packaged meals. But as our low fat options have exploded, obesity rates have exploded as well. So why haven’t low fat diets worked for more of us?
- Not all fats are bad. Healthy or “good” fats can really help you control your weight, control your mood, and fight fatigue. The unsaturated fats found in avocados, nuts, seeds, soy milk, tofu, and oily fish can help satiate it, while adding flavorful olive oil to a veggie dish, for example. , can make it easier to eat healthy foods and improve the overall quality of your diet.
- We often make bad compromises. Many of us have made the mistake of replacing fat with empty calories in sugar and refined carbohydrates. Instead of eating whole yogurt, for example, we eat low-fat or fat-free versions, which are loaded with sugar to make up for the loss of flavor. Or we swap our fatty bacon for breakfast for a bagel or donut that causes rapid spikes in blood sugar.
Follow the Mediterranean diet.
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes the consumption of good fats and good carbohydrates as well as large amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, fish and olive oil, and only modest portions of meat and vegetables. cheese. However, the Mediterranean diet is more than food. Regular physical exercise and sharing meals with others are also important.
Whatever weight loss strategy you try, it’s important to stay motivated and avoid common eating mistakes, like emotionally eating.
Control your emotional eating
We don’t always eat just to satisfy hunger. We often turn to food when we are stressed or anxious, which can ruin any diet and gain weight. Do you eat when you’re worried, bored or alone? After a stressful day, do you have a snack in front of the TV? Recognizing your emotional triggers when you eat can make all the difference in your weight loss efforts. If you eat when you are:
Stressed – Find healthier ways to calm yourself down. Try yoga, meditation, or soak in a hot tub.
Low energy: find other stimulants in the afternoon. Try walking around the block, listening to stimulating music, or taking a nap.
Lonely or bored: reaching out to others instead of reaching for the refrigerator. Call a friend to make you laugh, walk your dog, or go to the library, mall or park, wherever people are.
Instead, practice mindful eating
Avoid distractions while eating. Try not to eat when you are working, watching TV or driving. It is very easy to overeat without thinking.
Look. Eat slowly, taste the smell and texture of the food. If your mind is wandering, gently bring your attention to the food and how it tastes.
Mix it up to focus on the eating experience. Try using chopsticks instead of a fork, or use utensils with your non-dominant hand.
Stop eating before you are satisfied. It takes time for the signal to reach your brain that you have enough. Don’t feel like you have to always clean your plate.
Stay motivated
Permanent weight loss requires healthy changes in your lifestyle and food choices. To stay motivated:
Find an animators section. Social support means a lot. Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to make an impact on weight loss and healthy eating for life. Seek out support, whether it’s family, friends, or a support group, to get the encouragement you need.
Slow down and always win the race. Losing weight too quickly can affect your mind and body, making you feel lazy, exhausted, and sick. Try to lose a pound or two a week to lose fat instead of water and muscle.
Set goals that motivate you. Short-term goals, like wanting to wear a bikini in the summer, usually don’t work as well as wanting to feel more confident or healthier for the sake of your children. When temptation arises, focus on the benefits of being healthier.
Use tools to track your progress. Smartphone apps, fitness trackers, or just keeping a journal can help you track the foods you eat, the calories you burn, and the weight you lose. Seeing results in black and white can help keep you motivated.
Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep stimulates your appetite, so you want more food than normal; at the same time, it keeps you from feeling full and makes you want to keep eating. Lack of sleep can also affect your motivation, so try to get eight hours of sleep a night.
Reduce sugar and refined carbohydrates
Whether your specific goal is to cut down on carbs or not, most of us eat harmful amounts of sugar and refined carbs, such as white bread, pizza dough, pasta, candy, flour. white, white rice and sweet cereals for breakfast. However, replacing refined carbohydrates with their whole grain equivalents and eliminating sweets and desserts is only part of the solution. Sugar is hidden in foods as diverse as canned soups and vegetables, pasta sauces, margarine, and many low-fat foods. Since your body gets all it needs from the sugar that is naturally found in food, all that added sugar is a lot of empty calories and bad blood sugar spikes
Rich in fruits, vegetables and fiber
Even if you cut back on calories, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to eat less. Foods high in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, are bulkier and take longer to digest, making them full and perfect for weight loss.
In general, it is okay to eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables without starch as you want; you will be satisfied before you overdo it.
Eat raw or steamed vegetables, not fried or breaded, and season them with herbs and spices or a little oil for flavor.
Add fruits to low-sugar cereals: blueberries, strawberries, sliced bananas. You will still get a lot of sweetness. But it has fewer calories, less sugar and more fiber.
Increase your sandwiches by adding healthy veggies like lettuce, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, and avocado.
Eat carrots or celery with hummus instead of potato chips and high calorie gravy.
Add more vegetables to your favorite entrees to make your dish more filling. Even noodles and French fries may be suitable for the diet if you use fewer noodles and more vegetables.
Start your meal with a salad or vegetable soup to feel satisfied and eat less of your main course.
Take control of your food environment
Prepare for successful weight loss by taking control of your food environment – when you eat, how much you eat, and what foods are available.
Prepare your own meals at home. This allows you to control portion sizes and what is in the food. Restaurant and packaged foods generally contain significantly more sugar, unhealthy fat, and calories than homemade foods, and the portions tend to be larger.
Help yourself to smaller portions. Use small plates, bowls and cups to make your portions bigger. Do not eat from large bowls or directly from food containers, which makes it difficult to judge how much you have eaten.
Eat early. Studies suggest that consuming more calories per day for breakfast and less for dinner can help you shed more pounds. Eating a bigger, healthier breakfast can speed up your metabolism, keep you from feeling hungry throughout the day, and give you more time to burn calories.
Fast 14 hours a day. Try dinner early in the day, then fast until breakfast. Eating only when you are most active and taking a long break in digestion can help you lose weight.
Plan your meals and snacks in advance. You can make your own snacks in small portions in plastic bags or containers. Eating on a schedule will help you avoid eating when you’re not really hungry.
Drink more water. Thirst can often be mistaken for hunger, so by drinking water you can avoid the extra calories.
Limit the amount of tempting foods you have at home. If you share the kitchen with non-dieters, keep indulgent foods out of sight.
Move
The amount of exercise that helps you lose weight is still a subject of debate, but the benefits go far beyond just burning calories. Exercise can boost your metabolism and improve your vision, which is something you can benefit from now. Take a walk, stretch, move, and you’ll have more energy and motivation to tackle the rest of your weight loss program.
Lack of long exercise time? Three 10-minute workouts a day can be as good as a 30-minute workout.
Remember: anything is better than nothing. Start a small amount of physical exercise every day and start slowly. So when you start to lose weight and have more energy, it will be easier to become more physically active.
Find exercises that you enjoy. Try walking with a friend, dancing, walking, biking, playing Frisbee with a dog, playing basketball, or playing activity video games with your kids.
Lose weight
You must have heard the widely cited statistic that 95% of people who lose weight on diet will regain it in a few years, if not months. While there isn’t much solid evidence to back this claim up, it is true that many weight loss plans fail in the long run. Often times, this is simply because very restrictive diets are very difficult to maintain over time. However, that doesn’t mean that your attempts to lose weight are doomed. Far.
Since its inception in 1994, the National Weight Management Registry (NWCR) in the United States has tracked more than 10,000 people who have lost a significant amount of weight and have not regained it for long periods of time. The study found that participants who were successful in maintaining weight loss shared some common strategies. Whatever diet you use to lose weight in the first place, adopting these habits can help you walk away:
- Be physically active. The successful dieters in the NWCR study exercised for about 60 minutes, usually while walking.
- Keep a food log. Recording what you eat every day helps you stay responsible and motivated.
- Eat breakfast every day. Most often in the study, these are cereals and fruits. Breakfast increases metabolism and prevents hunger at the end of the day.
- Eat more fiber and less harmful fats than the typical American diet.
- Check the balance regularly. A weekly weigh-in can help you spot any small weight gain, allowing you to take immediate corrective action before the problem gets worse.
- Watch less television. Reducing the time you spend sitting in front of a screen can be an important part of living a more active lifestyle and preventing weight gain.