How Can You Lose Weight And Keep It Off
There basic formula to lose weight and keep it off. You need to eat the right foods,
not overindulge, and do exercise to burn up the food you’ve eaten. But often the words diet and exercise develop a knee-jerk reaction where people want to lose weight quickly and try rapid weight loss diet programs. These diets often involve eating the same foods everyday or excluding one food group for a period of time.
If your end goal is to lose weight and keep it off permanently you have to change your lifestyle. Rapid weight loss is only a temporary solution and the majority of people put the weight back on when they finish the diet program. Here are 5 easy and healthy ways to lose weight that will not make your new lifestyle seem like a prison sentence.
5 Tips To Lose Weight And Keep It Off
1. Share Your Next Meal
Why not share your meal the next time you eat out? It is no big mystery that the portions that we receive at most restaurants and diners deliver much more food than you need. Smaller portions will help you to lose weight and keep it off. When you share an entrée with a friend or spouse, there is still more than enough food to fill both of your bellies. And if you decide to have a dessert, why not split it as well?
Too many people today equate being stuffed with being full. Not only will you feel better and less bloated after your next meal out when you share it, your wallet will be healthier as well. This sharing tip can also apply to purchasing DVD fitness classes and exercise programs online. Share the cost, and then share the information. You also get double the motivation without double the price.
2. Ask Yourself Whether You’re Really Hungry
Michelle May is a medical doctor and author of the book “Am I Hungry?”, which preaches that you should be asking yourself that question the next time you think about eating. But sometimes, human beings also eat because they have been programmed to do so at a specific time of day. The old logic stated that you should have a large breakfast in the morning followed by a large lunch around midday and that you should end with your third meal, a dinner sometime in the early evening. If you catch yourself eating just because it is a specific time, or if you are subconsciously about to chow down for some other reason, ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?”
Free Report: Top 5 Exercise Mistakes
3. Get Outside and Walk
A healthy diet and regular exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. And exercise does not have to mean working out for hours in the gym everyday. Get up and out, and go for a walk. Sometimes human beings tend to overthink things. Getting out of your cubicle or computer chair, and off of your couch or cozy recliner, is literally the first step to lose weight and keep it off. Doctors and fitness experts used to believe that intensive running was required to burn a decent number of calories.
But countless fitness professionals and experts like Diane Virginias, a certified nursing assistant out of New York, have come to understand that a few minutes of walking does wonders for your body. You can get out and enjoy whatever season you are currently experiencing.
And if you complain that there are no sidewalks in your area, you can park further away from your work entrance, hike in the safety and environmentally comfortable surroundings of your local mall, and join local charity walks to get moving. Your heart and hips will thank you.
4. Cut Down on Night Time Snacks
Be extra careful about your choice of nighttime snacks. This sounds like a no-brainer. Everyone knows that you should not have a huge bowl of ice cream or a sleeve of chocolate chip cookies late at night.
But for many people this is one of the only times of the day where they have a little time to themselves. The kids are in bed, your spouse is asleep, and you are mindlessly watching TV or reading the latest thriller. This can create what American Dietetic Association spokesperson Malena Perdomo calls “eating amnesia”.
You unconsciously continue to shovel the calories into your mouth, defeating whatever fitness efforts you’ve made to lose weight and keep it off. Keep your calorie count to 100 on your nighttime snacks, or even treat yourself to a cup of no-calorie, decaffeinated tea instead.
5. Start Your Day With Protein
To lose weight and keep it off, eat protein during breakfast or your first meal of the day. You also want to eat some protein at every meal. This is because your mind and body is actually satisfied by protein more than it is by unhealthy fats and carbohydrates. This just could be your new secret weapon in weight control.
University of Illinois protein researcher Donald Layman is a PhD who points out that high protein and moderate carbohydrate diets offer excellent potential for weight loss. He recommends healthy protein foods like nuts, beans, cheeses and yogurt.
Lose Weight And Keep It Off
Take a hard look at your diet and workout plan as well as your calorie-tracking system to ensure everything is on the right track. Take advantage of apps like My Food Diary. This highly-acclaimed food database contains over 100,000 foods to improve your diet and the exercise log can calculate calories burned for over 700 activities to help you achieve your weight loss goal.
