I’m seeing countless people waste their time and energy looking for the best approach to lose weight, half starting and then complaining when nothing is happening. We seem to spend a lifetime looking for what quick fix. Unfortunately, healthy weight loss does take time. I can tell you how to lose weight fast, but if you want to keep it off and be healthy, be patient. Had you just stuck it out the first time around you’d be so much better off now, that’s the frustrating part.
For weight loss to happen, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn. Weight loss is about 20% fewer calories under your maintenance calories.
Below are some habits that are common with lean people.
- Eat until 80% full.
- Eat protein and a small amount of fat at every meal. Both these nutrients maintain satiety. You’ll eat less in the long run. Less snacking is ultimately better for your health.
- Eat vegetables at every meal. A body needs nutrients to function optimally. Vegetables also add bulk to a meal creating fullness. A nutrient-starved body craves more sugar and the not so good food.
- Eat at least 80% of your food from nonprocessed natural whole foods. These foods are your vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, legumes, and whole grains. Minimally processed foods use up more energy to digest in the body than fake foods.
- When eating the 10-20% foods, keep portion sizes in check. Often we only need a taste. You’ll be just as satisfied eating 2 squares of chocolate as opposed to a whole block.
- Weight train consistently. It is better to do two sessions per week than 5 one week and then none the next month. Weight training improves your metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
- Walk every day. Calories in vs calories out. You cannot escape it. Your one meal out per week is a lot more calories than you think. Without moving, weight creep does happen. Getting older does not need to mean weight gain. That is a story you have told yourself. A common mistake people make is thinking that because they went to the gym they do not need to walk. No, you do. There are 24 hours in a day. Your workout was probably only an hour of that.
- Attitude is everything. Medical conditions can be reasons why you have gained weight. But it shouldn’t be an excuse. Take action. Everyone has stuff going on.
To just eat healthily isn’t good enough for weight loss. You can’t get home from work after sitting at a desk, then sit again watching tv. You can’t go out frequently for dinner and tell yourself the not so healthy food and wine is okay. If you have the time to be on your phone scrolling social media, if you are spending your night online shopping, if you are sleeping in past 5 am, then you do have time to exercise and eat well. Healthy eating is not expensive either. If you can get your nails done, if you have wifi, if you can upgrade your phone, well then you have money to look after your health too.
The habits I have listed aren’t innovative. They are habits we all see in people with a good healthy outlook on life. Weight loss does require extra work. To maintain weight is easier. However, I find those people are still mindful day to day of what they eat. When they do put on a little extra weight they do something right away. Prevention and getting on top of things earlier is always better. You can keep on doing what you’re doing and be unhappy. What do you want for yourself?
If you’d like a consult to lose weight please get in touch. Remember weight loss isn’t a one consult fix, it takes time and effort.
Habits which are done most of the time is what creates lasting change.
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