There is a better way of losing weight. These tips will help you avoid the pitfalls of diets and ensure that you achieve long-lasting weight loss success.
What is the best diet to lose weight?
Any diet book will tell you how to lose weight and keep it off. Some say that eating less and exercising more is the key to losing weight. Others suggest low fat as the best option. Still others recommend cutting out carbs. What should you believe?
There is no one-size fits all solution for permanent, healthy weight loss. Your body will respond differently to different foods and food types, so what works for one person might not work for another. It will take patience and commitment to find the right method for weight loss. You may also need to try different diets and foods.
Some people are more comfortable with strict diets or counting calories, while others prefer to have more control over their weight loss plans. You don’t have to eat fried foods or restrict your intake of refined carbs. This can help you succeed. Don’t let it get you down if the diet that worked for someone else doesn’t work out for you. Don’t let it get you down if the diet is too restrictive. A diet is only right if you are able to stick with it over time.
There is no quick way to lose weight. However, there are many steps you can take to improve your relationship with food and curb emotional triggers that lead to overeating.
Four popular weight loss strategies
1. Cut calories
Experts believe that managing your weight is as simple as eating less calories than you burn. It sounds simple, right? Hence, why is it so difficult to lose weight?
- Weight loss doesn’t happen in a single, linear way. Although you eat the same amount of calories, you may lose less or none at all. Because you lose weight, you also lose water and lean tissue. Your metabolism slows down, and your body undergoes other changes. You must continue to reduce calories in order to keep your weight down each week.
- Calories are not always calories. 100 calories of high fructose Corn Syrup can have a different impact on your body than 100 calories of broccoli. For sustained weight loss, you need to eliminate foods that are high in calories and don’t fill you up (such as candy). Instead, eat foods that fill you up but are low in calories (such as vegetables).
- Not everyone eats to satisfy their hunger. This can lead to a relapse in any weight loss program.
2. Reduce carbohydrate intake
Another way to look at weight loss is not the amount of calories consumed, but the process of how the body stores fat after eating carbohydrates. This includes the role of insulin. You get glucose from carbohydrates when you eat a meal. To keep your blood sugar levels under control, your body will always use glucose to help you lose weight.
Your body releases insulin when you eat carbohydrate-rich meals (like pasta, bread, and French fries) to aid in the glucose influx. Insulin regulates blood sugar and also does two other things. It stops fat cells from burning fat as fuel, which is its priority. Additionally, it creates fat cells that can store everything your body cannot burn off. This causes you to gain weight, and your body needs more fuel to burn so you eat more. You crave carbohydrates because insulin is only good for burning carbs, so you end up consuming more carbs and increasing your weight. This is how you can lose weight.
Low-carb diets tend to replace carbs with fat and protein, which can have long-term negative effects on your health. You can lower your risk and reduce your intake of saturated fats and trans fats if you try a low carb diet.
3. Reduce fat
This is a key principle of many diets. Don’t eat fat if you don’t want to gain weight. You’ll find a slew of low-fat foods, milk, and packaged meals as you walk down the grocery store aisles. While low-fat options are more popular than ever, obesity rates have increased. Why hasn’t low fat diets been more popular?
- Not all fats are bad. Healthy fats can help you to manage your weight, mood, and fatigue. Avocados, nuts, seeds and tofu are all rich in unsaturated fats. Adding a bit of olive oil to a dish of vegetables can also help you eat well and increase the quality of your food.
- Too many people make wrong trade-offs. Too many people swap out fat for empty calories and sugary refined carbs. To make up the taste loss, we opt for low- or even no-fat yoghurt instead. We can also swap out our bacon-laden breakfast for muffins or donuts that cause rapid spikes of blood sugar.
4. Follow the Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes good fats, good carbs, along with lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, and fish–and very little meat or cheese. However, the Mediterranean diet goes beyond food. It is also important to engage in regular physical activity and share meals with others.
No matter what weight loss strategy or method you use, it is important to remain motivated and avoid common pitfalls such as emotional eating.
Manage your emotional eating
It’s not enough to satiate our hunger. We often turn to food when we are anxious or stressed, which can cause us to eat more and make our diets less healthy. Are you worried, bored, lonely, or do you eat? Do you snack at night, after a stressful day? Your emotional eating triggers are important to your weight loss efforts. You shouldn’t eat when you aren’t hungry.
Feeling stressed? Try these healthier ways to relax. You can try yoga, meditation, and soaking in a hot tub.
Feeling low on energy? Try other mid-afternoon snacks. You can walk around the block listening to energizing music or take a quick nap.
Feel lonely or bored? Reach out to others, not the fridge. Make a friend, go for a walk with your dog, visit the mall, library or park–anywhere there are people.
Keep motivated
Permanent weight loss is possible only if you make healthy lifestyle changes and eat healthier. Stay motivated
Get cheering support. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers offer group support for weight loss and healthy eating. To get the support you need, seek out family, friends or a support group.
Slow and steady wins. Losing too much weight can cause a lot of mental and physical problems, leaving you feeling tired, sluggish and sick. You should aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week to focus on losing fat and not water or muscle.
Make goals to stay motivated. Long-term goals like fitting into a bikini this summer don’t usually work as well. You want to feel more confident and be healthier for your kids. Focus on the benefits that you will reap by being healthier when temptation strikes.
Track your progress with tools. You can track your progress with apps on your smartphone, fitness trackers, or by simply writing down what you eat and how many calories you burn. You can stay motivated by seeing the results in black-and-white.
Get enough sleep. A lack of sleep can make you hungry and cause you to eat more than usual. You can also be demotivated if you don’t get enough sleep . Try to get eight hours of quality sleep each night .
Keep your weight down
It is possible that you have heard of the 95% statistic that people lose weight by following a diet and then regain it in a few years or even months. Although there is not much evidence to support this claim, it is true many weight-loss programs fail over the long-term. It’s often because restrictive diets are difficult to stick with over time. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your weight loss efforts are doomed. It’s far from true.
Since 1994, the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), in the United States has been tracking over 10,000 people who have lost significant weight and maintained it for long periods. Participants who have been successful in maintaining their weight loss have a few common traits, according to the study. These habits can help you keep your weight off, regardless of what diet you used to lose weight.
- Keep physically active The NWCR recommends that dieters who are successful in losing weight exercise for at least 60 minutes per day, usually walking.
- Keep an food log . It helps you to be accountable and keep motivated by recording what you eat each day.
- Every day, eat breakfast. It’s usually cereal or fruit that is eaten most often in the study. Breakfast boosts metabolism and prevents hunger later in the day.
- Get more fiber and less unhealthy cholesterol than the average American diet.
- Check your scale regularly. You can detect small weight gains by weighing yourself every week, so you can take immediate action to correct the situation before it escalates.
- View less television. A key component of living a healthier lifestyle is to reduce the amount of time you spend in front of a TV.
