Everyone of us has lost weight in the past only to have it sneak back up on us again. The thing is, most diets out there do not work because they do not focus on long term weight loss. We all want to lose weight and to keep it off. This should be the target of your weight loss regimen. To help with this goal, have outlined the top five long term weight loss strategies. Once you start following these methods, you will be following the exact methods that the professionals charge to teach you.
1.) Exercising always accelerates weight loss. This is the deep bedded truth, there is no way around it.
If you want to lose weight for the long term and keep the weight off, you should always incorporate some sort of exercise. A good rule of thumb is to exercise 3 times a week, 30 minutes each session. If you can not afford thirty minutes at a time, do 15 minute intervals. These exercise session can include biking, hiking, running, walking, swimming and any other activity that elevates the heart rate. Try this for a few weeks. I guarantee you will start to see and feel a difference!
2.) Log everything! Don’t think you know what your progress is, know that you know what your progress is.
I find that this is one of the biggest factors in losing weight. If you log all that you are doing to lose weight, you can hold your self accountable. Log your workouts. In these logs you want to document which exercises you are doing and your progression. Keep track of sticking points and celebrate breakthroughs. You also want to log what you eat. Don’t hold back here. Write it all down. What you eat, when, how much, the number of calories that you take in, everything should be documented. After all, how are you going to know how well you are succeeding if you do not document everything?
3.) Get into the Healthy Mindset
Do not become overly concerned with numbers. You should concentrate on the “Healthy Mindset”. In other words, you are not only going to exercise healthily, eat healthily, you are also going to think healthily. After just a short while, you will have the healthy mindset and you will then approach your day that way. Always thinking of what is best for your body. In this way you will have your body and your mind healthy.
4.) Overeating – Don’t do it!
With each meal and each snack, remain in the healthy mindset. This will strengthen you and allow you to practice a lot more discipline and self control. There are many reasons that people over eat. Most of the time it is due to comfort or habit eating. Getting in an argument with someone close to you or having a bad day at work can trigger comfort eating. Eating a bowl of popcorn while watching a movie even though you are not hungry is habit eating. Keep yourself in the healthy mindset and you can avoid these practices.
5.) Portion control
This is very important. Cut your portions down at each meal. In most cases, the amounts of food we eat at each meal is grossly in excess. The large amounts of food is not nutritionally necessary. Instead, eat smaller portions at your regular meal times and include 2 snacks a day. One snack during mid morning and one in mid afternoon. Don’t let the label snack confuse you, you should be eating healthy food here. An apple, carrot sticks, nuts. Also, by eating 5-7 times a day you keep your metabolism at a higher rate consistently.
These are 5 steps that when followed will help you to lose weight. This is not a crash diet setting you up to fail, nor will you lose 30 pounds in a month. Those 2 things are not realistic or healthy. This is, however, a tried and true method to lose weight safely and healthily.