I know a lot of you made the goal at the beginning of the year to lose weight this year. How is that going for you? Most of us end up losing weight and then regaining it again, so Let’s look at the best way to lose weight and keep it off in this article.
Staying on the topic of goals and resolutions, here is an unfortunate statistic: 80% of all New Year’s resolutions fail. What we can deduce from these numbers is that many individuals plan to lose weight every year and consistently never actually do.
If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you are one of these individuals. Maybe you have set a goal to lose weight in years past and were unable to do so, maybe you did lose the desired amount of weight but could not keep it off, finally, this year may be the first year you can lose weight and keep it off.
Whatever the case may be, this article will provide some helpful tips on how you can realistically lower your body weight and keep it off long term!
The Best Way To Lose Weight And Keep It Off
Avoid Crash Diets At All Costs!
Society today has an obsession with getting what we want and getting it now. The term is known as instant gratification. Losing weight is certainly not immune to this trend. If your goal is to decrease your body weight this year, you have probably done some research into what diet plan or list of foods to stick to.
Unfortunately, Google searches containing any of those keywords are going to bombard you with the latest fad diet or magic pill promising to transform your body in no time.
The problem with these things is that they either do not work, have the potential to negatively affect your overall health or are so extreme that there is no way to stick to them long term. While we won’t get into specific diets to follow or foods to eat, there is a universal principle that needs to be made clear.
Most of us know what types of foods are considered healthy and what is complete junk. Eating healthier and losing weight is far from rocket science. Instead of buying into a fad diet, take a day-by-day approach in which you eat only wholesome foods and drink the recommended amount of water.
Don’t completely deprive yourself of your favorite snack; just reduce the frequency in which you give in to your guilty pleasure!
I found that slowly changing bad habits for good ones helped me to lose weight and keep it off. For instance, instead of drinking hot chocolate before bed every night like I used to, I changed to herbal tea or water and just have the hot chocolate once a week as a treat. I then stopped putting butter on my bread and now I am so used to not having it that I don’t actually miss it.
Making small changes like this over time will gradually not only reduce your weight, but at least the weight will stay off and you will have healthier habits in place.
Exercise Alone Is Not The Foundation
A common misconception is that your favorite piece of cardio equipment or a strenuous workout can make up for your poor diet. Think again!
While exercise is certainly something you should include in your lifestyle, if you are routinely eating high-calorie foods and drinking soda, you are basically trapping yourself in a perpetual hamster wheel of weight loss failure.
Physical activity does in fact burn calories, but not nearly to the extent to which you can consume them! For example, the average human burns about 100 calories during a mile on the treadmill, while a slice of chocolate cake contains over 300 calories.
Do you see the issue here? Exercise alone is not going to get you where you want to be regarding weight loss. Nutrition is the foundation.
Let Your Results Become A Lifestyle
Let us now assume that you have stuck to a consistent, sustainable and healthy diet, committed to an exercise routine and the results are starting to show. This is certainly an achievement and you should be proud of yourself!
However, this is when another, just as important issue needs to be addressed. If this goal that you have worked so hard to bring to fruition doesn’t transition to an overall lifestyle change, regression is inevitable.
Don’t let your success cause you to become complacent and fall back into your old habits. Instead, use these results as a tool to transform your newly established health habits into a part of your lifestyle.
This is the only way to maintain and continuously progress with not only your weight loss but also any other fitness goals you set for yourself in the future!
If you have any other ideas on the best way to lose weight and keep it off, please add your comments below.
