Tired of starting and failing to achieve your weight loss goals? You’re not alone.
Losing weight doesn’t need to be a dreadful battle if you have the right tips and knowledge.
This article doesn’t list every weight loss tip under the sun because losing weight requires only a few guides to stick to.
Instead, it lists science-backed tips and methods that have helped many people lose weight fast and also helped me lose 13 lbs. (6kg) in 2 months.
In other words, they are proven to work.
Let’s get into it.
Implementing at least 3 of these tips will have great impact on your weight loss journey, help prevent weight gain and help you reach your health goals.
We all know by now that to lose weight, we have to portion our meals, but that doesn’t mean we have to starve ourselves.
Subbing high-calorie processed foods for high-volume, low-calorie whole foods is a tremendous and effective way to immediately start losing weight and help you stay lean.
I knew that if I was going to stick to my diet, it had to be sustainable for a long time, so I made a few changes, such as.
- Eating more fruits – I never thought I would be the type of person to suggest to others to eat fruits, but here we are. Fruits are low in calories and can be eaten at high volume until you’re satiated.
- Eating more vegetables – I was never really a huge fan of vegetables, but I figured I’d rather eat something boring than be hungry, so I added vegetables to my diet. The only high-volume vegetables I eat are lettuce and cauliflower.
- Eat more lean protein – Lean proteins such as plain Greek yogurt, chicken, eggs, and ground beef promote weight loss. Protein takes longer to digest in the body, which delays the effects of our hunger hormone known as ghrelin, leading to less calorie consumption in a day.
2. Reduce or Eliminate Snacking
Casual snacking is one of the causes of weight gain. Reducing or temporarily eliminating this habit alone can lead to fat loss.
The little Chocolates and biscuits we casually indulge in throughout the day can add up pretty quickly; before we know it, we’ve eaten an additional 500-1000 calories a day.
Try to eliminate snacking when you’re on a strict diet, as it’ll makes it easier for you to track your intake and save more calories for actual meals.
3. Walking
I never really liked intense cardio or even jogging, but I knew I had to incorporate a form of exercise to burn calories if I wanted to lose weight faster while not starving myself.
I started walking more on Sunday mornings with my mom, and then I would squeeze in walks between daily activities when I could.
A 30-minute brisk walk is about 3000 steps and burns around 100 calories.
Your goal eventually should be to get 10,000 steps per day, which would burn between 350 and 400 calories, and you don’t have to hit that number in one go!
You can separate it into intervals. Add walking to your routine if you want to maintain a healthy weight effortlessly and for long-term weight loss.
4. Eat Slowly and Consciously
Ever just look down at your plate and think, “Hey, where did the rest of my food go?” It didn’t go anywhere; you ate it all.
Eating fast and being distracted tends to make us feel less full, which usually leads to overeating.
Eating slowly has been shown to decrease the amount of food consumed during the meal due to an increase in the fullness hormones, which allow us to feel full.
Contrarily, when we eat fast, the hunger hormone known as leptin does not register on time.
This tip helped me feel more satiated with the little I had to eat.
When we are trying to lose weight, eating consciously becomes necessary if we want to feel satisfied with the reduced portion.
5. Drink Lots of Water
Drinking lots of water throughout the day helps reduce our appetite, which in turn makes you feel less hungry all the time, which makes you eat less food, which then leads to weight loss.
I started taking more water, especially when I got hunger signals.
Most times, when we get those hunger signals, we’re often not hungry, and drinking water can help subdue that feeling.
So rather than reaching for food when you feel hungry, try taking a glass of water first.
Incorporate this tip with eating consciously; after a bite or two, take a sip of water if you want to feel fuller from a meal.
6. Edit your Environment
Sticking to a diet and losing weight becomes a whole lot easier when we don’t have to constantly fight the temptation of high-calorie, unhealthy foods.
This helped me stick to my diet as I stopped buying high-calorie foods, reduced putting myself in places and situations that could make me indulge, and stopped keeping sugary drinks around me, which led to fewer cravings.
I edited my environment to make achieving my goal easier.
This is an extremely underrated tip that most people look over, but it is very essential and effective for sticking to your diet.
I know most of us don’t have complete control over what comes into the house, but you can always work any food into your diet.
Let’s say your mom buys pizza, but you were planning on eating rice for dinner. You can eat the calorie equivalent of that pizza and still be on track.
7. Weigh yourself weekly
Once you make these changes, the number on the scale should start to come down.
There are a lot of different recommendations for when and how often you should check your weight.
Some argue to check your weight daily, and some argue every other day, but I found the sweet spot for me was checking weekly; this enabled me not to focus too much on the number on the scale.
Our weight fluctuates due to various reasons, which include eating foods high in sodium, which can momentarily spike our weight, bowel movement, and water retention in the body.
So, just because your weight doesn’t go down after a week of dieting doesn’t mean you didn’t lose body fat.
Different factors come into play, which is why we shouldn’t put too much focus on the number on the scale. As long as you’re doing the right things, you will eventually achieve your goal.
Conclusion
Incorporating these tips is guaranteed to help you lose weight. These tips helped me tremendously, and I hope they do for you as well.
A healthy rule of thumb is to aim to lose about 2 pounds per week.
If you want to reach your ideal body weight and actually maintain it, it requires a lifestyle change.
You should aim for a sustainable weight loss approach by gradually switching up your diet, opting for healthy foods more often than junk food, choosing the stairs instead of the elevator, and practicing portion control.
Learning and understanding the tactics for effective weight loss is a skill that will help you for a lifetime. So, diet without being hungry by eating high-volume low-calorie foods and taking brisk walks while listening to your favorite songs.
