If your best efforts at losing weight aren’t panning out, you’re far from alone. One poll discussed in Psychology Today suggests that, on average, people try 126 fad diets in their lives, and each attempt averaged just six days. You can’t blame people for not keeping it up, as a lot of those diets touted by celebrities and endorsed on social media encourage cutting out whole food groups, eating inordinate amounts of specific foods, or severely cutting back on foods to the point of near starvation. You just can’t keep up that kind of lifestyle, and your body deserves to be treated better than that.
Understanding the Fundamentals of Weight Loss
Carrying excess weight isn’t ideal for your health. Obesity is connected to a host of health conditions that can severely affect your well-being. So, losing weight and achieving a healthy body mass index (BMI) can be a noble goal for people who are at risk for these conditions and others.
Here’s the simple truth: For weight loss to be successful, you need to develop healthy habits that you can live with and be happy with for the long term. Because losing weight and keeping it off is a commitment. It will take time. You’ll have bumps in the road. And that’s OK.
In a nutshell, healthy, successful weight loss involves:
- Setting reasonable goals.
- Expending more calories than you take in.
- Eating nutritious foods that give your body all the nutrients it needs, with less of the stuff it doesn’t.
- Getting your heart pumping with aerobic exercise.
- Maintaining or building muscle to help your body burn calories at rest.
- Exploring the ways emotions affect your eating and physical activity.
- Getting enough sleep to allow your body to function at its best.
- Expecting that you’ll need to make adjustments.
Setting Realistic Weight Loss Goals
Although losing weight can be exciting and encouraging, it's important to stay focused on actions more than outcomes. Setting reasonable and manageable lifestyle goals means paying attention to what we have the most control over - our behaviors. Concentrate on the areas that will impact your health and weight the most.
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Weight loss is likely to taper off over time, but if you pay attention to the non-scale victories - like better sleep, more energy, and improved fitness - you’re less likely to get discouraged.
Calorie Deficit: The Key to Weight Loss
Weight loss is, at its core, a matter of burning more calories than you take in. We’re all unique beings, and our bodies have different needs, but at the end of the day, the most basic concept of losing weight is that you need to achieve a calorie deficit.
Our bodies use calories from the foods we eat to power our systems, giving us energy to do everything from running a marathon to digesting our food and pumping our hearts. When you take in excess calories, your body stores them as fat, but when you eat fewer calories than you use, your body starts to take energy from your stores. That’s a calorie deficit. That’s when you start to lose weight.
Each person has different calorie needs, which depend on a host of factors, including your current weight, your goal weight, your height, your age, your muscle mass, and how physically active you are.
Manageable Weight-Loss Diet
The backbone of a healthy diet for weight loss is to eat more natural foods and fewer processed foods. That’s the basic tenet of the Mediterranean diet - largely considered to be the healthiest eating pattern around.
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Hitting the right number of calories isn’t enough. The quality of those calories is also important. The calories in an apple come with nutrients that you don’t find in soda, like fiber and antioxidants. What’s more, the apple will fill your belly and satisfy your hunger in a way that soda can’t. Natural and less-processed foods fill your body with what it needs - without the stuff it doesn’t.
Although people can lose weight with lower-fat or lower-carb eating, the types of carbs and fat are most important. Healthy fats tend to come from plants, nuts, and seeds rather than animals. And healthier carbohydrates are less processed.
In broad strokes, try these swaps to get started with cleaning up your diet:
- Less of this: Beef
- More of this: Chicken, turkey, fish, and nuts
- Less of this: Butter
- More of this: Olive oil
- Less of this: Cakes, cookies, and candy
- More of this: Fruits and vegetables
- Less of this: Soda, lemonade, juice, sweetened tea, and alcohol
- More of this: Water
- Less of this: White bread and pasta
- More of this: Whole-wheat bread and pasta
- Less of this: White rice
- More of this: Brown rice
Remember, weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Depriving yourself of your favorite foods and labeling them as “off limits” is a recipe for discouragement, backsliding, and guilt. Rather than vowing never to eat another slice of cake or have a soda, work them in sparingly. And remind yourself that an occasional treat is OK. It’s not a reflection of your willpower or your worth as a person.
Incorporating Cardio Exercise
Remember, losing weight comes down to expending more calories than you’re taking in. And exercise is an important factor in burning those extra calories. The American Heart Association recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise each week. That’s the kind of exercise that gets your heart pumping and makes you breathe faster than usual.
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Find activities that you enjoy and that fit into your life on a regular basis. Try these aerobic workouts to get your heart pumping:
- Walking, hiking, and slow running.
- Swimming.
- Cycling.
- Cardio machines, like treadmills, ellipticals, and steppers.
Try talking when you’re exercising. If you need to pause your conversation here and there to catch your breath, that’s moderate-intensity exercise. You’re right on track. If you can carry on a conversation easily, it’s time to push a little harder. If you’re gasping for air, ease up.
Building and Maintaining Muscle Mass
Muscle is imperative for losing weight because muscle works to burn more calories, even when you’re not doing much of anything. So, when you build muscle, you’re making your body composition work in your favor. The more muscle mass you have, the quicker you burn calories. What’s more, when you work to lose weight, what you really want to lose is fat, not muscle.
There are two important elements to maintaining muscle mass as you lose weight:
- ) Eat plenty of lean protein. Healthy sources of protein help to build and repair muscle. So, protein is a critical component of healthy weight-loss eating. How much protein you need depends on a variety of factors. But most people will be well served to make protein count for around 25% to 30% of the calories they eat each day. On a 1,600-calorie diet, that would equal 100 to 120 grams of protein per day.
- ) Engage in strength-training exercise. That can be activities like yoga, Pilates, barbells, free weights, or calisthenics, all of which help to tone and strengthen muscle. Aim for at least 20 minutes of strength-training exercise twice per week.
Addressing Emotional Well-being
Emotional eating is real. It’s a natural coping mechanism for some people to turn to food when they’re feeling stressed, bored, frustrated, or any number of emotions. Strong emotions, like stress, release the hormone cortisol, and cortisol can heighten our cravings for sugar, fat, and salt. It’s a biological response that’s trying to protect you by fueling your body to prepare to fight off tigers or other threats to your life.
What can you do when you feel that pang to reach for food - not for hunger, but strictly for comfort? Step away from the fridge and try some quick relaxation strategies:
- Take a walk.
- Do some breathing exercises.
- Try some meditation.
Food journaling can also help you understand patterns in your emotional state and how they relate to eating.
Prioritizing Sleep
While they may not seem related, sleep and weight loss go hand in hand. If we aren't getting good rest, your hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) can get out of whack. You actually feel hungrier when you’re not well-rested. Aim to get enough sleep (between seven and nine hours a night for most adults). And keep to a regular sleep schedule.
Adapting and Adjusting
Often, you can see results from your weight loss efforts quickly. Then, it stalls. And you wonder if your scale is working. You might even question whether it’s worth it to keep it up. That’s all part of the process. It’s easy to get discouraged if the number on the scale doesn’t reflect your hard work. And sometimes, it won’t. Weight doesn’t always reflect the effort you put in.
Fun Activities to Burn Calories
There are so many ways to move your body - which means there are a ton of ways to shred calories. How many you burn depends on your body weight and the intensity of your physical activity. Keep in mind your diet, too: What you burn through exercise can help keep lost weight off, but eating fewer calories may be more effective.
Walking
Walking significantly adds to your daily calorie burn while you’re getting other tasks done - even within the confines of your own home. You can try the following approaches to fit more walking into your day:Walk on a treadmill at the gym or at home while reading or watching a show on your phone.Walk around the house while you’re taking an extended phone call.Walk to the grocery store instead of driving.Go for a walk after a meal.If you have a dog, take them on a longer walk (if they can handle it).Instead of meeting a loved one for a sit-down coffee, take the cup to go and walk around together instead.
Reorganize and Decorate Your Home
Going the extra mile and reorganizing your furniture, painting and wallpapering walls, and lugging boxes around can boost your calorie burn even further, according to Harvard Medical School.
Gardening
If tending to the garden is on your to-do list, it may have benefits beyond tidy hedges and jealous neighbors. Gardening involves a lot of movement, like pulling weeds, squatting, digging, raking, moving, and using heavy tools, and it can burn calories.
Deep Cleaning, Housework, and Remodeling
A clean home can help you focus on the fun things in life, but getting to a thorough, deep clean may feel like a chore. A good motivator to get scrubbing might be its role as a free, constructive workout that shreds calories. It’s also a good all-around workout
Playtime!
Your fun time and physical activity time needn’t be separate, especially if you’re short on spare hours. Play and exercise is often the same during childhood, and this can continue throughout life if you try games or pastimes that involve moderate physical activity.
Active Video Games
Not all video games involve sitting still, and some involve dancing, air-punching, mimicking sports techniques, and other movements. Game console attachments like Wii Fit or Xbox Kinect track these using cameras, following the motion of the controllers or using controllers like dance mats, and they can amount to a workout that doesn’t feel like one.
Dancing
Dance like your activity tracker is watching! Dancing is a powerful form of self-expression and fantastic exercise, but you can also do it in your living room or while washing the dishes.
Getting in the Water
Water-based activities and sports help you burn more calories than you would on dry land, as your muscles face about 12 to 15 percent more resistance during movements, according to Harvard Medical School. The calorie benefits don’t only apply to swimming, although completing laps of the pool can be a serious calorie shredder.
Cycling
Cycling can be fun, cost-effective, time-saving, and a great way to incorporate a quick calorie burn into your day. In general, the faster you cycle, the more you burn. But the type of bike and the nature of the terrain can significantly affect the intensity of a cycling workout.
Running
Running is a free, flexible, and fun way to get outdoors and work up a sweat quickly. You can work at various speeds and distances to work out which you enjoy the most. Not everyone needs to run races and marathons - you can keep it low-key through neighborhood jogs with a friend or group.
Dara Sarshuri's Weight Loss Journey: A Story of Transformation
In February, Dara Sarshuri stepped on the scale the first time in more than two years and he was stunned: He weighed 390 pounds. At 5 feet 9 inches tall, the first-grade teacher had no idea he weighed so much.
After learning he weighed 390 pounds, Dara Sarshuri started to prepare for weight-loss surgery. By simply following the pre-surgery eating plan, he shed 180 pounds. As the child of a Persian immigrant and a Southern belle, he often ate meals that included loads of rice and fried foods.
After stepping on the scale, he considered weight-loss surgery. Like anyone opting for gastric bypass surgery, he had to lose some weight prior to the procedure and started following an eating plan. He added foods high in lean protein, low in carbs, and rich in fruits and vegetables. The first month, he dropped 25 pounds. The second month, he shed 30 pounds. By June, he had lost 100 pounds and his doctor was shocked. But then she asked if he still wanted to pursue weight-loss surgery; he was having so much success without it and he decided to continue with what he was doing.
In addition to changing his diet, Sarshuri also began exercising. At first, he felt too embarrassed to join a gym so he started walking. But he walked the next day. By June, he was walking five miles a day and finally gained the courage to join a gym. Now, he attends the gym five days a week and walks on the weekend. While he once loathed working out, today he kind of likes burpees.
Since February, he has lost 180 pounds and weighs 210 pounds. He is happy with what he's accomplished.
Sarshuri's Tips for Weight Loss
Sarshuri shares tips for others hoping to lose weight:
- Use clothes as a tool. When Sarshuri began losing weight, he’d buy a T-shirt that was too small for him. The smaller clothing would motivate him. Now, if he is feeling discouraged, he turns to his old clothes.
- Don’t stress about the number. Sarshuri started his weight loss by dropping 25 and 30 pounds a month and he’d get excited to go on the scale. But when the numbers on the scale weren’t moving as quickly, he’d feel discouraged. Instead, he decided to judge his success on how he fits into his clothes and how he feels.
- Focus on you. Don’t compare yourself to others. Celebrate you and the success you have had and how far you have come.