Want to achieve sustainable, healthy weight loss? Then consider making changes to your habits and behaviors. By improving your diet and lifestyle, you’ll be better placed to make a lasting difference to your waistline. Here are some key things to consider before starting out on your weight loss journey: Choose just one or two things to change. The key is consistency - you want the change to become a new habit or behavior. Trying to change too much at once may lead to overwhelm. Implement changes that fit best with you and your lifestyle, as you’re more likely to stick to them.
The Foundation of Healthy Weight Loss
The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to make lasting lifestyle changes. Long-term weight loss takes time and effort. So be sure that you're ready to eat healthy foods and become more active. Talk with your healthcare professional if you need help taking charge of stress. No one else can make you lose weight. You need to make diet and physical activity changes to help yourself. Make a list of reasons why weight loss is important to you. The list can help you stay inspired and focused. Maybe you want to boost your health or get in shape for a vacation. Think of your goals on days when you don't feel like eating healthy foods or moving more. Find other ways to stay on track too. It's up to you to make the changes that lead to long-term weight loss. But it helps to have support from others. Pick people who will inspire you. If you prefer to keep your weight-loss efforts private, take some steps to stay on course. Track your diet and exercise in a journal or an app. Also track your weight.
Staying Hydrated
Hydration is the first rule of good nutrition. You can technically last weeks without food but just days without water. It’s also one of the easiest, yet more effective tips, given that research has found increasing your daily water intake may help with weight loss. Start your day with a large glass of water, before any food, tea or coffee, and then continue to take sips throughout the day. Keep your water in sight, too - remember out of sight is out of mind!
There’s actually truth to the claim that drinking water can help with weight loss. Water is particularly helpful for weight loss when it replaces other beverages that are high in calories and sugar.
The Importance of Breakfast
Having breakfast has been shown to not only help you make better food choices later in the day but also supports your metabolism and blood sugar balance. Both of these may help with weight loss. Choose wisely though - opt for non-refined carbs and be sure to include some protein, such as an egg.
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Coffee Consumption
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning, may cause a spike in cortisol (the hormone that manages stress), and blood sugar (glucose), both of these affect your energy and metabolism. That said, a cup of black coffee after breakfast helps to slow down glucose production which may mean you produce fewer fat cells.
Coffee is loaded with antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. Furthermore, black coffee is very weight loss friendly, since it can make you feel full but contains almost no calories.
Protein Intake with Every Meal
When you eat protein (like eggs, meat, dairy, nuts and legumes), it takes the body longer to turn it into glucose than simple carbs (such as white flour, bread and pasta) - that’s because simple carbs are already a form of sugar. Therefore, having protein every time you eat provides the body with steadier blood sugar control, greater satiety and reduced sugar cravings. This means you’re more likely to eat less throughout the day, which will help with your weight loss goals.
Aim for 15 to 25 grams of protein at breakfast. Protein is digested slowly and suppresses hunger hormones, helping keep you full. Additionally, a high-protein breakfast helps curb cravings later in the day. Pair protein-rich foods with fiber and healthy fats, like two eggs with whole-wheat toast and avocado or high-protein frozen waffles with nuts, berries, and a little maple syrup.
Eating protein-rich foods at every meal, especially breakfast, can help shave extra pounds. Protein slows down the digestive process and positively impacts your hunger hormones. Protein can also do better at staving off hunger than carbohydrates. Protein-rich foods include quinoa, edamame, beans, seeds, nuts, eggs, yogurt, cheese, tofu, lentil pasta, poultry, fish, and meat.
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Chewing Food Thoroughly
Chewing is the very first step in the digestive process, but all too often we eat too quickly, especially when we’re distracted or eating ‘on the hoof’. When you don’t chew your food properly, you put extra strain on your digestive system causing symptoms such as bloating, it also means you’re more likely to overeat as you don’t give the brain time to register when you’re full. Aim to eat in a relaxed manner, away from distractions and take your time to really savor your food.
Chewing more slowly may help you eat fewer calories and increase the production of hormones that are linked to weight loss.
Incorporating Healthy Fats
While fats have more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates, adding healthy fats to your diet may reduce sugar cravings and give a greater sense of satisfaction, thereby supporting healthy weight loss. Beneficial fats include those found in nuts, seeds, oily fish, olive oil and avocado.
Mindful Eating with Cutlery
Using cutlery to eat, rather than your hands, means you’ll naturally eat slower. You’re also more likely to eat less as you have to pay more attention to the process of cutting and chewing your food. Always put your knife and fork down in between mouthfuls to slow things down; this allows you to notice when you may be full. It’s better than cutting the next mouthful when you haven’t finished the one before.
If you eat too fast, you may eat more calories than your body needs before your body even realizes that you’re full.
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Avoiding Distractions While Eating
When you eat distracted, you’re more likely to overeat or feel hungry again soon afterwards, as your brain has not had the chance to recognize the important signs of fullness.
Practicing mindful or intuitive eating involves paying full attention to the eating experience. It encourages people to eat slowly, savor each bite, and tune in to hunger and fullness cues. Mindful eating also involves being present during meals without distractions, such as watching television at dinnertime or working at a desk at lunchtime.
The Dangers of Skipping Meals
We are all prone to thinking that if we eat less, we’ll lose weight, but skipping meals can lead to overeating at your next meal. This is because your blood sugar levels drop too low, leaving you ‘hangry’, so by the time you do have your next meal you’re so ravenous you’re more likely to overeat.
Remember, our body's ultimate goal is to stay alive. As soon as we are being kept from calories, which are literally the life energy for our bodies, it will do things to survive. Our body knows what foods are higher in energy density, and we will crave those more. Honor your hunger and don’t allow your body to think it's being starved. Research shows that the benefits of fasting - like a potential decrease in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol - typically disappear when the fast is over. This goes against many dieting tactics, but those tactics truly don't work well for people in the long term.
Post-Meal Walks
Walking at a brisk speed for 30 minutes, as soon as possible after lunch or dinner, leads to greater weight loss for some people, than walking for 30 minutes an hour after a meal has been consumed.
Intermittent Fasting
Giving your body a break from food is important when it comes to your health and losing weight. Aim to have a minimum 12 hours natural fast between dinner and breakfast. So, if you have dinner at 8pm, try not to eat breakfast until 8am the next day.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. Generally, these methods make you eat fewer calories overall, without having to consciously restrict calories during the eating periods. This may lead to weight loss.
Choosing Wholefoods
While life can get busy, opting for wholefoods over those that are processed or ready-made can help with weight loss. Processed and pre-packaged foods often contain less fibre and nutrients while having more calories, salt and sugar, all of which may cause you to eat more throughout the day.
Prioritize whole, single-ingredient foods. One of the best things you can do to become healthier is to base your diet on whole, single-ingredient foods. By doing this, you eliminate the vast majority of added sugar, added fat, and processed food. Most whole foods are naturally very filling, making it a lot easier to keep within typical calorie limits. Eating whole foods also provides your body with the many essential nutrients that it needs to function properly. Weight loss often follows as a natural side effect of eating whole foods.
Cutting Down on Artificial Sweeteners
Don’t be fooled by products that claim to have ‘no added sugar’, these products often contain artificial sweeteners instead. Research has found that sweeteners will not only keep your tastebuds sweet, thus increasing sugar cravings, they can also make you feel hungry and lead to you eating more food overall.
Understanding Emotional Eating
If you’re tired, stressed or upset, it’s easy to turn to food to make yourself feel better, even though you may not actually be hungry. This can often happen in the evening after a long day. So, if you find yourself wanting to eat, even though you’ve already had dinner, stop and ask yourself why? There might be a non-food alternative, such as a bath, an early night or chat with a friend that may help you feel better.
Practicing Daily Meditation
Meditation has a number of weight loss benefits. Practising daily may help reduce stress and anxiety, allowing you to cope better and not turn to food as a treat or comfort. Meditation may also help with feelings of low self-esteem as well as making you more aware of those unhelpful habits or behaviours in a calm way.
Filling Up on Fibre
Fibre, quite simply, helps fill you up. When you have more fibre in your diet from foods such as fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans and lentils, they offer greater satiety. Feeling fuller for longer will help you eat less throughout the day.
Fiber-rich foods may help with weight loss. Foods that contain water-soluble fiber may be especially helpful, since this type of fiber can help increase the feeling of fullness. Fiber may delay stomach emptying and promote the release of satiety hormones. This can help you eat less without having to think about it.
Using Smaller Bowls and Plates
One of the biggest challenges with weight loss is portion size. Using smaller bowls and plates will help you naturally reduce your portion size, as long as you don’t go back for seconds and thirds. Remember, the bigger the plate the bigger the meal!
Using smaller plates may help you eat less, as it changes how you see portion sizes. However, more research is needed. In the same vein, using plates intended for portion control may reduce how much food you put on your plate, and thus how much you end up eating.
Reducing or Stopping Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol contains empty calories, which means that you can easily undo all of your good work. In addition, alcohol changes the way in which your body burns fat as your body becomes more focused on breaking down and detoxifying the alcohol instead. This can make it harder and take you longer to lose weight.
Keeping a Food Diary
At the start of your weight loss programme, it can help to keep a food diary. Monitoring what you’re eating and drinking helps you see the balance of your diet and spot where some changes can be made. You may notice certain foods where you can reduce portion sizes for easy wins, or spot where additional healthy foods can be added.
A food journal can help a person think about what and how much they are consuming every day. By doing this, they can also ensure they are getting enough of each healthy food group, such as vegetables and proteins.
Moving More
The good news is, when it comes to weight loss, you don’t have to start training for a marathon or hit the gym. Just moving more in your everyday life will help with your weight loss, increase motivation and make you feel good. Any movement or exercise triggers a release of endorphins that allow you to feel happier, as well as helping you burn a few more calories. Activities may include walking, housework and gardening.
Building Muscle
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, which means that muscle burns more calories. You can build muscle using your own body weight, such as by doing push-ups, or lifting weights. Aim to include two to three weight training or resistance training workouts in your week.
Avoiding Binge-Watching
Being sedentary for too long, like bingeing the latest boxset, has been directly related to weight gain, especially if you like to have snacks while you watch. Try not to watch episodes back-to-back, or perhaps go for a walk in between.
Managing Stress
Stress has a physical effect on the body as well as a mental impact on how you feel. When you’re stressed, the body releases cortisol, a hormone which has a direct impact on blood glucose levels. This can contribute to weight gain. What works to manage stress levels will be unique to you.
Increased stress levels can contribute to weight gain in several ways. For example, chronic stress raises cortisol, a hormone that promotes fat storage, especially around the abdomen. In some people, stress can also trigger overeating. It may trigger cravings for high calorie, sugary, and fatty foods as a coping mechanism.
Avoiding Grocery Shopping While Hungry
Going shopping when you’re hungry will mean you’re more likely to end up in the ‘carbohydrate aisle’. Grabbing something quick and easy or to eat on your way home will lead to extra calories and weight gain.
Ditching the Scales
Weighing yourself more than once a month is an unhelpful behaviour which can alter your food choices in the day. If you step on the scales and the number isn’t what you want to see, despite your best intentions, this may lead you to skipping meals or even comfort eating - neither of which tune into your hunger cues. Your weight may also fluctuate by several pounds during the day (and at different points in your menstrual cycle), this means weighing yourself too often is not an accurate way to assess whether you’re losing weight.
While the scale isn't useless, it also isn't the only thing that matters. To help you gauge progress that might not be reflected on the scale, take regular photos and measurements, in addition to keeping a running list of nonscale victories. This will help keep the scale in perspective and show you all the positive changes you're making to your health and overall lifestyle.
Tracking Body Measurements and Photographs
Noticing how your body is changing is a much healthier and better tool for monitoring weight loss. When you start a weight loss programme, measure different parts of your body such as chest, hips, and thighs, as well as take full-length photographs of your body from all sides. Then, every 4-6 weeks, repeat the process so you can compare like for like. You will more accurately assess your progress and the physical changes that aren’t always reflected on the scales, such as an increase in heavier muscle.
Avoiding Food Labels of Good and Bad
The minute you label a food, such as cakes and biscuits, as “bad” you're more likely to crave them more. Eventually, willpower will give in, and you’re more likely to overeat your “bad foods”. Focus instead on eating well 80 per cent of the time and don’t worry about the occasional piece of cake. This builds a much healthier relationship with food and you’re more likely to create lasting behavioural changes as result.
Drinking Water Before Meals
A 2010 study found that over a 12-week period, individuals who followed a calorie restricted diet and drank a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal lost 44 per cent more weight than those who only followed the calorie restricted diet.
Research has found that people who drank two glasses of water before a meal lost more weight than people who didn’t drink water before meals - and they kept it off. This simple tip works in two ways. Thirst can mask itself as hunger, causing you to eat more. And water makes you feel fuller, causing you to eat less during a meal.
Taking the Stairs
It can be quite convenient to use the lift or elevator when you’re out and about or at work, but try climbing the stairs more. This will help you burn more calories during the day and improve your muscle strength, too, which is good news for your metabolism as well as your fitness. It’ll also up your step count.
Getting Inspired
Whether it’s watching a film that inspires you, creating a vision board using cuttings from magazines or social media platforms like Pinterest, when we feel inspired by others, we’re more likely to take action ourselves.
Avoiding Naked Carbs
This means never eat carbohydrates on their own. Always eat them with healthy fats or protein to ensure that you feel fuller for longer and more in control of your blood sugar. The danger with naked carbs is you could end up craving more sugar or eating more throughout the day.
Focusing on Nutrient Density
While calorie counting may help some people with weight loss, it’s not a perfect science. Calories do not take into account the nutrient density or values of a food. For example, 100 calories of vegetables will fill you up for longer and provide more vitamins and fibre than 100 calories of biscuits which could leave you hungry very soon after eating.
Saying No to the Bread Basket
If you eat out, say no to the bread basket. It’s very easy to begin grazing on carb-heavy bread while you wait for your meal to arrive, plus you’ll likely eat all of your meal too - which of course adds to your overall calories.