Working on weight loss and you need some fast results? Is it hard for you to lose weight and maintain your loss? Then you probably are resorting to some fad diets which attract you as a fast weight loss solution.
Let me save you some time: Skip those fad diets and head towards healthier options with a guaranteed weight loss that can last for a long time. Losing weight comes to a very simple equation, if you eat more calories than you burn you will end up gaining weight, and if you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight. That’s easy right? Then why don’t we lose weight this easily?
It all comes to the fact that our bodies react differently to calories and food over time. If you lose a kilogram or so for the first week of your diet, this doesn’t mean that you will keep on losing a kilogram every week. Eventually, this weight loss will decline and you will need to cut more calories and incorporate exercise in your daily routine for weight loss results.
For a healthy weight loss with guaranteed results, you should follow a balanced diet that includes all the food groups - grains, milk, proteins, vegetables, fruits, oils - with the suitable quantity of macro (carbohydrates, proteins and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). The balanced diet should include 50% carbohydrates in different forms such as breads, grains, 25% proteins and 25% healthy fats.
Below are some tips that will make you lose weight in a healthy way.
• Aim for your daily caloric intake to be slightly less than or equal to your metabolism, a deficit of 500 calories per day will make you lose 1 kg per week.
• Choose your food wisely.
• Make 50% of your carbohydrate intake per day as whole grains. They will make you feel full as they are high in fibre, will regulate your blood cholesterol and sugar, and will provide you with a variety of vitamins and minerals.
• Go for lean proteins, choose lean cuts of red meat, turkey breast, chicken breast, and incorporate beans and peas, which are high in proteins, in your meals.
• Go for low fat or skimmed dairy products like milk and yoghurt.
• Choose healthy oils and use them in moderation, such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oil that which are rich in omega 3 and omega 6. Cut down on butter, margarine and fried foods.
• Eat a lot of fresh vegetables (4-5 cups a day), they contain lots of vitamins, minerals and fibre, in turn making you feel full, especially if you consume them before your main meal.
• Drink 8-10 cups of water per day. Drink a cup of water whenever you feel hungry, sometimes your brain mistakes thirst for hunger.
• Stop eating before you feel full; it takes the brain 20 minutes to realise that the stomach is full.
• Keep a journal to record what you are eating on a daily basis; this will make you monitor the quantity and quality of your food intake.
• Incorporate exercise in your daily routine, go mostly for cardio exercise to burn this excess fat, and then try some weight lifting exercise to maintain your muscles.
Losing weight in a healthy and sustainable weight does not happen overnight; it requires patience and commitment and cannot be executed with extreme diets that leave you starving and weak and that promise fast results. The above powerful ways will help you achieve lasting weight loss and develop a healthy relationship with food.
With thanks to Reem Abdallah, Assistant Dietician, Health Factory.