10 Lifestyle Tips
Diets are ineffective without the proper lifestyle.
Match your weight loss program, bodybuilding program or anything to transform your body with the correct strategies on how to live your daily life. Here are the factors and strategies to consider:
1. Exercise.
Studies show that exercising for at least 30 minutes a day is best for people who want to lose weight.
Alternatively, trainers suggest that 10 minutes a day can be enough to transform your body. You cannot give the “no time for exercise” excuse.
Discipline yourself into exercising 4 to 5 days a week. Eventually, increase your intensity level every couple of weeks.
Pick exercises that you enjoy. Regular exercise brings wonderful benefits including weight loss, reduced risk of diseases, higher bone density and increasing your lifespan. When you enjoy a sport, there’s not much push needed to keep doing it. Exercise is not about pushing your limit and suffering; it’s about having fun and being healthy all together.
2. Do some weight training.
Weight training builds muscles. Muscles burn fats. On the other hand, cardio exercises are also effective because it burns calories, but doing weight training helps serve as your maintenance to get leaner and healthier. We advise you to increase your weights 5% every couple of weeks.
You can also get into HIIT workouts. HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training are fast-paced workouts proven to burn off tons of calories in a short amount of time.
If you are just getting into fitness, the key is doing it at your own pace. Look for beginner-friendly HIIT. Listen to your body and adjust as needed to avoid injuries.
3. Keep a record.
Keep a tab on your food intake and activities. This document will help plan how to reach your weight loss goal better. Still, do not be too conscious about it.
Don’t overdo it by taking out the fun in what you eat and do. Just keep some information in your head and write it down later in your journal or log book.
Most people know that they should focus on self-care but their lives are moving too fast. Carve out a few minutes of alone time to create two lists: 1- things currently life-giving and make you happy, 2- things that drain the life out of you.
Figure out which of these life-draining activities you can control and begin taking action to decrease the time spent on those activities. Learn how to say no
4. Suppress overeating.
There are underlying factors and reasons behind why you overeat. Learn why you binge so you can control and put a stop to it. If the main reasons are pressure and stress, find other ways to manage those situations and channel your energy more productively.
Also, don’t focus on losing weight, focus on your happiness.
Instead of worrying what not to eat, select food you find satisfying. Deprivation, both in physical and psychological form, can lead to overeating, binging, and eating more of the food you’ve been trying to avoid.
Mood and good food go hand in hand. Good mood can come from eating veggies, fruits, seeds, nuts, fish, eggs, whole grains, legumes, tea, probiotic food as well as dark chocolate. You can’t go wrong with eating for health and happiness.
5. Join a support group.
Create one or find and join a weight loss support group, people to motivate you and back you up with your goal.
Your group must be diverse in nature: create your support group from your immediate family members, close friends, office mates and other pivotal people present in your life. This way, there is always someone who can monitor you wherever setting you are.
6. Make the best food choices.
Sometimes you can’t avoid going to restaurants and fast food chains. If you do, pick the healthier place. Chipotle instead of McDonald’s. And their meals are not normal anymore – they are supersized. From hamburgers, fries to sodas and much more. Watch your portions. Don’t drink your calories.
This is a good time to apply tip #3, keeping a record. While you’re at it, do your best to keep driving by that drive through.
Some people find it harder to eat right, especially their vegetables. If you’re not a fan of kale, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it. Cheryl Rock, PhD, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine says it’s all about finding healthy food you’ll enjoy.
If you are eating foods you enjoy, you are more likely to stay away from less healthier options. But you need to also eat in the right amounts as well.
Instead of pastry snacks, choose fruits. Satisfy your cravings for sweets with apples, apricots, avocado, cantaloupe, grapefruit, guava, kiwi, papaya, strawberries and watermelons.
If you want to eat a huge quantity of fruits in one sitting, combine it with some fats such as olive oil, almond butter as a dressing to reduce the glycemic content.
7. Appreciate small progress.
Pat yourself on the back when you have accomplished little yet consistent progress in your weight loss journey. Arm yourself with facts and be realistic with your expectations. 1 to 2 pounds a week is great progress. Not losing weight in some weeks is fine. Do not be devastated if you gain weight after some exercises.
Muscles are heavier than fats. Gaining weight does not necessarily mean you are getting fatter. You are just getting leaner. More importantly, always be honest with yourself if you have actually gained weight because of fats and not muscles.
The little progress milestones that you might miss include:
- Smaller body tape measurements. Losing even a few centimeters is great!
- Body fat percentage visible in photos: pants getting a little loose, shirts looking bigger on you, etc.
- Workout milestones: We’ve advised you to increase your reps and sets, and if you can add intensity without difficulty, that’s progress!
- Better stability and wind: Climbing stairs has become easier
8. Get enough sleep.
This step we cannot stress enough. Sleep is vital to having good health, ideal body weight, slowing down the signs of aging and feeling good. Yet, people mostly take this for granted. When you don’t have enough rest, your body tries to compensate for the lack of energy by giving you cravings to eat more.
Get enough sleep and you wake up energized and in a good mood.
Getting enough rest will prevent you from snacking to stay awake. Learn exactly how much sleep your body needs. Have some extra zzz’s on the weekends. Observe what this little change can do to your well-being on a daily basis.
9. Don’t skip drinking water.
Choose to drink clear water regularly. It is the best choice to detoxify your system and cleanse waste from your body.
If you think regular water is boring and just can’t get yourself to drink plain old water, try infusions. Drinking enough will help your breathing, bowel movements, and nutrient distribution around your body.
Your water intake will depend on your weight, age, physical activity and the humidity level of your location. There used to be a standard of drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily. However, in 2004, this recommendation was removed and healthy adults were advised to drink according to their thirst.
Remember that food intake also contributes to your fluid intake. Juices, soups, and fruits have high water content. How to know if you need water? If you have dry mouth, dry lips and only urinate a little, you are not hydrated enough.
10. Be healthy, not just thin.
Gaining weight does not necessarily mean getting fatter and unhealthier. Alternatively, being thin does not mean good health. The target is a healthy lifestyle.
Focus your energy on being healthy by keeping a balanced lifestyle through healthy food and exercise. The absence of any of the two results in an imbalance. Imbalance manifests in not just weight gain but other onset of diseases.
Dropping your body fat does not solely rely on undergoing different available diet programs but it is also about choosing the best lifestyle and weight loss program appropriate for your body. It takes research and professional advice to know what the best step is for you.
Never try to do shortcuts in your weight loss processes or you will have to pay the consequences later. The healthiest version of yourself lies between challenging yourself while still giving yourself what you need. A good start is being honest with yourself about what works for you and what simply doesn’t.
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