Jess Shanahan

How to lose weight while keeping your sanity

Gaining weight tends to happen slowly, over time, and losing weight is no different – it’s closer to being a marathon than a sprint. This can be difficult and frustrating to accept, as most people want to be able to burn off excess fat as quickly as possible.

It’s worth remembering that with a bit of determination and willpower, there are simple lifestyle changes that will ensure losing weight is achievable and sanity is preserved. Here are a few of the most useful tips.

Set goals

In order to ensure there is an end result to be proud of, it pays to set goals once the decision to lose weight has been made. Either choose a target long-term weight, maybe based on a smaller dress or pant size, or aim to lose a little weight, say 10 pounds, in a shorter period.

Either way, record the goal by writing it down and pinning it to the refrigerator (a really good place to post a reminder) or compose a memo on the calendar of a laptop or cell phone that will pop up at regular intervals as a quick prompt to stay focused.

Keep records

A food diary is known to help people eat about 15% less food – just because they’re keeping a record of what they consume. Try this for one week to see how many daily calories are gained from food and drink – most men of average build need 2,500kcal while most women of average build require 2,000kcal – then make an effort to reduce the daily intake by a little each day.

For instance, save 100 calories per day by forgoing that extra glass of orange juice at breakfast or those last three bites of a meal.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to cut down too drastically by saving, say, 500 calories, as this will become intolerable after a few days and most people are likely to give up entirely.

Make it fun

Once organised, it’s time to think about exercise – diet might be 80% of weight loss but exercise is really going to help you along while building muscle and creating tone. This doesn’t necessarily mean heading to the gym every day. Instead, there are lots of exercise options available that don’t require gym membership and can be huge amounts of fun, including walking, running and dancing. What’s more, getting a friend involved, even a virtual one, can make all the difference to motivation and success. If family members and buddies know about a weight loss plan, they’re likely to be mindful and supportive, which can be a big help.

Consider alternatives

Some people turn to diet pills and natural remedies for weight loss, and appetite suppressants may be helpful for those who tend to find extra treats overly tempting, while herbal and green teas will probably not cause any undue harm, and are most likely better for the body than gallons of coffee with cream and sugar. As well as making an effort to improve diet and increase exercise, options are now available for fat melting treatments, sanctioned by the FDA, involving the process of laser fat removal.

(These are drastic methods so consult your doctor before jumping into anything. Any diet pills or treatments really are a last resort. You’d probably get better results from impriving your diet and exercising more.)

The post How to lose weight while keeping your sanity appeared first on Feeling Stylish.


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