If you happen to be in the process of trying to lose some weight, then you will be all too aware of just how challenging it can be. Weight loss is a tough thing to get right, and it often needs us to put in the extra work to get it right. Knowing where to start is often one of the biggest problems, so if you are unsure of where you should be concentrating your energy and focus, theses useful tips from fitness blogger
James Adams will help guide you towards your goal.
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First, Why is Weight Loss So Challenging?
Most of the time, the challenge to lose weight comes from a lack of eating properly. A lot of people will exercise hard without really adjusting their eating habits, and when you do that, it naturally becomes much harder to control your weight gain. You
are what you eat – that much is definitely true. So, if you start taking part in the exercise, you also need to look at how much you are eating. Changing your diet is going to become the most important change that you can make. If you are serious about losing weight and want to see any benefit from a workout, then it’s going to become increasingly important that you start looking after your body and watching what you put in it.
If you find yourself in a diet-induced rut, then the tips below are going to help you quickly solve the problem. Instead of just eating the way that you are at present, some small but significant changes can be made. From introducing more water into your diet to eating the right kind of fats, this should help you to make informed choices. The challenge still exists, but at least now you can step up to the plate (no pun intended).
1. Up Your Water Intake
First things first – we need you to start drinking more water. Water is essential to changing and improving your diet, purely because we can easily mistake hunger pangs for the signs of dehydration. If your body is craving something, it might simply just need a drink of water instead of more food to enter the body.
Start drinking water on a regular basis, especially before, during, and after a workout. Energising your body with the right water levels makes a lot of sense, and it will go some way to making sure you feel more physically secure. Avoid using those energy drinks that so many people turn to, as they often contain excess calories and sweeteners or sugars. The first step to eating less and losing weight is to simply start taking in more water as you go about your day.
2. Get Creative in the Kitchen
If you are intent on making a meaningful difference to the way that you live, you need to get a bit more creative in the kitchen. Many people make the mistake of just following basic plans, but in time you’ll grow sick and tired of the same old food. Try and bring out your passion for cooking, using a variety of resources to find more exciting meals to make in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings.
If you start to prepare more of your own food using fresh ingredients, then you’ll start to get the hang of cooking and thus see an improvement in how you go about making food. This is going to help you save money on eating out, and it will also be very useful for making sure that you stop relying on ready-made meals that often do more harm than good. It might mean that you need to spend some more time in the kitchen, but the results are absolutely worth it.
3. Start Your Day with a Protein-rich Breakfast
A great way to start making a meaningful contribution to your quality of life is to start eating more protein in your diet. Eggs make a fine protein diet; simply throw in some vegetables with your scrambled egg and you can start your day with a high-energy, low-release food that is packed with protein.
Protein also helps us to feel fuller, meaning that you might stop snacking so much during the day. If snacking tends to be among your guilty pleasures, this can help you to put an end to that addiction as soon as possible. As research shows,
protein is an essential part of our diet and can be used for weight loss.
4. Carbohydrates Should Be Used, But Not Abused
Most of the diets that you might be tempted to follow are often very harsh when it comes to their take on carbs. Carbs are often one of the first things to go, but in reality, this is not the right way to go. You should instead look to try and make sure that you start using carbs to
help you get leaner. Resistant starch is often found in many carbohydrate-based meals, and this can help you make sure that you actually
eat less, as it helps you stay fuller for longer. Eating much smaller portions with resistant starch in it is sure to have a positive impact on your body, and while you still need to manage your portion sizes, cutting carbs out of the equation isn’t the dream ticket many sell it as.
5. Avoid Fad Diets
If you want to make sure that you start gaining weight and see poor results, then follow a fad diet. There is a reason they are known as 'fad' diets: they are marketed to perfection and become hugely popular as they offer short-term results. Within a few months, though, most people following a fad diet will quickly realise that the diet is doing them more harm than good.
These diets are often not sustainable in the long-term and can put you in a worse mood. The best way to start dieting is to stop trying to follow some set-in-stone plan. Instead, making incremental lifestyle changes like the ones we have suggested here will go a long way to making sure that you see results.
It’s about making the right changes to your day-to-day life, not following a script. These diets tend to be tempting from the offset, but they are usually hard to keep up with and can cause you to actually
gain weight. They’ll also put you off the concept of dieting, and it’s not dieting that is wrong per se, it’s following short-term methods and expecting them to work long-term.
6. Add Saturated Fats to Your Diet in Moderation
You should definitely look to avoid cutting out fat altogether, too. Many diets are far too restrictive and can put our bodies under needless pressure. If you want to have a healthy diet, then it has to include healthy, saturated fats. These are useful because high-fat diets often have you eating things like olive oil foods, avocados, and nuts, which are all excellent for weight loss in a way that can really help you to feel good in a short period of time.
Fats will also help you to feel fuller for longer periods of time, so if you find it hard to curb cravings, you know what to do. Don’t just dismiss the idea of using saturated fats in your diet; they are not the enemy that they are made out to be. Often, they can be pretty good for you in the grand scheme of things when eaten in moderation.
7. Don’t Give in to Pressure from Others
It’s time to stop bowing down to what others suggest, too. If your friends or family are trying to goad you into just coming along for some fast food, then you need to build up the willpower to say no. If you do happen to go, then make sure that there is something healthier on the menu that you can have – and have as little as possible.
Peer pressure is one of the most common reasons why people fall out of a diet and stop seeing success. If you are looking to make sure that your progress is consistent and genuine, then you need to get ready to start saying goodbye to peer pressure. It’s tough work, but you will very quickly get to understand the importance of doing this, and before long, you will start to appreciate those times when you didn’t bow to peer pressure.
8. Making the Right Choices for Yourself
Just like anything in life, there are many ways to help change your eating habits. However, if you don’t put in the work to adjust these habits, they will haunt you and make it hard for you to keep progress consistent. If you are serious about getting into the best shape that you can, then you have to be ready to make crucial changes to your diet.
If you do this, then you will be much more likely to come out the other side in a better mood. There is a lot to learn and a whole lot to change about the way you live, however, the benefits of doing so are clear. You will stop gaining weight, and you will start improving your health. It’s about more than merely shedding off those excess pounds, it’s about making sure you can feel better on a daily basis.
Read more! Explore the rest of our Wellness section.
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