My Top-10 Weight Loss Tips
There are plenty of weight loss advice out there. I have tried to collate the best info you can get into short and succinct tips that you can remember and start implementing straight away.
- Don’t obsess about losing weight—rather than focussing too much on weight loss, concentrate on eating healthily and exercising regularly, then weight loss should eventuate.
- Eat fewer calories—This is an obvious point but worth stressing. You cannot lose weight unless you create a calorie deficit. That is, burning more calories than you consume.
- Weigh and measure weekly—Give yourself the boost of seeing the weight come off by weighing yourself weekly. Don’t do it with any more frequency however as body weight can fluctuate daily due to changes in hydration.
- Do they fit—As an alternative to weighing yourself, have a pair of well-fitting pants that you can try on to gauge if those workouts are helping to slim down and tone up.
- Cut down on sugar—Excess sugar will increase the number of calories consumed in the diet, and cutting down will help curtail calorie intake. Even the sugar in your coffee or tea can really add up over the course of a day. Many foods contain sugar, but the aim is to cut down on foods with extra added sugars that don’t contain any other nutrients like fibre, protein, and vitamins.
- Spot reduction is a myth—If you want a six-pack, don’t spend each workout doing hundreds of situps. You will need to do cardio work to burn a high number of calories too. The same goes for other areas of the body, you don’t lose body fat solely from the area working out, it comes off the body in a general way.
- Portion control your meals—A must for losing weight in a healthy way, use portion control to ensure you are not overeating. For example, the protein or meat portion of a meal should be the size of your palm, the bigger your body the bigger your palm. Aim to fill half your plate with vegetables, one quarter with meat or meat alternatives (e.g: meat, chicken, legumes) and the last quarter with wholegrain cereals and grains (e.g: rice, pasta, bread).
- Use smaller plates—Studies have shown that people serve themselves much larger servings when using larger plates. The same goes for cups and bowls.
- Don’t go hungry—Starving yourself will just prompt the body to slow down it’s metabolic rate assuming there’s a famine so will store fat. It also leads to overeating when you do eventually have a meal.
- Don't go shopping when hungry—Your brain is closely linked to your stomach, so even if you are committed to eating healthy you may be tempted to buy unhealthy food when your body is hungry.
Related Pages
- Other weight loss strategies
- These tips are derived from just a small part of the Fitness Tips eBook 100 Essential Fitness Tips — get your free download
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