By Georgiana Baileh
As someone who has struggled to lose weight and keep it off in the past, I totally understand how challenging it can be to find a diet for sustainable weight loss. Luckily, through trial and error, I found the best way to lose weight and keep it off. And if it worked for me, it can work for you too.
A quick search on the internet will lead to a myriad of diets, tips and articles that claim to have the answer to effective weight loss. Please don’t buy into the quick fix, because losing weight the right way is a process.
My personal dieting experience has taught me that unless you find ways to incorporate a diet into your everyday life you can never stay at your target weight.
Here are five tips for sustainable weight loss:
1. Healthy mind healthy body
I truly believe that in order for you to be able to apply any dieting tips to your life you must start with a healthy mind. Therefore, it is important to bring awareness to your eating habits and what led to them. You want to become mindful of the difference between emotional eating and hungry eating. And when you catch yourself in the emotional eating stage, try to redirect your attention to another satisfying activity of your choosing. Or, at least, snack on wholesome foods such as fruits, nuts or vegetables.
2. Get enough sleep
Studies have shown an association between sleep deprivation and obesity. Also, sleep duration affects eating behavior. Not getting enough sleep leads to favoring food intake driven by emotional need, rather than caloric need. So make getting at least 7 hours of quality sleep per night a priority. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up around the same time every morning.
3. Eat the bulk of your calories earlier in the day
This tip may sound like common sense, yet we don’t think about our food this way. We tend to have our heaviest meals at dinner time when our metabolisms slow down. Aim instead for a heavy breakfast and/or lunch and keep dinner light. Avoid sweetened drinks as much as possible, and consume natural juice in moderation. However, do allow yourself the treats you love every now and then.
4. Eat less meat and poultry
If you eat meat or poultry with every meal, start by replacing one meal a day with a meatless option. After successfully doing so for a few days, challenge yourself to eat meat every other day. Ideally, you want to get to the point where you eat meat or poultry only twice a week. Find a meat alternative that appeals to you, such as fish, legumes and vegetables. There are so many recipes available online that can help you create delicious meatless meals. Keep an open mind!
5. Add mindfulness to daily exercise
We all know how important it is to exercise regularly, both for your health and for weight loss. But we also know how difficult it can be to stick to a workout routine. So what I recommend is to become mindful of how much you move everyday. Keep in mind that any type of movement counts, so push yourself to move a little bit more everyday. Take the stairs whenever possible, dance to your favorite songs, take a walk around the neighborhood. Even housework counts!
I am a firm believer in doing everything in moderation in most aspects of our lives, including food. I also believe that mindfulness can be successfully applied to dieting. Being aware of what you eat, why you eat, and how much you are eating at any given time is a great strategy for sustainable weight loss. Please be kind to yourself if you have slip-ups and keep going until you reach your goal. Along the way, you’ll create a healthier lifestyle you can stick to for the rest of your life.
Do you have any weight loss tips to share? Please write them in the comments section.
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Previously published on Inspoplace.com.
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