Shedding pounds and keeping the weight off is challenging for most adults. Many people set goals to diet and exercise more. Unfortunately, they are unable to keep them due to an inability to change, as well as a lack of will power. Obesity not only hurts your self-esteem, but it can hurt your overall health as well. For example, many health conditions like heart disease and diabetes can be brought on by obesity. If you are interested in losing weight, here are some important tips that can help you achieve your goal.
1. Change Your Bad Eating Habits
Obesity can be linked to genetics. However, oftentimes people become overweight by making poor food choices. For example, diets that are high in fat, carbohydrates, and sugar can lead to obesity. Therefore, the first step in achieving your weight loss goal is to change your dietary habits. Don’t eat out as much. Instead, stay home and cook healthier meals for yourself. Replace unhealthy snacks with more fruits and vegetables. Consult your doctor about the foods you should be eating more of and what you should be eating less.
2. Practice Portion Control
Losing weight and keeping it off is often about limiting how much you eat at each meal. That’s where portion control can help you achieve your weight loss goal. You need to start eating smaller meals. Limit the amount of red meat, carbs, and sugar that you consume as well. Don’t go back for that second slice of cake for dessert.
3. Use a Calorie Counter
In addition to portion control, counting your calories is another important tip that can help you lose weight. That’s because the only way you can lose weight is by burning more calories than you consume. You can download a free calorie counter to use on your smartphone. (Just search the App Store or Google Play). The biggest challenge that many people have when using a calorie counter is estimating the right serving size for each meal. Most people tend to overestimate the correct amount in servings. Therefore, do some research online to find out how to correctly measure a serving of food if you are unsure.
4. Get More Exercise
Dieting alone won’t help most people lose weight. Therefore, you need to engage in physical activities to help your body burn calories. Walking is one of the easiest forms of exercise. However, you need to walk at least 10,000 steps a day to burn a lot of calories. If you are healthy enough, you can try jogging too. Check out your local gym to see if they have any fitness classes that are geared toward weight loss.
5. Keep Yourself Motivated
The last tip to help you achieve your weight loss goal is to stay motivated to follow your diet and exercise routines. That means you can’t give in to the temptation of overeating. Furthermore, you have to be willing to make time to engage in physical activity (to burn calories) each day. Unfortunately, many people do get discouraged and give up trying to lose weight. One way to stay motivated is to set a realistic weight loss goal for yourself. For example, it’s not realistic to lose 20 pounds in a week. However, if you work hard, you can likely lose five pounds. Another way to keep yourself motivated is to find someone else to exercise with.
In short, if you want to lose weight, you must eat healthier meals, as well as limit how much you eat. You can find a free calorie counter to track how much you are eating. Getting lots of regular exercise will help you burn more calories. Don’t let yourself become discouraged and give up.