Whether you are trying to impress somebody or boost your own self confidence, losing weight can be a good choice if you’re carrying a few extra pounds. However, where do you start? Weight loss is a very personal process, so you may have to try a few things to see what sticks. This article will outline a few steps that you can take on your path to weight loss.
Getting enough sleep every night is actually very important when losing weight. A lack of sleep brings about irritability, an inability to focus and most importantly, a lack of energy. Fatigue brings about both a reduction of physical activity and an increase in behaviors, like overeating, which lead to weight gain.
Steaming foods that you would ordinarily bake or fry is a great way to decrease the fat content in your food. Steaming food will cook it without adding butter or any other unhealthy supplement. Choose fresh foods with lots of flavor,that way steaming or grilling can be a great way to cook your meals without adding fat.
Juice: who doesn’t like it? It’s the sugary, delicious sweet part of the fruit. However, people interested in losing weight might want to cut out the juice. Although derived from natural fruits, most juices have no fiber and little to offer nutritionally in the way of vitamins, with the exception of the high levels of vitamin C found in orange juice. Tomato and V-8 juice fare somewhat better, and are very low-calorie to boot, but both are loaded with salt. So if you want to lose weight, either skip your morning juice in favor of morning tea or coffee, or choose one of the reduced-calorie “healthy choices” juices now on the market. You’ll still get that sweet-tart taste without all the calories.
To help you lose weight, add walking into your day. Do you have children you pick up from school? Simply park a few blocks away instead of picking them up at the front door of the school. Do you commute to work by car? Park as far away as possible from your work and walk the rest of the way. Do you catch the bus to work? Pick a bus stop that is a block or two farther away from your home. Invest a little time and a few dollars for good walking shoes and walk those pounds away by adding additional walking time into your day.
One weight loss tip that sometimes goes unnoticed, is to eat more at the beginning of the day and less at night. Think about it, you need energy to complete your tasks for the day, so it makes sense to eat a moderately large breakfast, a regular lunch and a modest dinner. Plus, it’s a good excuse to make eggs and bacon for breakfast (turkey bacon of course!).
To lose weight you obviously want to stay away from food that is high in calories, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to starve. Don’t worry so much about how much you’re eating, but rather what you’re eating. So stay away from the bad stuff and dig in and eat plenty of low-calorie treats like salads, fruits and veggies to satisfy your appetite.
Blot your pizza. When you order pizza from a chain restaurant, it can sometimes be a little on the greasy side. If this happens to be the case, take a napkin and dab it over the top of your pizza. This will soak up a lot of the grease and could end up saving you around 50 to 100 calories.
When losing weight it is important to set reasonable goals. By trying to lose an excessive amount of weight or trying to lose weight in a short amount of time there can be many negative effects. Apart from disappointing themselves they can risk their own health a consequence that is not worth any weight loss.
Before you go nuts and change your lifestyle all together, try listing all of the things you are doing wrong. What I mean by this, is making a list of the foods you are eating and how much of each food that you are eating. From there, reduce the amount to what best fits you.
Bagel lovers already have an uphill climb in the battle against weight, since a bagel and cream cheese is sort of a dieter’s nightmare. They can cut out 300 calories by substituting one of the reduced-fat spreadable soft cheeses and indulge guiltlessly.
As you can see, weight loss doesn’t need to be a drastic, grueling, and miserable process. With small, measured steps and lifestyle changes, you can make serious progress gradually. Building a knowledge of your body and healthy ways to combat excess pounds is your first step to making a better life!
