Losing weight is part of many of ours resolutions. Every year people around the world wish to get fitter year by year and also try to keep up with it by taking expensive gym memberships, or buying running shoes, or simply by switching to healthier diets. But very often, we lose our motivation to stay on track and continue with our resolution. Our New Year resolutions become just another to do list for the first week of January, and then we are fall back to our older ways.
But why does this happen? Why are people not successful in keeping up with their weight goals, or sustaining their weight loss? One of the reasons that many quote for the same is they take up either very difficult fitness routine or unrealistic diet plans to achieve faster results. But only after a few days we get tired and fall back to our old ways. This is also very discouraging and makes people feel that losing weight is not only tough but also boring.
However, losing weight can become fun and also sustainable if done in the right way, with proper guidance. Often times we feel that losing weight means going on boring diets and eating salads the entire day, but that is far from true. Most successful weight loss programs are the ones which take into consideration your dietary preferences, what you like and what you don’t like. Eating regular meals with optimum portion sizes is often enough.
So here are a few tips you can keep in mind while going on a weight loss journey:
- Start with smaller plans. Cut down your goals in achievable targets, so instead of focusing on losing 25 Kgs in a year, focus on losing 500 grams a week. This will also give you motivation and keep you on track
- Don’t rely on just weighing machine, measure yourself up from time to time. Sometimes weighing machines are not the best alternative to measure your success, you may be losing inches but the weighing machine will not show any change as you are losing fat but also gaining muscle.
- Consult a nutritionist who can chart out a diet plan for you based on your dietary preferences. Our body needs certain minimum number of calories to do day to day functions. However how we plan those calories is what makes or breaks the deal. Plan your meals wisely, and consider taking help of an experienced professional.
- Drink lots of water! Yes, don’t forget to hydrate yourself from time to time, aim for drinking 8 glasses of water a day. You can begin with smaller target and eventually increase it.
- Cheat meals are a must. Surprised! Yes, cheat meals are also essential to keep you on track and motivated. Designate one day for a cheat meal and try to include something that you really like to have. It could be a burger, or a pizza or anything that brings joy to you. However, instead of spending the whole day as a cheat day just plan one meal as a cheat meal of the day.
- Start with simple exercises such as walking or brisk walking, yoga, swimming or anything that you really enjoy. If you love walking start by setting smaller targets of a 15 minute brisk walk in the nearby park or 30 minutes stroll in the neighborhood.
- Include weight training in our fitness regime. Experts believe that this will not only help you tone up but also speed up the metabolism and help you achieve your results faster.
Hope these tips will keep you on track and help you keep those extra kilos away.