ACHIEVE WEIGHT LOSS RESULTS WITH THESE 6 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
Losing weight can be challenging. There are so many diet plans, meal replacements, and shakes available to you that it can seem like the possibilities are endless. The truth is: they aren’t. If you want to lose weight fast, you can take some simple steps to ensure your journey is as consistent as possible.
FIND A BALANCED DIET THAT WORKS FOR YOUR NEEDS
A balanced diet is a key to losing weight fast. Eating a balanced diet will help you to lose weight by helping to keep your blood sugar level stable, which helps to avoid cravings for sweet foods. In addition, it also helps you stay full for longer periods during the day.
You must eat more fruits and vegetables to lose weight fast because they are very filling and contain lots of fiber which keeps you feeling full for a longer period of time.
DON’T FORGET TO DRINK WATER
Drinking plenty of water is a great way to stay hydrated, especially if you’re exercising regularly. Water also helps with digestion and flushing out toxins by helping your body eliminate them through urination.
Drinking water can help burn fat, keep your skin healthy, and even keep your muscles hydrated! If you’re not already drinking eight cups of water daily, try increasing the amount slowly until you reach that goal.
STAY ACTIVE THROUGH EXERCISE
Regular exercise is one of the most important things you can do to maintain a healthy weight, and it’s also one of the best ways to boost your mood.
- Work out at least five times per week: Try exercising for 30 minutes on most days of the week. If you have trouble fitting exercise into your schedule, try doing some kind of exercise in the morning before work or school (for example, walking for 15-20 minutes).
- Choose activities that increase your heart rate: The more vigorous your activity—whether running or swimming laps—the better! Aim to raise your heart rate into its target zone by working up a sweat and breathing hard after about 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
WEIGH YOURSELF REGULARLY
Losing a couple of pounds per week is reasonable, and it’s important to keep track of your progress to ensure that you’re making progress. Weigh yourself on a scale at the same time every day, like right after you shower or first thing in the morning. This will help you accurately account for your weight loss progress and make necessary adjustments. If you aren’t seeing any results after a month or two, try switching up what you’re doing—maybe switch from walking outside to taking an indoor group class at the gym, for example. At Naperville Internist, we offer medical weight loss solutions.
If it takes more than three months for you to lose 10 pounds (5% of your body weight), talk with your healthcare provider about whether there may be another cause for slow weight loss than just diet and exercise alone
GET PLENTY OF SLEEP
Another important factor in weight loss is getting enough sleep. Sleep is a critical component of weight loss, as it helps with digestion, mood and energy levels, metabolism, and more.
The recommended amount of sleep for adults is seven to nine hours. But many people trying to lose weight fall short of this goal. The National Sleep Foundation says that around 1 in 3 Americans has been getting less than the recommended amount of sleep on any given night—and studies have shown that insufficient sleep can have an adverse effect on your ability to lose weight because it interferes with hormone levels as well as insulin sensitivity.
There are many ways you can improve your quality of sleep if you aren’t sleeping well, such as:
- Avoiding alcohol before bed.
- Keep electronics out of the bedroom so they don’t distract you.
- Sticking to a regular schedule when going to bed and waking up.
- Exercising regularly during the day rather than at night.
- Having an environment conducive to restful slumber (no noise or light).
- Limiting caffeine intake after noon.
- Practicing stress reduction techniques such as meditation or breathing exercises.
- Avoiding daytime naps unless necessary due to illness or injury may disrupt normal nighttime patterns.
KEEP YOUR MOTIVATION ON
If you want to lose weight, there is no easy way around it – you must commit to changing your lifestyle and habits. This means being committed, prepared, and realistic about what you can achieve.
COMMITMENT
When it comes to losing weight, commitment is the key ingredient that will help keep you focused on your goal of losing weight and keeping the weight off. You need to be committed long before starting a diet or exercise program because if your mind isn’t prepared for what’s ahead, then chances are that you won’t see much success with either diet or exercise. Without commitment, no amount of willpower will help because once temptations start coming at you, it will be too easy for them to get the better of you when all those cravings kick in!
PREPARE YOURSELF MENTALLY
Try thinking back over previous diets/exercise programs that didn’t work out well for various reasons: perhaps they were too restrictive (i.e., cutting out everything except lettuce leaves), which caused constant hunger pangs which led back into bad eating habits; maybe there was no support group involved; maybe there wasn’t enough understanding amongst family members who were discouraging rather than encouraging, etc. Whatever happened with these previous attempts may not have been perfect, but they were probably better than nothing at all!
The process of losing weight can be difficult, but it is not impossible. It is important to remember that no one way works for everyone, so try out the different methods until you find something that works best for you! If you want to know about other alternatives or you’re dealing with chronic diseases that make the process harder, don’t hesitate to contact our professionals at Naperville Internist. We’ll find the best alternative for your case.