With a new celebrity diet on the front of every second magazine and a seemingly endless line of new weight loss supplements promising unbelievable results, it’s hard to escape stories of amazing weight loss.
There are many parts that play a role in successful, long-term weight loss and finetuning these components in our lives is the key to maintaining a healthy weight. Both diet and exercise are key to successful, healthy weight loss, but what is also vital is motivation and putting knowledge into action. The following are some tips to help with healthy weight loss:
Set realistic goals
Setting realistic goals helps keep motivation up, as you can see your progress as you go along. Goals can take a number of forms, it could be a monthly weight loss, a fitness goal, such as being able to jog a certain distance or even a diet or lifestyle goal such as such as making three different meals using legumes in a week.
Make goals specific and able to be evaluated so you can clearly see whether or not you have achieved your goal. There are many factors that play a part in weight gain, so set out diet and exercise goals, reaching and setting new goals regularly is great motivation to keep going. Also, set goals that can be maintained long term, healthy weight loss is about positive lifestyle changes, not quick fixes.
Know what to expect
Now that you’ve set goals and started addressing the factors involved in weight gain, it’s important to know what to expect from healthy weight loss. You’re not going to lose 5kg a week. Expecting this and then it not arriving can be disheartening, which is why it’s important to have realistic expectations.
Healthy weight loss is about steady weight loss which is achieved through a way that is maintainable. For healthy, sustained weight loss, aim to lose about 0.5kg to 1.0kg per week. For the average person, losing more than this in a week could mean simply an extra loss of fluid or worse, a significant loss of muscle, which can make it harder to maintain a healthy body weight.
See barriers and challenges as opportunities
This is real life, so not everything is going to go to plan all the time and you may find some things hard to achieve or difficult to incorporate into your day-to-day routine.
When this happens, it’s important to see these as part of the learning process, as each time this happens you gain more and more information on how you can be successful. Look at the things which have sent you off track.
Did the seasons change and outdoor activities become too difficult? Did your working hours change and motivation to prepare food become lower? Did you become bored with the foods you were eating?
Every obstacle tells you more about what you need to do to be successful and can be incorporated into your short-term goals. If you get bored with your meals, maybe your goal can be to invest in some good cook books, a short cooking course or to investigate some online recipe sites.
If you’re finding it difficult to exercise outside, your goal could be to investigate local gyms, exercise equipment for the home or indoor exercise that don’t require any equipment.
Losing weight is something that is different for everyone, individual needs and capabilities can differ greatly so it’s important to gather as much information as possible. An accredited practicing dietitian can provide advice on diet and an exercise physiologist or personal trainer can be give guidance on physical activity.
Before starting a new exercise plan or making big changes to your diet it is important to discuss these with your doctor to ensure that they are suitable and safe for you.
Your say: Do you find it difficult to lose weight? What barriers do you find hinder your weight loss? Share with us below.
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