The interesting thing about losing weight is that many people think that it a one time process that begins when you make changes that get you losing weight and it ends when you have achieved that.
But it can never really be like that as that would only be a short term fix and the solution for losing weight for the long haul is to continue with the changes you have made otherwise you will find yourself back at your overweight self. So, instead of yo-yoing up and down with your weight here are five strategies for losing weight and keeping it off.
1) Strength training exercise works best – People who have allowed their muscles to become weak and flabby burn less calories than they should be. This is why they become overweight and have trouble losing weight. And what’s worse is that they will continue to gain excess fat weight unless they fix up the problem right down at base level.
Losing weight is easier when your muscles are toned
The condition of your muscles is crucial to boosting your metabolism as it is the driver of the metabolic rate. So, for losing weight this is the number one thing you can do to start and keep that process going. Just 2-3 sessions each week are needed but some effort needs to be put into them otherwise the results will be disappointing.
2) Interval training – These are short bursts of all out exercise for 10-30 seconds repeated for 8-12 times and are great for losing weight. The emphasis in on the ‘all out’ bit so the rest periods of one minute or so have to be very easy. An example of this would be 30 seconds of sprinting followed by a minute or more of walking. If you can get at least one session of this in each week it will really help get you to your goal of losing weight.
3) Get yourself healthy rather than dieting – This is the only way achieving permanent weight loss. If you are overweight you are not healthy. A healthy body is not over-fat and has balanced blood sugar levels and fat burning hormones. Only with proper exercise and healthy eating can you rebuild better health for yourself and your body will give up its fat stores.
Think rebuilding health not losing weight
Eating healthy means ditching the processed foods and getting your butt back into the kitchen and cooking from scratch natural whole foods. Eat 4-6 small meals each day that have a portion of quality protein in each.
Forget about losing weight if you continue to eat refined and processed foods that come in packets, boxes, tins or out of the freezer. All of these ‘so called’ foods are full of nasty chemicals that make and keep you fat. If losing weight is important to you then you will need to ditch this stuff for good.
Your new goal is to eat ‘clean’ and it is something that you will get better at the more you do it. Soon you will be shopping around the outside of the supermarket and will rarely venture into the middle aisles as this is where the processed stuff lives.
4) If it goes into your mouth it goes into your journal – This is the way to regain control of your food intake. When you are forced to write down each food item you will see how much of the macro-nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats) it has and will be better informed about its value to your goal of losing weight.
You can use your journal for just a few weeks or for a few days each week to keep you on track. This strategy is one of the most successful tools to get and keep you losing weight. The few minutes it takes each day to do it is well worth it.
5) Allowing yourself some treats – Life is not about deprivation and your goal of losing weight can be achieved with regular treats. Just write it down in your journal and treat is as part of your new eating plan – one that you can live with for the rest of your life.
The long term goal of losing weight can be more difficult than losing it in the first place and that is why you have to make some permanent changes to both your activity and eating habits to make sure it will not come back to haunt you. These strategies will help you and they get easier the longer you do them.
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