Do you have a few extra pounds (or more) that you’re hoping to finally lose this year? You’re not alone. Losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. Our biggest recommendation is to keep things simple. Over complicating things and making elaborate plans can be the biggest downfall and reason why people lose their way on their weight loss journey. Keep reading for some extremely easy ways to not only kickstart, but maintain your weight loss goals.
1. Plan Ahead
Make life a little easier. Plan your breakfast, lunch and dinner ahead of time. Even if you don’t pre-make the meals, it can help keep you in a routine and not scrambling last minute to find something to eat. If you can meal prep though, well that’s even better. That way you know you have something healthy in the fridge so you don’t have to resort to something quick and easy (and usually unhealthy.)
2. Eat Whole Foods
With the convenience of fast food restaurants and processed foods in grocery stores, more and more people are turning to easy rather than healthy. Stick to the basics such as animal meats, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and healthy carbs like sweet potatoes. Don’t be scared of any of your macronutrients like protein, fats and carbs because your body requires all of them, just in different amounts for different people. Just make sure they come from whole food sources.
3. Include Cheat Days
Just because you’re making a lifestyle change, doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in your favorite meals or treats every once in a while, in fact we recommend it. Cutting out meals or treats will subconsciously, for many people, make you crave them even more. Setting a day or evening when you get to enjoy your favorite meal or treat will give you something to look forward to and work towards. You certainly can’t out-train a bad diet, but with a little planning for those not-so-healthy meals it can be something you work a little harder for throughout the week.
4. Eat Lots of Fiber
Oats, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, beans, peas and lentils are all great examples of healthy high-fiber foods. The health benefits of fiber are huge—they are great for your gut and digestive system. Fiber also keeps you full longer, which is helpful for the snackers out there.
5. Get Active, Stay Active
Nothing goes hand-in-hand quite like eating healthy and being active when it comes to weight loss. This doesn’t mean you have to be in the gym. The gym isn’t for everyone, and that’s fine. But find something you enjoy, whether it be hiking, skiing, yoga, pilates, running, tennis, whatever your thing is. The more you enjoy doing it, the easier it will be to stay active more often than not.
6. Eat Regularly
While eating the proper foods is important, eating enough is just as important and should not be overlooked. There is this misunderstanding that if you’re trying to lose weight you need to starve yourself, and that is simply not the case. You should aim to be in a caloric deficit, but still focus on getting 3-4 solid meals in every single day, consistently.
7. Drink More Water
With how much of our body is made up of water, this one is an obvious one when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes thirst can even be masked as hunger, and extra snacking calories can be taken in when all that was really needed was a glass of water. Along with that, water is necessary for normal, everyday bodily functions. Being hydrated is important for things such as proper cell functions in your body, maintaining core body temperature and flushing out waste from your body.
8. Don’t Underestimate Food Labels
Read those food labels! More than likely there are some underlying ingredients you probably didn’t even know were in your favorite foods, especially in the foods that claim to be fat-free, sugar-free or low calorie. Take the time to check food labels out.
9. Limit Alcohol Intake
This can be the hardest tip for many people looking to lose weight. The occasional glass of wine or two isn’t terrible, but consistently having more than that can hurt you. Drinking can damage tissues in your digestive tract over time, making it more challenging for your body to digest foods and breakdown and absorb vitamins and minerals necessary for good health. Take a break from alcohol to help your body work better and make it easier to lose pounds.
10. Fill Up on Fruits and Vegetables
Some very obvious advice that most of us often forget is to eat our fruits and veggies. They are low in calories and very high in fiber, which can be extremely beneficial in any weight loss journey. Fruit and vegetables are great low calorie snacks, just be sure not to overdue it on fruit since they can be high in sugar.
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Looking for more healthy lifestyle tips? Check out 8 Easy Ways to Take Better Care of Yourself in 2019. And follow us on Facebook for inspiration to keep you going throughout the year!
Featured photo by Peter Conlan on Unsplashh
