It will be very easy to pop a few pills and wake up feeling and looking lighter. Don’t we all wish that weight loss was that easy? But the truth is that healthy weight loss takes time and effort, as well as a commitment to lifelong maintenance. As the Orange County personal trainer I tell my clients that the key to weight loss is that you need to burn more calories than you consume. In other words, eat less and move more.
But this does not mean that you starve yourself. Healthy weight loss is about eating healthy by consuming low-cal energy giving foods, controlling portion sizes, regular exercise, and examining the emotional and social factors that affect our weight. This requires discipline and involves a lifestyle change. People tend to move back to eating fatty foods once they reach their target weight. And when they weigh themselves after a few months, they go on starvation diets. To avoid this yo-yo effect in weight, you need to incorporate healthy eating as a way of living.
When eating healthy, you don’t have to put unnecessary stress upon yourself by being obsessively meticulous about what you eat. Allow yourself an occasional slice of cake or ice-cream. Just because you’re eating healthy, you don’t have to torture yourself. Instead, opt for non-fat sugar-free ice-cream and cut yourself a smaller piece of cake, and not a chunk. Instead of chocolate-chip cookies, go for plain crackers, use unpolished rice, opt for whole fruits instead of fruit juice, and so on. While working as a personal trainer in Newport Beach, I always say that eating sensibly might seem boring now, but when you start reaping benefits, it will be just as rewarding. When dieting, you must not be concerned just with weight loss. You should think of the total well-being- physical and mental – that results from eating healthy. pertaining to losing weight which is why eating healthy is imperative.
In order to lose weight at a steady pace, and to keep the weight off, you need to remember that the body likes slow changes in terms of food and exercise. Crash or fad diets and bursts of strenuous exercise might yield faster results, but will never help in the long term.
For instance, someone who has not exercised for years should not rush into running miles a day or pounding the treadmill. Not only will struggle to do so leave you feeling demotivated, you’re also far more likely to injure yourself. Similarly, diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food that are mostly OK, can lead you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs.
Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities and cell maintenance, you will gain weight. To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. In my job as a personal trainer in Costa Mesa I teach my clients that the most effective way to do this is to reduce the amount of calories you intake and increase your level of activity.
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ou should think of weight loss in terms of permanently changing your eating habits. While weight-loss goals are usually set in term of weeks, the end game is to sustain these changes over months and years. But do remember to introduce these changes gradually. Swap to healthier options. For instance, switch to olive oil for cooking, and spray it on the food. Use good quality non-stick cookware so that you need to use minimal or no oil at all.
If you are overweight, you can’t continue with your current eating habits. It’s not possible to reduce body fat while eating lots of food – healthy or fatty, cakes and sweets. This doesn’t mean you can never have any treats, but you need to learn how to limit these foods to small quantities and for special occasions. Count your calories, and burn as much as you can.
There are no shortcuts to losing weight in a healthy and reasonable way. It may seem slow, but it is sustainable. Here are some ways to reduce calorie intake without feeling punished:
- Replace fizzy drinks and fruit cordials with water.
- Swap whole milk for skimmed.
- Eat less, but eat healthy. While making a sandwich, limit the use of mayonnaise and butter. Opt for spreads that are low fat. Go for a white-meat sandwich than one made of red meat.
- Limit or avoid adding sugar to your tea and coffee.
- Have smaller portions of the food you enjoy. Wait for 15 minutes before going for seconds.
- Cut out unhealthy treats such as candy, sugary biscuits and crisps between meals. Snacking is death of weight control. If you must munch on something, go for celery sticks, fresh fruits, cucumbers and so on.
- Cut down on beer and alcohol.