Losing weight is not something that happens overnight. There is no magic solution or special pill you can take that will allow you to continue living your current lifestyle while dropping excess weight. Here are 10 important facts about losing weight that everyone should know.
1. You Need To Move A Lot More
Many sedentary people who decide they want to lose weight think that just getting up off the couch a few more times during the day will make some measurable difference. Unfortunately this isn’t the case. Walking the dog or moving around more at work might not be enough to help you lose weight.
It’s always good to move around more, but if you want to lose weight, you will need to move your body a lot more. You may not be able to run a mile your first time at the track or walk 30 minutes, but over time you will build up your stamina and run or walk longer distances, which will result in weight loss.
2. A Healthy Diet Matters
If you want to lose weight but don’t want to change your eating habits, it won’t matter how much you work out. You will not see the results you want unless you change your overall lifestyle. It’s important that you eat a diet rich in nutrients and high in fiber.
Foods that contain protein and fiber will help you to feel full for longer and this will help you to eat less overall. In order to lose weight successfully you need both the healthy eating and the exercise.
3. You Have To Get Adequate Sleep
If you’re only getting five or six hours of sleep a night, this could be the reason you aren’t shedding pounds. You need at least eight hours of sleep a night to regulate hormones, which would help you to make better food choices and not feel as hungry as you would on less sleep.
4. Keeping A Food and Exercise Journal
When you begin tracking your food intake and exercise, you will find yourself wanting to make better choices. You won’t want to write down that you ate an entire bag of potato chips, so you decide not to have them. When you want to skip working out for the second day in a row, you will push yourself to put on your running shoes and get out there, so you can write it down in your journal. When you begin to build new patterns, you don’t like to see them broken and this can be great motivation.
5. You May Need New Friends
If your current group of friends are not people who inspire you to lose weight, you may need to find a new group of friends. This doesn’t mean you need to dump your current group, but the people we surround ourselves with is very important. If your friends aren’t interested in being active and healthy, the activities you engage in with them might be detrimental to your weight loss.
You are most like the people you hang out with the most, so if you do want to lose weight and create a healthier lifestyle for yourself, it’s a good idea to find a group of friends also interested in that lifestyle. This doesn’t have to be a group of real life friends if it’s not something you can fit into your life. There are many online support groups for people looking to achieve the same goals.
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6. What Worked For Someone Else May Not Work For You
Whenever someone has a weight loss success story, everyone wants to know exactly how they did it so they can mimic it and get the same results. Unfortunately what worked for one person may not work for you. It’s better to use what they did as a guideline to how you can begin to lose weight instead of copying their plan exactly.
If you copy their plan and it doesn’t work the same way for you, you may end up feeling frustrated. Each person has a different body and must find what works for them.
7. You Need More Than One Form of Exercise
If would be great if you could just run for an hour each day and lose the weight you want to lose and end up with the body you want, but that’s not quite how it works. The body requires more than just cardio. Weight training, for example, is also important to weigh loss as well as bone and muscle health.
It’s also important to remember that muscle helps to burn more fat, so getting in cardio as well as weight training will help you achieve the results you’re looking for.
8. Water Should Be Your Drink of Choice Most of The Time
Staying hydrated is important to the weight loss process. Water has no fat or calories and will help to keep you feeling full between meals, and drinking a glass of water before each meal will help you eat less. This is especially useful for those who tend to go back for second or third helpings.
Water is also helpful in boosting the metabolism, which is necessary for weight loss. Try replacing your high-calorie drinks such as coffee with water and you will not only have more energy, but you’ll be proactively aiding in your weight loss.
9. The Numbers on The Scale Don’t Tell The Entire Story
Don’t obsess about the numbers on the scale when you’re trying to lose weight. You can weigh yourself before you start your weight loss journey, but never weigh yourself daily. Weigh yourself weekly at most, to keep from obsessing about your progress or lack thereof.
Your weight can fluctuate on a daily basis due to hormones, so the number might not always give a clear indication of how you’re doing. You will be able to tell by how your clothes fit if you are losing weight. The numbers on the scale may not change much, but your jeans will feel much looser.
10. Dieting Never Works
Dieting never works because it’s a temporary solution with temporary results. You cannot fix a weight problem in a matter of days or weeks, only to return to your previous lifestyle habits, and expect the results to last. You will gain back the weight once you stop dieting. It’s a change of lifestyle that will bring lasting weight loss results.
Losing weight does take a lot of work and dedication, but with the right motivation you can successfully achieve your goals. The important thing to remember is that you’re not dieting temporarily to lose a bit of weight quickly. You want to create new lifestyle habits that will help you keep the weight off for good.