I just wrote a blurb to help somebody out of motivation in this Weight Loss Forum and it occurred to me that – despite the hardness of changing deeply engrained habits – losing weight basics are really easy. Here’s the foundation:
The real path to weight loss is through diet and exercise. This means: leave junk foods on the shelf and your TV set off. You need to be healthy and active.
To leverage on your psychology, do the following:
- Eliminate literally all junk food in your home. I mean: thrash it!
- Surround yourself with colorful fresh veggies and fruits. Believe me arranging fruits on your kitchen table will have a wonderful effect on your mood!
Realize that soda and sugary beverages contain an enormous amount of calories (250 for 20 oz.) and virtually no nutrients so try to replace them as soon as possible with pure water or tea.
Try to start your meal with water-rich foods like fruits, soups and vegetables. The water contained in these foods will help you feel fuller and stave off your appetite before you start with more calorie-dense foods.
Also remember to eat slowly and chew your food until it becomes liquid. Besides helping the following digestion stages immensely, this leads to you feeling full without having eaten too much (the signal from the stomach comes with a 10-20 min. delay).
The easiest way to start exercising is with walking. Start off gradually and try to reach a level of 30-45 min. of sustained walk every day. Couple your sessions with stretching and breathing exercises. Once you’re at this level, you can start jogging, or running, or playing sports like tennis or swimming. Another route you can go is interval training and weight lifting…Remember that a pound of muscle needs twice the calories of a pound of fat to “stay there”!
So there you have it: the only way to lose weight once and for all, is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. It may not be easy, I know, but it is – indeed – simple. Think about it next time you ponder if that miracle fat loss program is for you!
