Deciding to lose weight comes with many benefits. If you’re overweight, your organs have added pressure on them and have to work harder. You may find yourself with less energy than you’d like. Whatever the reason you have for wanting to lose weight, here are four weight loss do’s and don’ts.
Do: Make exercise a habit
In order to lose weight, you must be physical every day. Our bodies are not meant to be sedentary. If you’re not active, start by going for a twenty-minute walk every day. No excuses. If you’re determined to lose weight and get healthy, you can’t use rain or heat as an excuse. If it’s raining, take an umbrella. If it’s hot, take your water bottle filled with ice. You have to want your goal more than anything. If you already workout, but you don’t do it on a daily basis, that should be your goal. You don’t need to do a workout every single day, but you do want to be active. If you want to lose weight, you need to move your body.
Don’t: Look for quick fixes
If your goal is to lose five pounds in one week, you might be successful, but you won’t be doing it the healthy way and it also won’t last. When you yo-yo diet to lose weight temporarily, it becomes more difficult to lose weight long-term when you want to. When you starve your body of calories even for a short time, it begins to store what you do give it. Your body won’t want to let go of what it’s holding on to in fear that you’ll starve it again. If you really want to lose weight, make it a lifestyle.
Do: Stay hydrated
Drinking water is important to your weight loss journey as well as maintaining your weight. It will help you to keep up your energy, which is beneficial if you want to be more active. Drinking a glass of water before eating a meal or snack will help you to consume fewer calories. This will result in weight loss. No matter what other healthy habits you choose to take on or not, you should always be drinking plenty of water.
Don’t: Forget to portion your food
If you’re trying to lose weight, you might become more aware of what you eat. You will probably focus on eating more fruits and vegetables and less bread and pasta. But if you don’t also pay attention to how much you eat, you’re missing part of the weight loss equation. You want to choose good foods, but you also need to eat the proper amounts of them. While fruits are very nutritious and low in fat, they can be high in sugar. You don’t want to consume too much sugar in any form. You might choose a healthy bread, but that doesn’t mean you should eat more of it. Portion control is an important part of your weight loss journey.
Losing weight requires patience and self-discipline. If you’re not used to the habits of a lifestyle that will help you lose or maintain weight, they will take time to get used to.