Obesity is one of the biggest silent epidemics in today's day and age. As of 2018, 1 in 3 adults in America is overweight. To make matters more serious, obesity comes with multiple many additional problems including diabetes, risk of stroke, high blood pressure and many types of cancer. Multiple lifestyle factors have lead to this increase in obesity in recent times, including increased consumption of fast food and decreased physical activity, especially in countries like the USA, Canada and Australia.
Most people start dieting in order to lose weight and may manage to lose a significant amount. However, when people go through rapid weight loss, they also end up lowering their metabolic rate as well so when they decide to return to their normal diet, they end up gaining weight faster than they did in the past. So how much weight should you be losing? The ideal rate of weight loss is about 1-1.5 pounds per week. This rate of weight loss is far more sustainable and healthy for your body than dropping weight as fast as possible. Despite this being a healthier weight loss range, even achieving this is easier said than done, especially with your busy schedule. But, what if I told you that you can simply make a few minor changes to your current lifestyle in order to consistently loose 1 - 1.5 pounds weekly? These next 7 tips will help you loose a healthy amount of weight, feel healthier and love your body more!
1. Move whenever you get the chance
This doesn't just apply to going on a walk in your lunch break but also applies to when you’re home and watching T.V or on your computer. Each time you have a little break do a small 2 minute workout to get your heart rate up and feel a little breathless. Certain other changes you can do are using the stairs instead of the elevator. These small activities if done regularly can surely help burn some extra calories and will also improve your overall physical and mental health..
Ways to implement this tip:
Park your car at the farthest end of a parking lot
Every 30-45 min get off your desk work and walk around the house or your workplace for a few minutes
Use stairs over elevators
Small exercise for commercial breaks on the TV
2. Limit packaged food
Food like chips, processed meat and chocolate bars are all considered processed food. These types of foods tend to taste great and also are quite cheap to buy, this is why people tend to consume them much more regularly. However, there are multiple harms associated with Packaged food. Firstly these types of food tend to have a high amount of saturated fats which can cause heart diseases or significant weight gain. Another component found in packaged food is added sugar. High quantity of added sugar can result in diseases like Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and many more.
Some simple steps that can be taken to avoid packaged food are:
Choose fruits over packaged snacks
Avoid candies and chocolate or limit how often you consume them
When buying snacks get the small size package
3. Check food labels
Often times people think they're trying their best to be health conscious and consume foods they assume are healthy. Despite this, most people rarely, if ever, check the nutrition label. By simply checking out the nutrition label you will you'll have a far better idea of the foods nutritional values and how much of it you should eat. Being aware of what you eat can help you limit your consumption of unhealthy foods.
4.Plan your meals
If possible, spend some time on weekends to plan your meals for the upcoming week. This will help you portion your meals accordingly and also help you make a plan that works best for you. This can be done in multiple ways. Firstly, you can find out the total macros you need each day, any online calculator will work but if you would like a personalized report you can receive it from BergFit macro calculator. After you have your total macro needs for each day, you can portion and plan your meals out accordingly. If you would like you can prepare them before for the whole week and store them in airtight containers.
5. Have a regular time to eat
Try maintaining a regular time or schedule for each meal throughout your days. By doing this, not only will you limit your caloric intake by having specified eating windows, but you also optimize your metabolism. A consistent eating schedule allows your body to adapt to your routine and modulate your metabolism accordingly so you get the most usable nutrients out of every meal.
How to do this effectively:
Schedules meals for each 3 - 4 hours
Portion your meals accordingly
pre plan your meals and have them ready beforehand for each time you decide to eat
Plan each meal with balanced protein, carb and fat content
6. Set realistic goals
People want to stay healthy and lose weight but never think about what they are aiming for or what kind of fitness goals they can set daily. If fitness goals are set daily you can simply try beating your personal best each day which would result in burning more calories, it might result in eating healthier or it might simply result in being more active.
There are number of fitness goals you can set for yourself daily:
Daily step count
Tracking goals for your meals
Time spent on a treadmill
Time spent playing a sport
7. Play sports
If you have interest in playing or watching a sport. Turn this interest into a habit, once or twice a week play a sport of your liking. You can simply find groups that run organized sports clubs online. Sports can be a great way to burn calories compared to simply doing some cardio in the gym.
This has personally worked great for me, I have always found doing any sort of cardio at the gym boring. Each time I play any of the sports that I enjoy, I end up doing more cardio than I can ever do at the gym on a treadmill. This is mainly because I genuinely enjoy playing the sport which also motivates me to push my athletic limits.
Conclusion:
Small changes can give huge results if you stay consistent with the changes and make them into your habits. In today’s society people’s habits are either ruining their health or improving their health. We must build up habits that will be easy to integrate into our lifestyle and eventually compound into results that seem impossible for a lot of people.