If you’ve been to weight loss therapy and counseling in Melbourne, you’ll know that experts are always trying to communicate the importance of using healthy and sustainable strategies for losing weight. Fad diets endorsed by skinny and toned celebrities create illusions that with a few simple (and likely far from healthy or even affordable) steps, one can achieve the same look as them. Of course, they leave out the part where they talk about their personal trainers, home gym facilities, access to cosmetic surgeons and more.
So, what are some useful and genuine tips for healthy weight loss? Let’s look at some ideas below.
Tip 1: Eat a Varied, Nutritious Diet
Contrary to popular belief about fasting or performing drastic cuts in daily calories, it’s better instead to favor a varied diet that includes fresh ingredients rich in nutrition. Anything that’s processed, heavily salted, full of trans fats, or packed with processed sugars should be avoided.
Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains is the best way to go, all of which promote a healthy heart, good skin, teeth and hair, as well as a better and healthier figure.
Tip 2: Keeping a Food Journal
The humble food journal has its detractors, but it remains a solid approach to building a healthier relationship with food and understanding just how much one eats during a day. Many people with weight issues claim not to eat very much, and this is because they’ve never really recorded and reflected upon what they actually eat. A journal helps make that stark reality visible and then allows people also to look back and reflect on how their diet has changed and improved over the years.
Tip 3: Regular Exercise
Even just getting up out of your seat and having a walk around your neighborhood is better than nothing. The sedentary lifestyle of being seated for most of the day is more commonplace than ever. We drain ourselves mentally in our office chairs and then come home just to collapse into a bed or onto a couch. Muscle will atrophy if it is not exercised regularly, and your natural level of fitness will decrease over time.
Have you noticed yourself getting out of breath doing things you used to find easy? Maybe you’ve started sweating while eating or when doing the housework. These are all bad signs of an inactive lifestyle. Nobody expects you to become a professional athlete or gain a perfect torso like Chris Hemsworth. Keeping yourself moving and active as possible each day all contributes to healthy weight.
Tip 4: Beware of Liquid Calories
We are often so focused on what we eat that we forget about the various liquids we are putting into our bodies. So much of what we buy that isn’t water is essentially just flavor-enhanced liquid sugar. From your morning barista-made coffee to your late morning can of soda, and the wine or beer you have with your evening meal, the vast majority of drinks out there are just empty calories and might be contributing as much if not more to your weight gain than the food you eat.
Increasing your water intake can boost your metabolism, promoting healthier and more effective digestion. Furthermore, it has zero sugar and zero calories, so you can quench your thirst without ever adding to your calorie intake.
Tip 5: Weigh Yourself No More Than Once a Week
One final problem people have with weight loss is the obsessive and erratic weighing of themselves. Weighing in is a great way to check on progress, but you need to set some standards. First of all, the most frequent you should weigh in is once a week. This is best because it will show genuine results. Whatever interval you set, be it weekly or monthly, be sure to make it at the same time of day, wearing the same clothes.
Finally, remember that the number of kilos moving downward in the course of a year is the only result you should care about. Ups and downs along the way are normal, but a net loss is all you need for a sustainable experience.