15 Top Tips To Help You Lose Weight and Get Fit:
1.Track it. Keep a food diary, online or with an app like MyFitnessPal. Tracking keeps you accountable and studies show that people who keep food diaries are more successful at losing weight than those who don’t.
2. Eat foods that are closest to their natural state as possible. Eat whole, fresh foods in a rainbow of colours. Reduce the amount of processed and packaged foods you consume. Generally speaking, the fewer ingredients, the better the food. Select healthier choices to have on standby in your fridge when hunger pains or emotional eating strikes. For example a bowl of fresh strawberries or blueberries, some crudités and hummus.
3. Cut out or limit alcohol. Many of us enjoy alcohol and you can still be healthy and have a couple of drinks a week. However alcohol contains 7 calories per gram, which is nearly as much as fat and, combined with a high sugar content, this means most alcoholic drinks can sabotage weight loss.
4. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner because skipping meals will lower your blood sugar and cause you to crave the wrong sorts of foods.
5. View your healthy food choices as a lifestyle change. Don’t expect to suddenly adopt perfect eating habits. Create a fail-safe environment in your home by not stocking your cupboards with foods that tempt you too much.
6. Follow the 80/20 rule. Eat healthily 80 percent of the time. Indulge occasionally, but make sure most of your choices are healthy. Follow this rule for exercise too—exercise MOST days of the week!
7. Weigh yourself each week to keep your weight at the top of your mind so you don’t slip off track with inattention.
8. It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound (1/2 kilo). Work on burning more than you take in. Keep in mind that people have a tendency to underestimate the calories they consume and overestimate the calories they burn.
9. Think 1 kilo at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself with your ideal goal weight, some number that seems way out in the distance. Think in 1kg weight loss increments.
10. Eat more greens and make a green smoothie for breakfast…kale, spinach, broccoli, swiss chard, collard greens & more. Greens are full of vitamins and minerals to protect you against disease.
11. Avoid eating after 8pm in the evening and until 8am in the morning so your body has a 12-hour fast on a daily basis.
12. Drink at least 1.5-2.0 litres of water per day. Our bodies are made up of 70 percent water, so staying hydrated is essential for them to function optimally. Start the day with hot water and lemon to alkalise your body.
13. Limit snacks to 300 calories total per day. Try to eat 2-3 healthy snack between meals. People often underestimate how many calories are in snacks.
14. Ramp up the intensity of your workouts. Vary it up by surprising your body with different workouts to rev up your metabolism and break through a plateau.
15. Add some strength-based activities to your weekly workouts. Creating greater muscle mass will also speed up your metabolism.
Footnotes:
The online Momenta Weight Loss Programme with Helena Shirley and Helen Krag runs for 12 weeks from 13 January 2021.
This is one of a series of articles about weight loss, nutrition and exercise. You’ll find more on the blog.