Being overweight or obese causes several medical conditions like diabetes, heart diseases, high blood pressure, hypertension, and many more. Having an ideal weight and leading a good lifestyle ensures that you are more energetic, free from such medical conditions, and have a well-balanced routine life. Here are some tips to help you achieving your weight loss goals:
- Walk
If you don’t know where to start your weight loss journey from, then consider this to be your first step. Begin walking! Walk to the grocery store, walk to the bus stop or metro, walk to your neighbors. Walking 30 to 45 minutes a day increases your BMR and soon you will start feeling energetic and enthusiastic. Buy a pair of comfy shoes and keep moving. Depending on your body weight, you can lose between 130 calories to 400 calories per day if you take 5000 steps.
- Drink Water
Stay hydrated, drink 2 to 2.5 lts of liquids during the day including plain water and low calorie beverages. There are no calories present in water, it keeps you hydrated, boosts metabolism, flushes body waste, and also acts as an appetite suppressant. All types of energy drinks can give you around 150 calories per drink, imagine you drinking 5 or 6 in a day. Even the packaged fruit juices that you buy have added sugars or artificial sweeteners are harmful in the long term. If you want to have some juice, then squeeze out vegetable juice at home instead of fruit juice.
- Do healthy snacking
We don’t usually count the calories when we are snacking. Packaged snacks comprise of refined flour, sugar sodium, and other ingredients that cause weight gain. Consuming more than what your body actually requires will cause weight gain over a period. So, if you feel hungry in between your meals, consider eating a fruit, some almonds, or nuts instead of reaching a bag of chips.
- Outdoor Activities
Indulging in outdoor activities can make a huge difference in your weight loss journey. Dancing, swimming, mountain climbing, trekking and camping, football, basketball, badminton, cricket, cycling, and many more are some examples of interesting outdoor activities. All of them are extremely effective for weight loss.
- Follow a Good Diet or Diet Trend
There are many types of diets and diet trends that are available online. Most of them are fad diets that claim to be effective for weight loss such as ketogenic diet, low carb diet, Mediterranean diet, and intermittent fasting. Do not follow fad diets blindly, must take advice from a dietician or a medical health professional for th tailor made diet as per your body type and requirements. Whichever diet you choose to follow remember to be consistent to get its complete effect.
- Count Your Calories and Control Portion
The bigger plate or bowl you take, the more you tend to fill it. Use a small plate and bowl. Less food means less calorie intake. Google has every bit of information these days. You must check the count of calorie present in your food. Even healthy foods such as peanut butter, corn, sweet potatoes, etc. can be very high in calories. Such foods must be consumed in a controlled portion. Download a health app and keep a track of your calorie count.
- Sleep for 7 to 8 Hours
A recent study showed that 55% of adults and 89% of children were at risk of being obese because of poor sleep. Our body heals when we sleep, and when we devoid our body of proper rest it fires back. You must get atleast 7 hours of sleep. Sleep is equally important to as exercise and healthy food for effective weight loss.
- Bariatric Surgery
People that are obese and having a BMI of more than 32 kg/m2 can opt for weight loss surgery. As diet and exercise doesn’t give sustainable results in people with >32 BMI. There are different types of weight loss surgery that one can undergo, including sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, adjustable gastric band, and others. You can choose to have any one type of bariatric surgery after you have taken proper consultation from your doctor or an expert bariatric surgeon. Bariatric surgery is an effective tool to help you lose excess weight as well as resolves associated comorbidities. It gives sustainable, long term results, if practiced well.
Follow these eight effective weight loss tips and accomplish your weight loss goals. Good luck to all!!
