Are you wanting to effectively lose weight and then clinically keep it off. We all know that attempting to do so can be an extremely time consuming and at times a never ending battle.
You most likely incorporate all of the usual recommended routines, such as: regular and consistent exercise, controlling and then documenting the exact food that you eat, searching for and then creating new healthy recipes, etc.
All of these methods can be effective but also impedes too much on your busy schedule. Not having enough time is the most common excuse for most when they don’t follow through on any diet related commitments.
The following are some of the best time tested strategies which can improve your weight loss efforts. Some may need a little time to implement while others should immediately save you time.
Recording Just The Good Diet Days
One of the worst habits of documenting a diet is that most will not write down everything that they eat, and as a result will experience weight gain. Writing everything down includes all of those “bad” days as well, which are usually conveniently omitted.
This habit of not writing everything down may include: skipping a weekend day of eating at moms house, a day when a party was attended, or any major holiday such as Christmas.
Overeating during these occasions will usually happen more than the regular days, and as a result will significantly contribute to your weight gain.
When you do skip any of these days, you also miss the opportunity to improve on your eating habits under these circumstances. So if you’re going to skip a journal day, pick a day that’s low in calorie intake.
So next time, make sure that you write down your exact food and calorie intake on those days. Doing so won’t take any more of your time, but it will have an impact on your weight loss efforts.
Exercising On An Empty Stomach
One of the biggest mistakes dieters make is exercising on an empty stomach. This especially for those who like to workout first thing in the morning, by jumping out of bed and then immediately beginning their workout regime.
The problem with this is that you’re starting your workout after a 10 hour period of fasting which results in low energy and low blood sugar. As a result, you’ll feel a lot more sluggish during the workout, and get fatigued a lot sooner than if you had eaten something 30 to 60 minutes prior to the workout.
Another popular time to exercise is during the afternoon. What this also leads to is unneeded fatigue which usually increases your appetite for a bigger dinner since your blood sugar is low.
It’s recommended that you eat something which is easily digestible, such as a Kashi bar or a piece of wheat toast, one hour prior to working out.
Beverages Which Contain Calories
If you’re drinking calories, such as: fruit juices, soda, certain sport drinks, or sweetened coffee or tea, the best way to cut down on these calories is by just switching to water with a squeeze of fresh lemon.
Also avoid diet sodas as they have shown to trigger the craving for sugar while increasing appetite. When you do become thirsty, just make a habit of drinking water.
If you enjoy having the occasional alcoholic beverage, that drink should be low in calories. There are beers and wines suitable for this.
Make sure that you also sip slowly and in moderation and mix with club soda if needed. Alcoholic calories do indeed count and can add up, as just two drinks can easily be more calories than the meal itself.
Avoiding Those Tempting Foods Which Are Bad
This can’t be emphasized enough, and that’s eliminating all of those foods that you enjoy which prompts you to overeat. You need to identify these foods you’re always overindulging in, and then throw them out.
It’s okay to enjoy these foods, on occasion, when outside of your home, but it’s recommended that you not have them in your own cupboards.
Feeling Famished
What proper weight control involves is good appetite control. So controlling your appetite means that you should never get extremely hungry or overly full.
Getting too hungry makes controlling your food intake extremely difficult to do. If you also happen to go extended periods of time without feeling that hungry, you may need to consider why you’re internal hunger signals are telling you so.
There are some who don’t feel hunger signals until their intensity levels increase. If this is the case, then it’s recommended you place your eating on a strict schedule. This because your natural hunger signals may be allowing you to become overly hungry, which results in you becoming vulnerable to overeating.
Changing Your Exercise Routine
If you have a habit of doing the same workout routine over and over again on a daily basis, doing so will eventually produce poor results over time. What your body does is it will adapt to it, and then becomes efficient doing so, resulting in burning fewer calories.
So changing up your workout activity, or increasing the intensity, or varying the length of the workout will help. For instance, try shaving five minutes off of your three mile run, or find a different route.
Also, instead of jogging every day, alternate by going swimming, biking, or doing pilates at the gym. Doing these different events shouldn’t take up that much more additional time, but will increase your calorie expenditure.
Cardio Or Strength Exercises
Although some personal trainers may disagree, if you’re determined to drop some pounds, it’s recommended that you do more cardio based exercises over strength training.
Others will claim that you need to continue your strength training but doing so shouldn’t be your main priority, this especially if you’re new to the exercise program.
Although it’s true that building firm muscles will increase one’s metabolism levels, but it usually takes much longer and a higher level of consistency to achieve the same results.
The best approach for losing weight may be initially focusing on cardio, and once you get consistent with the workout routine, begin a strength training program.
It’s common to see those who are wanting to lose 25 pounds, for instance, and all that they’re doing is just strength training exercises or stretching. The result being extremely slow weight loss.
What you need to do instead is get your heart rate up and begin sweating out the toxins for permanent weight loss, and then adopt and keep that active lifestyle.