Our relationship with our weight, especially for those of us who are looking to lose a little, can be fraught with danger. Often, it can seem like it’s about changing numbers more than anything. However, while those numbers do matter (especially calories in vs. calories out), making a sustainable difference in your weight is about a change in your mindset, not just your diet. Here, we’re going to look at the tools and practices you can use to create a lifelong change in your health, not just a temporary change in your waistline.
Balance In Your Diet
Regardless of whatever else you do, a change to your diet is going to be a crucial part of any weight loss effort. However, the mistake many people make is that they are either on a diet or they’re not, and will take part in any bad habit they can as a result. Not only is an overly restrictive diet difficult to keep up, but it can lead to guilt when you fall off the wagon, which can contribute to problems with binge eating. Focus on balance, above all else, including a variety of whole foods, including lean proteins, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and fiber-rich vegetables. It also means allowing yourself occasional indulgences without guilt. Your diet impacts your health in more ways than just weight alone, so you need to think about it in broader terms as well.
Be Mindful About How You Eat
How you eat can be just as important as what you eat, in some ways. If you eat quickly, like many, or you are distracted by your phone or TV, then you are more likely to fall into habits like overeating. Being more conscious of how and why you eat can help you make better choices and prevent mindless snacking. Mindful eating means slowing down, paying attention to hunger and fullness cues, and truly savoring your meals. It involves asking yourself whether you’re eating because you’re hungry or because you’re bored, stressed, or emotional. By being more mindful during meals, you can also become more aware of your own bad eating habits and triggers, making them easier to avoid.
Regular Physical Activity Is Important, Too
When it comes to weight management, diet is 90% of the equation, and exercise is the other 10%. Exercising alone without any changes to how you eat isn’t going to make a major difference. However, that doesn’t mean that exercise doesn’t help. It has a whole host of benefits. The calories you burn when exercising can contribute to weight loss directly; however, exercising also improves your metabolism, helps keep your energy levels up, and improves your mental health, which can also be vital for long-term health changes. Finding a form of movement you enjoy is key to long-term consistency. Whether it’s walking, swimming, dancing, weightlifting, or yoga, exercise should be something you look forward to rather than dread.
Why Stress Management Matters
As mentioned, your mental health can have a deep impact on your health, including your weight management. Stress plays a direct role in how our bodies store and process fat due to the nature of the hormone cortisol. Also known as the “stress hormone,” one of its functions is to trigger cravings for high-calorie, sugary, and fatty foods. Basically, the body perceives a threat and urges us to stock up on energy-dense foods, even if we don’t really need them. Stress can also directly influence our motivation levels. If we’re overly stressed, we’re more likely to slip into bad habits. Developing a stress management strategy is essential for maintaining a healthy weight. Practices such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, journaling, and spending time in nature can help reduce stress and prevent emotional eating.
Sleep Is A Priority
Often underrated, sleep can be more influential in your weight management efforts than you might realise. Sleep is vital for many of the functions that keep us ticking, including the cycle of hormones that regulate hunger and our feelings of satisfaction. What’s more, sleeplessness, like stress, can increase levels of cortisol, which can influence our cravings. Poor sleep also slows our metabolism, meaning our body burns energy less efficiently and, as such, we tend to hold on to more of it. Prioritizing sleep by maintaining a consistent bedtime, limiting screen time before bed, and creating a relaxing nighttime routine can significantly impact weight management efforts. Using sleep routine sites can help you ensure that you go to bed and get up at a time that benefits the body.
Set Realistic And Measurable Goals
Having a goal during your weight loss efforts can be important. Setting something for you to reach serves as a constant and tangible reminder of your motivation, as well as a way to see your progress towards those goals. However, a lot of people set unrealistic weight loss targets, expecting drastic results in a short period, which often leads to disappointment and discouragement. You should instead focus on smaller and more measurable goals, such as increasing your daily steps or cooking more meals at home every week, to help you build lasting habits and ensure you don’t get frustrated by a lack of accomplishment.
Track Your Progress
Longer-term goals, like a certain number on the scales, can be useful alongside your more immediate aims, but you have to ensure that you don’t lose motivation because you’re not seeing results as quickly as you would like. Keep track of your progress. This doesn’t mean you have to weigh yourself every day, but rather look at various measurements like progress photos, exercise improvements (more reps, more steps, and so on), and even how your clothing fits. Appreciating these changes and journaling them can help you appreciate that you are improving, even if you’ve still got a ways to go before you hit your goal.
Talk To Your Doctor
If you have had trouble maintaining your weight management efforts in the past, even with the lifestyle changes mentioned above, then don’t underestimate how valuable it can be to chat with your doctor. There have been significant advancements in medical weight loss treatments, including medications that help regulate appetite and metabolism. What’s more, your doctor might be able to help you identify certain health issues that might be impacting your weight loss journey, like a hormonal imbalance. However, it’s important to keep in mind that no doctor offers a magical bullet that can help you reach and stay in your ideal body. Any treatment they recommend has to be managed in the long term through the same kind of lifestyle changes we’ve been looking at above.
Know That It’s A Journey, Not A Destination
One of the most important aspects of ensuring a healthy mindset about your weight management is to know that it’s not a goal line that you cross and then stop. It’s an ongoing journey and one that’s likely to have some setbacks. As such, it’s vital to ensure that you don’t see any setbacks as a failure but rather an expected part of the journey to learn and grow from. Having a support system makes a significant difference in long-term weight management. Whether it’s joining a gym class, participating in an online fitness community, or finding a workout buddy, social connections provide accountability, motivation, and encouragement.
If you want long-term results, then you have to focus on long-term changes as well. The above tips can help you make the mindset shift that you want, leading to much more sustainable and reliable outcomes.
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