Finding healthy habits for weight loss is not only about stocking your pantry with healthy foods! It can be a challenge if you don’t have a plan in place and guidance to help you achieve your goal. That is why it’s vital to set some habits that you know you can manage as you go. These habits are the things you will find easy to do even without thinking. When you know why you want to lose weight, you set out how to do it and ways to help you get there. These steps involve creating reasonable and achievable smart habits which should include both eating and exercise routines.
It has been found that people who achieve their weight loss goals in general, had set these habits from the start. Weight loss all starts with making small changes to their preexisting routines so that you can sustain them for life. You will begin to see the results if you incorporate these healthy habits into your life every day. Always
One very important thing to remember when you start is that the results will come with consistency and perseverance. Also, keep in mind that for you to lose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit. Recent research has shown that following a meal plan regularly is more important to help you lose and maintain weight.
Your Motivation Is Important
As mentioned above, you have to a clear reason why you want to embark on your weight loss journey. When you have a clear vision, you set up activities and measures to help you get there. You have to find that motivation for you from the beginning with the end results in mind so you can be empowered to keep going. You can get inspiration from different sources but at the end of the day, it all comes back to you and what drives you to keep going. Your successful weight loss journey will depend entirely on your readiness for the challenge both mentally and physically.
Once you set up your roadmap for your journey, you know that if fall off the wheel, there is something to help you restart again and keep going. Never be too hard on yourself, sometimes we fall off or we think we’re not progressing if we don’t see huge results. However, always remember where you came from, how you were at the start, how you’re now and why you want this!
Healthy Habits To Help You Achieve Your Weight Loss Results
The healthy habits suggested below are not exhaustive but would be the key to you getting on track and guide you to your goal.
Set Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals
When you set your goals and start your weight loss journey, you want to achieve them and the best way to do that is to make them SMART. You want to be Specific on what you really want to achieve, the reason why you start this is to achieve this one thing. Then to be able to know that you’re on the right track, your goal has to be Measurable, e.g. lose 5kg.
Your goals should be able to challenge you as this will help you to even learn more about yourself, so don’t make them very easy but realistic and Attainable so you can remain consistent. The next thing is to make sure that what you’re doing to help yourself in this journey is Relevant and important to your cause.
Finally while setting up your plan of action, make sure that you have a clear Time frame for when you want to achieve your main goal, e.g. to achieve the 5kg in one month. When you have a set time frame, it acts as a motivation to keep working hard for your success and it may also help you with your time management!
Your Kitchen Is Key
Your kitchen is where everything happens or starts if you like when it comes to healthy or unhealthy eating! The first thing to do is rearrange your kitchen and set it up for your success in mind. Wherever you can considering your budget, ensure your pantry is stocked up with a lot of healthy meals that would benefit your health. In this way, you lowering your chances of temptation to unhealthy food that will derange you.
So keep the diet busters out of sight. Avoid munching along as you cook, finishing food off kids’ plates or eating from the container as this will lead to you overeating. It’s advisable to use small to medium plates when dishing out and watch your portions in general as this will help you eat less.
Eat Regular Healthy Meals
Find out what works best for you when it comes to your eating frequency. With today’s busy lifestyles, you get derailed easily and end up eating as you go without thinking. Never skip your breakfast, find something easy to make or a healthy shake if you have to. By skipping a meal, you’re inviting the opportunity to overeat when you finally find food. Health habits are all about planning ahead to avoid a fall.
Try to eating away from the TV, computer or anything interfering with your concentration on the food. This will help you focus and notice when you’ve had enough otherwise, you’ll end up overeating. One of the best ways to keep up with this and avoid haphazard eating is to have regular small meals throughout the day. You can have 4 to 5 smaller meals including snacks throughout the day.
Reward Yourself As Your Go
One thing that most people do is wait until they see a significant weight loss results to then reward themselves! I bet to differ and I believe you should celebrate your progress as you, why wait when you can see the evidence? I say treat yourself as you go as this will help you be motivated to even keep going since you know its happening.
Rewarding yourself doesn’t have to be only with food treats, you can go for a massage therapy, buy that pair of jeans with your size or even try a new set of bikini you’ve been dying to buy. It’s all up to you but the idea is to appreciate yourself and your hard work as you continue to work on yourself.
It is your journey and yours only, so you have to find your own ways to motivate yourself to your goal.
Regular Physical Exercise
Regular exercise is one of the key healthy habits to help you become successful and it goes hand in hand with your eating habits. When you exercise, you burn calories, a process that is important for your weight loss. The idea is to remain in a calorie deficit state so you can lose body weight.
When you exercise, you’re aiding your process of weight loss, otherwise, it takes a lot of effort to try and lose weight without any physical activity. Any form of activity to help your body get moving and burn calories will help you. A walk around your block, a twenty minutes run, yoga, light gym session or joining a physical activity class or a dance group are all forms of physical activities.
Someone may ask how much exercise is enough to help you lose weight? Researches have shown that at least 30 minutes a day is enough and obviously essential to your weight loss. You don’t have to do a full exercise for the entire 30minutes, you can spread it into 3 x 10 minutes or 2 x 15 minutes sessions to make it easy, enjoyable and attainable.
So get up and get your body going, find a buddy or workout partner if you need accountability. Find ways to keep moving and go have some fun. As we always hear, your consistency and having the will to keep going is the key to your success.
Have A Record of Your Journey
You don’t master your healthy habits overnight and that is why it is essential to have a plan of what you’ll be doing on a daily basis. Have a record of what you’re eating and any physical activity you’re involved in. This helps keep you accountable and also know where you need to work on more or change things if you have to.
When you keep your food diaries, it’s easy to see at the end of the day how many calories you’re burning, or contained in the foods you eat, this also goes for your exercises. When you consistently start to lose half a kilogram a week, it shows that you’re getting used to the healthy habits you set in place!
It’s also a great way to go back and review where you’ve come from, what you’ve been doing to get you to where you’re today.
Further Reading
In Summary
It is important to note that for any weight loss journey to be a success no matter how small it may be, it requires a lot of planning, readiness and the will have a permanent lifestyle change. The goal should be to focus permanently on moving away from the current lifestyle and that is why readiness is vital.
This includes mental, physical, financial and emotional readiness if the goals are to be successful. As I always say, mindset is everything especially when it comes to weight loss. You will encounter challenges or moments when you feel like you’re not progressing and being mentally strong will get you through.
Have a positive attitude if you want to achieve your results successfully and remain teachable. You have to be willing to ask for help when the going gets tough and if you want to do it alone, it’s still fine.
You may also not be ready to start now and it’s also okay. But find out why you’re not ready and work on getting yourself towards that point of readiness. We all need to live a healthy active lifestyle as we know there are a lot of benefits to that. So it is important to be ready!
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