Often times achieving your weight loss goal can be very very difficult. So much so that over the course of time you may just have had enough and throw the towel into the ring. I find that this happens usually when people do not have a solid plan for losing their weight. In this article I’m going to review a few steps to assist you in achieving your weight loss goals.
Tip 1: Forget about dieting. In order to lose weight and keep it off for the rest of your life you have to make lifestyle changes. Sadly I see in my office all of the time people go up and down losing weight and gaining weight because they go on fad diets. People come to me and tell me that they have tried juice diets, fruit diets, high protein diets, etc. and the problem is that they usually gain all of the way back after losing it. So this is why you really do have to make lifestyle changes. Just take one day at a time and try to follow your plan as best as you can. If you make a mistake it’s no big deal. Because this is about making changes that will give you a healthier life and make you skinnier for the rest of your life.
Tip 2: make a plan on how you intend to lose the weight and determie how much weight you really need to lose. You have to have a specific plan if you want to lose weight. Without a plan or a playbook even the best football teams do not succeed.
Tip 3: do not weigh yourself each and every day. Your weight actually does fluctuate throughout the course of the day. Depending on how much liquid you drink and the amount of food you eat during the day you can gain as much as 5 pounds just from all of the food and beverages that you consumed during the course of the day.
Of course the next morning you will go back to your normal body weight if you followed your weight loss plan. Especially with females depending on the time of the month your body weight can vary as much as 7 pounds depending on the time of the month. I usually recommend that you weigh yourself once a week but if you are the type of person that needs to weigh yourself constantly I would say weigh yourself once every other day or every three days.
Tip 4: make sure you are drinking at least 64 ounces of water each and every day. Drinking water decreases your appetite and helps flush toxins and dead cells out of your body. I also suggest that you should drink at least three glasses of ice water every day. This creates a thermogenic effect because your body has to raise its temperature in order to return your body to a normal temperature. Drinking water also increases your overall health.
Tip 5: do not starve yourself. You have to eat small frequent meals throughout the day. I usually suggest that most people eat breakfast within an hour of waking up and that there breakfast consists of good healthy protein, good healthy fats like in avocado or flaxseed or Chia seeds or flax oil were avocados and even a little bit of carbohydrates healthy carbohydrates. And I am just going to remind you that a sugar jelly donut is not a healthy carbohydrate. After breakfast it is a good idea to make sure that you eat some type of protein every 3 – 4 hours.
Tip 6: do not torture yourself. Let’s be real here there are going to be days when you really have cravings for a certain type of food that may not be totally conducive to your weight loss program. I have found that if you are having uncontrollable urges to eat a type of food let’s say for example chocolate that it is always best to have a small portion of that food. So if you are craving chocolate treat yourself to a really good chocolate. Break off a small piece of the chocolate and savor it. Do not gobble it down like you have never eaten before. Let the flavor of the chocolate tantalize your taste buds and do not feel guilty about enjoying it. Please just be sure that you do not eat a pound of chocolate. Just give yourself a small portion as a treat.
Tip 7: snack frequently. Make sure that you have good healthy treats to snack on throughout the course of the day. These include cheesesteaks, almonds, cashews, and my favorite vegetables. Vegetables are the greatest snack that you can have throughout the day to make you healthy and make you skinny.
Tip 8: get a partner. It’s always easiest to accomplish your weight loss goals when you were doing it with a buddy. In our medical weight loss office it is quite common for us to treat family members, coming in at the same time, spouses coming in to lose weight together, coworkers and friends. It’s always a good idea to have someone that you could lean on for support when you need it and hold you accountable to your daily routines that you establish to help you achieve your weight loss goals.
I hope you found these weight loss tips helpful.
If you would like a complementary consultation with us in our medical weight loss office please call us at 215-821-7336 and let us help you achieve your weight loss goals.
