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Strategies for Healthy and Sustainable Weight Loss

Crash diets may be an effective way to lose weight in the short run, but the only healthy and safe way to lose weight and keep it off is to make healthier choices an essential part of life. Here are a few simple and effective changes which, if incorporated into the daily routine, can help lose weight and maintain the weight loss. It can be as easy as a few small lifestyle changes to have a drastic reduction in your waist line.

Drinking More Water

The importance of keeping the body well hydrated cannot be emphasized too much. It is needed for the kidneys to function well and to detoxify the body. If the kidneys do not get enough water, the liver must pick up the kidneys slack to process the waste from the body. Which means that the liver has less time to do its own work, which is to metabolize fat.

Slowing down fat metabolism is obviously not a good thing for someone trying to lose weight. Drinking enough water will easily make the difference between a sluggish metabolism and burning fat like it should.

Also, since people sometimes tend to mistake thirst for hunger, drinking enough water ensures that they eat only when they need to, that is, when they are hungry. Drinking more water also means drinking less soda, juice and flavored drinks, which is a good thing for someone trying to lose weight.

More Satisfying Meals

A meal with more protein in it tends to keep a person satisfied for longer compared to a meal consisting mostly of carbohydrates. Fat, although higher in calories, also will keep you full longer than most carbohydrates. Skip the sugar and potatoes and go for fat or protein to stay full.

As far as the carbohydrates go, complex carbohydrates are more filling than simple ones. Whole grains are more effective tools for weight loss than refined grains. Any processed grain, which would be ‘white’ products like white flour and white bread, are stripped of nutrients and Fiber, making them poor dietary choices.

Adding leafy greens to meals, perhaps as a side salad or even as a main dish, adds bulk and nutritive value to the meal while adding only a negligible number of calories. The same also holds true for broccoli, eggplant, green beans and other vegetables. These all add needed Fiber to your diet, which will help keep you regular and help you fight off hunger.

Moving More

An effective and long-term weight loss plan is all about healthier choices. Such a plan is incomplete without an exercise incorporated into it. Regular exercise reduces the risk for conditions like heart disease and diabetes. It also builds bone strength, stamina and muscle mass. A pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat, even in a sedentary state.

Exercise also helps preserve muscle mass which is already in the body, which is important when the body is undergoing weight loss. If you do not exercise you will lose precious muscle mass along with the fat while trying to lose weight. This will make your appearance worse and over time make your body burn less calories.

Healthy and sustainable weight loss can only be achieved through an all-round plan that can be a part of an everyday lifestyle and takes diligent care of the body’s nutrition needs. It needs to be achieved through changes that can become a part of one’s lifestyle and ensure good health. Without a lifestyle change the weight will not be kept off, and it will come back. Make the long-term changes to be able to keep the weight off for good.