We’ve all heard around myths about weight loss and that miracle ways to slim down fast, but we do need to remember there is more to this than just vanity. While any expedition can be physically grueling the most challenging aspects are mental.

Here are some tips to keep in mind before starting your healthy journey:
1. Don’t Drink Your Calories
2. Drink more water, one can never specify enough how much water is beneficial for us, it keeps us full and sometimes we aren’t hungry at all we are just thirsty and our body doesn’t differentiate between the two and we end up stuffing our faces with junk, rather we must stop and try to drink water. Drinking more water leads to the satiation feeling to come early and we are less inclined to pick up a snack between the meals.

3. Don’t look at weight loss as a temporary thing it’s not a diet it is a lifestyle change. If you don’t intend to keep up or it’s unrealistic you won’t be able to do it for an extended period of time, and that means it won’t work for you and you are setting yourself up for failure.
4. It’s worth considering that permanent lifestyle change can be very daunting for people. Thinking short term is the best like “I am not going to eat a burger for lunch today” is easier than saying “I am not going to eat burger until my next cheat day in 6 days”. The trick here is to keep thinking the same thing until your cheat day arrives. Similarly “I am going to work out today” is much simpler than “I am going to work out 5 days a week for the rest of my life”. One has to be realistic in goal making to achieve them, short-term thinking can help you overcome the days of weakness.

5. Walk. Walk as often as you can, walk for fun, walk to the store, walk to work the more you walk the healthier you become and as time goes by it becomes easier to walk longer distances thus your goal of fitness becomes more achievable. 

6. 70% of results come from dietary modifications and if one has to choose between dieting and working out, they should choose the former since accommodating workout in a busy schedule can be tough but controlling what and how much you eat during a busy day comparatively easy. Start with dieting and slowly add in a workout in the routine when you are ready to.

7. Sleeping, being short on sleep can really affect your weight gain. Being functional is not the same as being well-rested. Make sure you get a good number of hours to sleep so as you don’t feel tired and drowsy before your bedtime. Lack of sleep can slow down your metabolism too.

8. Track every morsel of food you put in your mouth, there are various applications available that can help you do that eg: MyFitnessPal, Healthify. Me etc. There is a concept called as CICO – Calories In Calories Out, and only if we stay in a calorie deficit will it affect our weight. These apps have healthy recopies, calories for all the foods, they even have recommended portion size, and exercise calorie counter so you can track your whole day as your food and exercise diary and be aware of yourself.

9. Find a reason or motivation to workout it can be anything

1. a. Do you want to get healthy and avoid the risk of obesity?
2. b. Do you want to look more attractive?
3. c. Do you want to get into a relationship?
4. d. Are you tired of the foot/back/joint pain?
5. e. Are you tired of constant heavy breaths you get when you walk to climb the stairs?

There are so many possible reasons just pick a few and set yourself to work, and whenever you are thinking about overeating or not exercising think about those reasons they will keep you going.

 

10. While obesity is unhealthy in itself, losing weight by crash dieting should not be your primary goal. Your primary goal should be developing healthy eating habits and make them a part of your lifestyle. So no crash dieting or losing weight too quickly, it can cause side effects like hair loss and mental anxiety. Make healthy food and exercise just as important as counting your calories. Once you start looking healthier you automatically think and start looking at healthier food as a fuel to help to get fit. Once you start to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your diet you will start craving for them and that would help you, even more, to be on track.