Weight loss is difficult. If it was easy, everyone would be skinny. Proper weight loss means being healthy, and not going for fad diets that work too quickly. These diets only help you to lose water weight, and soon you’ll pick the weight back up, plus more. Instead, making small changes to your daily lifestyle is the best way to make long-lasting effects, and habits that will stay with you for life. With these five tips, you can achieve healthy weight loss.
Stay Away from Dehydration
This fix is easy – just drink more water. Yes, it has no taste and isn’t something to necessarily enjoy, but it will work wonders just by increasing your intake a little bit each day. Coffee and tea are great low-calorie drinks that you are allowed to have, but they can also cause you to be dehydrated. Drinking too much of these will start to make you feel hungry, in which case you turn to the fridge. Often when you still feel hungry after eating a meal, you’re dehydrated.
Be More Active
This doesn’t mean signing up for the gym. Find ways in your regular daily routine where you can add 10 or so steps. If you have to run some errands, park further away and take the stairs wherever possible. When you vacuum your house, take forward lunges or do squats each time you stretch to clean. Again, small incremental changes over time have a profound effect, and it soon becomes the normal way of life. If you have to stand and fold clothes for the next 15 minutes, dance around a bit and have fun with it.
Try a Hormone Diet
A hormonal imbalance can cause a variety of health issues, including an increased risk of developing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Research indicates that seven different hormone types can be used to help with weight loss. By understanding your hormone type, you can change your diet in a way that is specific to your body’s hormonal function. The hormone diet is also known as metabolic renewal and focuses on a diet and exercise routine that is based on your hormone type.
This diet is particular to women, however, because it takes your menstrual cycle into account. By correcting your hormones with a metabolic renewal program, you can improve your sleep, depression, and digestive issues.
Don’t Limit Foods
How many times has someone started a diet only to quit after a week because it was too hard? Most diets call for you to restrict all of your favorite foods, which can be just as bad. You start to crave them more because they become taboo for your diet. Eventually, you give in, but instead of moderating your consumption, you go overboard. You can still enjoy the occasional treat if you don’t have too much. Moderation is the key to any healthy weight loss.
Contrast Plate Colors
This uses a similar trick as to when you use a smaller plate for meals. When there is a high contrast between the color of the plate and the food on it, you tend to eat less. Scientists are still not sure why exactly, but it has to do with the signals in your brain telling you when you’ve eaten enough. Next time you make pasta for dinner, try to eat from a dark blue plate. In general, blue and red are the best colors to choose from.
In addition to these tips, plan your meals for the week. By knowing what you will have for dinner, you cut down the chances that you order out or snack on unhealthy food. Change your mindset to be healthier, not skinny.
