An important part of being healthy and confident is to accept the body you were born with. But that doesn’t mean letting time and a lifestyle of excess take their toll unchecked. No, inactivity and a poor diet will cause all kinds of negative consequences to your health. Your weight isn’t the only thing that matters, but it does matter. Fight your chances of diabetes, heart disease, and other disruptive conditions by taking control of your weight. Here’s what you need to do.
Stay motivated
Emotional and physical health are two sides of the same coin. They have a sort of chicken-and-egg situation going. They both heavily influence one another. So staying positive and motivated is an important part of keeping up your efforts in losing weight. Using pounds (or kg) as goals is good. But so is measuring the practical changes you make to your life. One more piece of fruit or veg a day. One hundred more steps a day. Nowadays, with fitness apps, it’s easier to track your progress than ever. Don’t worry about setbacks, either. Fitness is never about perfection. It’s a process that can be negatively or positively influenced by a whole series of factors. Don’t let a slice of pie ruin your week, either. Accept that you might trip up, but that’s no reason to stop striving.
Whole foods are the way to go
Your diet is a huge aspect of how much weight you’re going to lose, as well as just about every other aspect of your health. Calorie counting is a point we’ll cover later, but it’s not the only important thing. The composition of what you eat matters, too. The best way to make sure that you’re eating ingredients that are the best for you is to source them all yourself. Processed or refined foods are a lot more likely to be high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. They lose their essential nutrients in return for a lot more calories. Nutrition plays a key role in your health, so guarantee it by using whole ingredients.
Watch your portion sizes
As we said, calories aren’t everything. But they are important. You don’t have to give high calorie foods a total miss, all the same. Rather, it’s the size of your portions that you should be more focused on. Excessive amounts of anything isn’t the way to go. Particularly for those of us with a sweet tooth, thinking we can munch on lots of sugary fruit. When you’re preparing a meal, look up the recommended portion sizes. Get used to eating less for dinner and instead spread out your caloric intake in more meals. Make your dinners rely less on staple carbs as well. Sites like http://www.womenshealthmag.com can help you make the correct measurements you need.
Check your cortisol
As we have said, the mind and the body are linked. The same chemicals that cause us emotional trouble are also bad for your efforts to slim down. We have all heard that stress makes you fat. That’s not an exaggeration. The stress hormone, the dreaded cortisol, makes you crave fatty foods by lowering your blood sugar. Fighting your appetite is hard enough already. You don’t need chemicals in your body stacking the odds against you. That’s why, when choosing supplements, look for those that actively help you reduce cortisol. Sites like https://garcinia.com/ can help you source the supplements that do that and help you burn fat.
Look after your heart
Your heart isn’t just obviously vital for keeping you alive. It’s also a key tool in losing weight. It can also be susceptible to the practices of losing weight poorly. Something to avoid is losing weight solely by cutting down on food. You might lose visible fat, but visceral fat remains around your organs. This is a lot more dangerous than having a flabby tummy. Our next tip will help you find the exercise you need to tackle that visceral fat. Improving the health of your heart with your diet helps you better exercise, however. In particular, some of the healthiest heart foods are nuts. A handful of nuts alone, five times a week reduces the risk of heart disease.
Choose the most effective exercises
It’s important that you choose a good mix of different exercises. Toning your muscles is as important as losing weight. That said, if you’re not looking to bulk up, you will focus more on fat burning exercises. In this field, some are a lot more effective than others. Swimming is not only low impact; it’s very high reward. One hour of swimming will help you burn a tremendous 653 calories an hour. If you prefer getting out and about, then cycling isn’t far behind at 508 calories an hour. You don’t have to be stuck in a gym to tackle your weight. Sites like http://skinnywithfiber.org can help you find the kind of exercise that best fits you.
Boost your metabolism
If you’re fighting fat, you’ve probably heard of this before. Even used it as an excuse. Metabolism does indeed play a huge role in how your body processes food and weight. But it is not the end-all and be-all. Nor is it entirely out of your hands. There are a lot of different ways you can boost your metabolism. Drink tea or coffee, for instance. Try the exercise you’re doing at higher intensity intervals. Eat more omega-3 in things like fish and flaxseed oils. Find out your resting metabolic rate and make sure you get enough calories to match it. Going under isn’t good for your metabolism, so be careful with that. Your body goes into ‘starvation mode’ and stops burning fat as much as it can.
A mix of a good diet, good exercise and the right supplements can be just what you need to find the body you’re supposed to have. Make the changes slow, but make them permanent. You want a healthier lifestyle, not just a fad that will come and go.
Hi, I’m Anna the Editor of Beauty and Lace.