As someone who has struggled with their weight most of their life, and has recently been able to overcome these struggles, I want to give you some weight loss tips that will help you if you hate diets and exercise. Aren’t these terrible words. At least when you’re overweight they are. They conjure up all sorts of negative emotions especially pressure and guilt. No doubt if you’re overweight and you want to improve your health you’ve tried to diet and you know you should exercise (should you? read on). I’m here to tell you, however, that a couple of simple shifts in your thinking could help you lose weight and keep it off. It really doesn’t have to be hard.
The basic measure of weight gain or weight loss isn’t actually pounds or kilograms. It is calories. You need to understand this now. If you can successfully stop worrying about your weight and start monitoring your calorie input and output your weight will naturally change. It’s just simple maths and physics. See, calories are the measure of energy in or energy out for our bodies. If we put in more calories than we burn off we gain weight. If it’s the other way around we lose weight.
Calories in refers to the food you eat. Stop thinking about what you don’t eat, or shouldn’t eat. Just think about what you do eat. Did you know that if you eat just 150 calories too many in one day (one too many cookies) you will put on 1 pound every three weeks? So by reverse, if you are not gaining any weight at the moment; if you’re plateaued out, then eating one less cookie, one less dinner roll or one less glass of milk a day you would lose 1 pound every three weeks. Over a year that 17 pounds.
To lose weight by concentrating on the calories in side of the scale you just need to think of simple ways to eat foods with a little less calorie content (a little less energy). Eat more wholemeal bread instead of white bread. Eat more chicken instead of red meat. Drink more water instead of fruit juice. That sort of thing. There are also some simple things you can stop doing to reduce your calorie intake. Stop supersizing your takeaway food. Stop eating a second plate of dessert. That’s all it takes.
To increase your energy output and improve your performance on the other side of the scale you just need to do a little more activity in your daily life. Not exercise – activity. Exercise is something athletes do to ‘train’ their bodies to perform certain movements more effectively. Runners run because they need to train their legs to endure hours of repetition. Cyclists ride because they need to train their bodies to pedal for hours. You probably don’t need to train your body in this way, so you don’t need to jog around the block every morning. Take your dog for a walk instead or go to the park with your kids and fly a kite. These activities are burning calories and they are fun.
Losing weight by learning to balance your calorie intake with your output is much easier and more fun than dieting and exercise and if you just take some simple steps every day, week or month you’ll be healthy, fit and happy in no time. Try switching to low fat milk or diet sodas. Help out an elderly neighbor by offering to walk their dog. Go to a class and learn a sport you’ve always wanted to play. There are a lot of things you can do to start living a healthy lifestyle today. These are the kind of quick weight loss tips anyone can manage.