If you’re looking to start loosing weight you might find the tips below useful on your journey.
1.) Balanced Meals
An easy way to start losing weight is by viewing and critically analyzing your meals. Are your meals properly balanced and do they suit your weight loss needs. A balanced meal contains around 50% fruit and vegetables 25% Carbohydrates and 25% Protein.
A balanced breakfast consists of oats with low fat milk, mixed berries and banana, plus seeds. This covers all of the areas mentioned above to ensure a balanced meal.
2.) Portion Control
Controlling your portions is important to those amongst us that are trying to lose weight. It may be beneficial to analyze the portions of carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, that you consume throughout an average day. The same can be done for protein to ensure one does not overconsume one or the other.
3. Reduce your Saturated Fat
Saturated fat is found in foods such as meat, full fat milk, butter, yoghurts, biscuits and other processed products. It is important to reduce the amount of this fat in your diet – this can be done by choosing low fat dairy products, such as low-fat milk, or buying leaner cuts of meat and trimming off visible fat on purchased meat.
4. Snacking in a smart way
Snacks usually contains high amounts of salt, saturated fats or sugar, but these snacks can also offer the opportunity to amended ones diet. This can be achieved by adding additional nutrients to your diet – focus on foods such as low-fat hummus with carrot sticks, unsalted nuts, yoghurts or fruit to ensure healthy snacking.
5. Plan In Advance
Cooking your own meals allows you to have control over what you add. If time is limited why not cook meals in advance and freeze or store for a later date. A person can also opt for prechopped frozen vegetables or even tinned items, such as tuna. If time is limited, prep your meals before work to ensure that you do not fall in to an unhealthy eating habit at work.
6. Drink Water
Staying hydrated with at least 2 liters of liquid each day is very important for health, energy, skincare and weight balance. People also often misinterpreted thirst for hunger. Although recent research has shown that one does not have to drink 8 glasses of water each day, it is advisable to substitute water for things such as coffee or sugary drinks. Even conventional fruit juice has high sugar content.
7. Increase Your Exercise
Exercise is important for your overall health, wellbeing and weight loss. The NHS recommends that one gets at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. The guidelines suggest that you spread out this exercise during the course of a week.
8. Try to Avoid Highly Processed Foods
Processed foods contain a high number of calories, saturated fat, salt and sugar. It is important to reduce processed foods in your diet where possible and aim for food without labels or long ingredient lists. The healthier option is to make your own food without using pre-processed foods. Even the most mundane food is often processed. It can be useful to learn about reading food labels to ensure that you are making healthier food choices.
9. Reduce Alcohol Consumption
It is important to be mindful of the amount of alcohol that you are consuming. Many alcoholic drinks contain a high number of calories and sugars. People who drink often do so in unhealthy eating environment like pubs and drinking more often than not goes hand in hand with unhealthy eating habits. While cutting down on alcohol or not drinking at all will not necessarily produce weight loss immediately, it can be a good first step. People who wish to continue drinking can opt for wine, unmixed spirits, or low alcohol beer in moderate quantities.
