As a result of diets that are very low in calories, based on a single type of food or protein-heavy diets, you lose the weight you want quickly, but after a certain period of time, you are doomed to gain more weight than you lost.
You find yourself in a very familiar vicious circle, don’t you?
In this vicious cycle, it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight and your hopes for weight loss are diminishing day by day. Because the problem is not in the diet, but in the way you live!
Changing your lifestyle is the only way to permanently lose the weight you have gained over the years. It’s not easy to achieve, but you can start by following these 18 tips.
Set realistic goals
Like many people who want to lose weight, you often start a diet, but after a while you find it difficult to adapt to the diet program. Because you don’t set realistic goals for yourself in the weight loss process.
The first thing to do is to set yourself a realistic weight goal. While this goal will always motivate you while dieting, it will also be your guide.
Perhaps you have also thought about setting realistic goals. So what is really realistic?
In the long term, it is best to set a goal of losing 0.5 – 1 kilogram per week. As a result of the wrong diets, you may have lost more weight in a week. Maybe losing one kilo a week will not make you happy, but these kilos you will lose over a long period of time will be permanent. By losing 1 kilogram per week, you can permanently lose 12 kilos after 3 months.
Remember, losing the weight you have gained over a long period of time slowly but surely will save you from this problem completely.
Keep Your Motivation High
“I’m going on a diet tomorrow, Monday, next week, after the holiday!” How many times have you made this promise to yourself?
Even the most disciplined people can give up or change their minds after a short time when it comes to losing weight.
Even though your logic says, “Okay, I’m going to get rid of the extra pounds / I’m going to live a healthier life”, your inner dialogues keep saying, “I’ll never succeed / what if it doesn’t happen again, will my efforts be in vain”. And because our inner conversations usually take over, we are always the losers.
To get out of this cycle, you need to keep your motivation high.
My first advice is not to delay your decision.
Once you have started, remember why you started in order to stay committed. Remember that this process is very difficult at the very beginning, but it becomes more enjoyable as time goes by.
So keep in mind that the more patient you are, the more successful you will be. Keeping yourself motivated will set you apart from unsuccessful people.
Try to find ideas to motivate yourself. Maybe you can keep an eye on the clothes you used to love to wear but no longer fit you, hang old pictures of yourself looking fitter and healthier on the fridge and focus on your goal.
Don’t Neglect Drinking Water
Water is a magical drink that helps you lose weight.
Water helps our body’s metabolism to work, suppresses appetite and is effective in fat burning.
Water, which has numerous benefits, is a natural appetite suppressant and is effective in breaking down stored fat in the body. Studies show that people with reduced water consumption have increased fat stores in their bodies.
It is recommended to consume 1 ml of water for every calorie we take daily, or 35 ml of water for every 1 kg, based on the weight of the person. The World Health Organization reports that women should drink 10 glasses of water a day and men 14 glasses a day to prevent dehydration.
Although the coffee, tea and fruit juices we drink during the day seem to meet the fluid needs of the person, these drinks increase water excretion from the body. For this reason, we need to drink more water when we consume diuretic drinks such as tea and coffee.
Those who forget to drink water will ensure water consumption if they condition themselves to drink water every hour. Likewise, carrying our water with us while working in the office or walking on the street will have a positive effect on water consumption.
You can provide a different way of drinking by flavoring your water with 3-4 peels of cinnamon, a few sliced apples and lemon slices that you will throw into the bottle or jug you have reserved for yourself.
Avoid shock diets
As a general rule, you should avoid fast weight loss diets. The reason is simple: You cannot lose the weight you have gained over the years in a matter of days.
Even though these diets can make you lose weight fast, the weight is lost from muscle and water, not fat as it should be. Therefore, when your body returns to normal, you will gain this weight back and you will be vulnerable to gaining more weight because your muscle mass is reduced.
This is the reason for the rapid weight gain after diets.
Another disadvantage of these diets is that they starve your body. If you starve throughout the day, your blood sugar will drop and you may experience weakness, weakness, fatigue and fainting. Your work efficiency decreases, and your ability to understand and learn diminishes. This leads to a decrease in your quality of life and your body’s resistance, which causes you to gain more weight.
Another negative effect of shock diets is that they slow down metabolism. With such diets, metabolism slows down as muscle tissue is lost rather than fat tissue. Even if some weight is lost, it will be regained at the first opportunity. Even if the person eats less or as much as before, they continue to gain weight. Later diets make it harder to lose weight.
What you need to do is to stay away from these diets, turn to healthier methods and work with a professional.
Don’t start the day without breakfast
Breakfast should be the first requirement to start the day for those who want to lose weight. Many studies show that eating breakfast regularly lowers cholesterol levels, breaks insulin resistance and positively affects physical performance.
Eating breakfast regularly also has an impact on weight control. Harvard researchers followed a group of patients for 10 years. As a result of the research, it was stated that those who did not eat breakfast gained 11 kilograms compared to those who ate breakfast.
In addition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies are not seen in individuals who regularly eat breakfast, and it is also stated that individuals who prefer sleep to breakfast in the morning gain weight faster and face the risk of heart attack.
When you skip breakfast, you tend to consume more fat and carbohydrate-containing foods at lunchtime without feeling full. This leads to higher energy intake than needed and weight gain in the future.
A proper breakfast can include eggs, cheese, whole grain bread, olives, honey, jam, butter or bagels depending on the person’s energy needs. Or a fat-free toast or cold sandwich made with whole grain bread. But not a pastry!
A pastry is usually a choice for a rushed breakfast and 1 of them will never fill you up. But with just one pastry, we meet about 1/4 of our daily energy requirement. In other words, one pastry contains approximately 300 – 400 calories and 20 grams of fat. It doesn’t sound so innocent when you put it like that, does it?
Whole grain cereals, muesli and oatmeal are the healthiest saviors when you need a quick breakfast.
By adding about 4 tablespoons of oatmeal and fresh or dried fruit to 1 cup of semi-skimmed milk, you will start the day with breakfast and make a healthy choice with a meal that you can prepare in less than 5 minutes.
Beware of emotional hunger
Have you ever realized that you eat for your emotions and not for your stomach?
Emotional hunger is a big problem today and is often confused with physical hunger. In other words, hunger, which the body does not need, causes more consumption and leads to weight gain.
The most sensible way out of this situation is to distinguish between these two types of hunger.
So how do we distinguish between emotional hunger and physical hunger?
Physical hunger does not come on all at once, but gradually, but in emotional hunger, the feeling of hunger comes on all at once. You feel like you have to suppress emotional hunger at once, but physical hunger can wait. If you eat to fill an emotional void, you will keep eating even if your stomach is full. On the other hand, if you are really hungry, you stop eating when your stomach is full.
The first step to stop emotional hunger is to stop and ask yourself if you are really hungry. If the answer to this question is no, then you should drink a glass of water. On the other hand, if the answer is yes, wait and assess how hungry you are.
Distracting your mind helps you overcome emotional hunger. You can call a friend for a chat, go out or take up a hobby. Of course you can watch a movie or listen to music without popcorn.
Eat snacks
A snack is a type of meal consisting of healthy foods that are not very high in energy and are eaten at certain and regular times apart from the main meals.
Snacking is one of the most important tricks to lose weight. Having snacks in the diet helps to control blood sugar, speed up metabolism and increase fat burning. Snacks also provide a feeling of satiety, making it easier to control portions at main meals and replenish missing nutrients.
Healthy snack suggestions:
- Skim milk + a portion of fruit
- 1 whole wheat toast + herbal tea
- Coffee with skim milk + 1 dried apricot
- 2 walnuts+1 serving of fruit
Keeping snacks in your bag, in the compartment of your car or in your office drawer will prevent you from skipping meals and consuming unhealthy and weight gaining alternative foods.
Move at work
For many people, working life means inactivity.
Since less physical effort is spent in office environments, protein losses and increases in fat mass are seen after a certain period of time, even if there is no weight gain. That is why movement is so important.
Give yourself excuses to increase movement in the office. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator, prepare your own meals if you have the space, or at least make it a habit to get up every hour and walk for two to three minutes.
If you are going somewhere close outside of work, walk if possible. If you are going somewhere far away, you can get off one or two stops earlier and walk to your destination.
Eat fruit instead of junk food
If you want to lose weight, you have to cut out junk food!
Unhealthy snacks such as fast food, candy, chocolate, ice cream, chips, cola, etc. will never make you lose weight.
But we also need to satisfy our cravings for snacking. Fruits are one of the most ideal solutions for this. Because fruits are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals; they not only fill you up and stop you from snacking, but also keep you full for a long time.
The only thing you should pay attention to with fruit is portions. Although they are healthy, some fruits contain more sugar than others. Therefore, you can consume a handful of fruit as a portion.
Shop for a healthy kitchen
Healthy eating starts with shopping. What you buy in the shop, you consume at home. That is why you should be very careful about shopping.
Making a shopping list is the easiest and most critical step in this regard. Preparing a list in advance will prevent you from spending unnecessarily and buying high-calorie foods.
Choose fresh vegetables and fruits instead of buying packaged products.
Since there are few additives in natural foods, the “Ingredients” list will be simple. Do not choose foods that are too full of ingredients.
If you buy the same foods every time you shop, you won’t get the changes you want and you won’t get the variety of nutrients you need. Choose different options from the same food group from time to time.
Buy low-fat and low-salt foods instead of high-fat and high-salt foods.
Familiarize yourself with the food you buy; be sure to read the label information, production and expiry dates, and nutritional content. Compare similar foods and add the most nutritious one to your cart.
Finally, make sure you are not hungry while shopping. Remember that going shopping when hungry increases the amount of shopping done and leads to filling the basket with unhealthy foods.
Consume Dairy Products
Milk and milk products such as yogurt, ayran and kefir are important sources of calcium, phosphorus, protein, B2, B12 and vitamin D. These minerals are essential for weight loss. Consuming less of these causes the body to store more fat.
For example, calcium is one of the essential minerals found in milk and dairy products. Research shows that adequate calcium intake facilitates weight loss.
The daily calcium requirement of adults is approximately 1000 milligrams. People can easily meet their daily calcium needs by consuming 2-3 glasses of milk and dairy products to help them lose weight.
Low-fat milk and dairy products do not change their calcium content compared to full-fat products. Low-fat sources of calcium are also beneficial for weight control. It is recommended to consume low-fat dairy products in weight loss programs.
Studies show that milk and dairy products in the diets of overweight individuals are a good control provider and are also effective in reducing insulin resistance.
Take a Walk
Walking is an exercise that can easily be done anytime and anywhere. Regular walks will help you lose weight quickly and maintain your physical and mental health.
At the start of a walk, the body first uses glycogen. As the amount of glycogen in the blood decreases, the brain stops using glycogen and starts to break down body fat. On the other hand, the oxygen demand of the muscles increases, at which point the speed of the gait is important to transport oxygen to the muscles.
To ensure that the body burns fat, walking should be done briskly and with plenty of breathing.
Regular walking for 1 hour a day can burn approximately 400 calories, at an average of 5 to 7 calories per minute. This corresponds to an average of 6 to 7 kilograms in 1 year. 20 – 25 to burn body fat. minutes, walking for 1 hour will accelerate the weight loss process.
Consume Healthy Fats
One of the most common mistakes made by those who want to lose weight is to stop consuming fat.
With a diet program without a fat group, people tend to consume more carbohydrates. In a healthy diet, approximately 30% of our daily energy needs should come from fats. Although they are often avoided because they are considered high in calories, fats are essential to keep us full for longer.
Of course, you should be very careful when consuming fat and the right fats should be consumed. The right oils are natural oils such as flaxseed, olive oil, raw almond oil, raw hazelnut, walnut, avocado, sesame, coconut oil.
The fats to avoid are trans fats and margarine. This type of fat is often found in fast-food products and is a major cause of weight gain.
Consume Whole Grain Bread
The first method that crosses the minds of people who decide to lose weight is to give up bread. But like most conventional approaches, this is a mistake. Because our bodies need the carbohydrates and vitamins such as B1 that bread provides.
But not all breads are of equal quality, just like oils. Some types of bread make you gain more weight and are not nutritious enough, while others keep you full longer and provide you with the vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates you need.
White bread is one of the types of bread you should not consume. Because white bread contains simple carbohydrates, it raises your blood sugar levels quickly and you get hungry quickly.
But the so-called brown bread group, such as whole grain, rye and oat bread, keeps you fuller for longer and is more nutritious. That’s why whole grain products are the most reliable and accurate source of carbohydrates for weight loss.
Whole grain breads help control weight by lowering your fat content and prevent your metabolic rate from slowing down. In other words, these breads do not make you fat, on the contrary, they help you lose weight.
Pay Attention to Your Sleep Pattern
When it comes to weight loss, the first thing that comes to mind is regular nutrition, a strict diet and sports. Regular sleep is often missed. Regular nutrition, exercise and sleep are equally important for a healthy life.
People who get insufficient sleep have lower levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety. This drop causes you to feel full later and eat more.
Another negative effect of insomnia is the increase in appetite by increasing the level of the hormone cortisol in some situations that cause stress in the body, such as insomnia. Cortisol is a hormone scientifically proven to cause weight gain.
Therefore, you should pay attention to the time and quality of your sleep. If possible, you should not get out of bed until you are completely rested. If you have trouble sleeping at night, you can take some precautions.
The main one of these measures is to prepare our body for sleep by consuming the right foods after dinner. These foods include warm milk, yogurt, kefir, bananas, apples, apricots, honey, flaxseed and almonds. You can choose flaxseed yogurt or warm milk for your after-dinner snack.
Foods with high caffeine content such as coffee, tea and chocolate should not be consumed close to bedtime. Because caffeine has sleep-inducing properties. This problem is very common especially in our country where tea consumption is high. Therefore, you will have to give up your after-dinner teas during weight loss.
Another measure for quality sleep is to stop eating until 2-3 hours before bedtime.
Reduce Your Portions
Portion control is one of the most effective ways to lose weight without even realizing it. Because no matter how much the portion size increases, we reflexively feel the need to finish it and this habit causes us to consume more.
In order to prevent this situation, reducing the portions even a little bit will help you lose more weight in the long run.
The best way to start with portion control is to use smaller plates. This way, your plate will look fuller and you’ll eat less and feel just as full.
Another method is not to bring large quantities of food to the table and, if possible, not to cook it. Put the amount you need to eat on your plate in the kitchen and never put pots on the table. Even if you are full, if your favorite food is in front of you, you want to finish it.
The same is true for fruits. Choose small fruits instead of large fruits (for example, take a small apple). If you are going to gain two kilos, reduce it to one and a half kilos.
When dieting, pay attention to the amount of food you eat and count it. For example, if you are going to consume hazelnuts for a snack, do not make a decision by eye. If the amount you need to eat is 10 nuts, count it. This will prevent you from taking in unnecessary amounts of food.
There is no magic weight loss diet, food or medicine. You cannot lose the weight you have gained over the years in a few days or weeks. What you need to do is change your way of life and live the rest of your life carefully.
To do this, you need to improve your diet and increase your movement. These changes are difficult to achieve in a day. You should keep your motivation high and make these articles a way of life in the long run!