Firstly, greetings on your weight loss, we know it has been tough but you’ve yet made it. You must have seen a lot of people gaining those inches back that they lost or some are even trying really hard but are not able to budge their weight on the scale. We don’t want anyone of you all to fall in any of these categories and we have thus come up with some strategies to overcome these twin problems, read more to find out what they are.
Strike the Balance!
Balance diet is the crux maintaining the weight or even getting away from the plateau. Make sure you’re eating all your food groups in the adequate amounts. Include whole and colourful foods every time you fill your plate and make sure there’s protein in some form in at least 3-4 meals/day.
Don’t make exercise your ex!
Exercising regularly is the greatest tool in maintaining the weight and even breaking the plateau. People tend to stop exercising once they’ve achieved their weight loss goals, which is not how it will work. Regular physical activity helps in striking the balance of energy expenditure to energy intake. It also helps in boosting the metabolic rate leading to increase in your skeletal muscle mass and dropping your extra fat mass.Make your exercise routine more fun and keep it in variation, which will make you adhere to it.
A study conducted on 3k participants found that 78% of them were able to maintain their weight loss for a year when they consumed breakfast every day.
It has been observed that regular breakfast eaters have healthier eating habits than those who don’t indulge in that meal. A good and healthy breakfast can prevent you from getting craving for random foods all day and also aids in consuming lesser calories.
Cheat Meals?
It is okay to indulge in your favourite foods once a while but remember to compensate it with more exercise the next day. Just make sure you're not over induging as no amount or type of exercise can out-do the effects of a bad meal. Be wise when you cheat!
Plan Ahead!
Yes, it does sound tedious but as and when you do it, it becomes effortless. This increases your access to healthy foods as the thought put in it is more. The availability of food plays an important role in your process of weight loss as it's not only about choosing the wrong foods but we also skip meals when we don't have access to food. This makes reaching for your weight loss goals even further.
Regularly check your reports
Make sure you are getting your blood checked once in 6 months. There are multiple reasons why you're not losing weight even though you are putting all your efforts like micronutrient deficiencies due to malabsorption or hormonal imbalance!
Some other pointers to keep in mind!
- Make sure you're well hydrated at all points of time. Thirst can usually be confused with hunger which in turn makes you consume more number of calories. Also, drinking enough water promotes satiety.
- Include good quality protein to your diet. Why? Because even though they are providing the same amount of calories as carbs they can keep you full for a longer time. It also helps in increasing metabolic rate which can leading you to the fat loss path.
- Try keeping your stress levels in control as they can trigger poor eating habits and take you to the road you don't want to go back to. Include some meditation, good sleeping habits or music/dance therapy to get the stress meter down.
Losing weight is not only about your diet, it revolves around a lot of factors like physical activity, sleep, mental health and your social environment. You've come a long way, you don't want to leave just because you don't see any changes, remember, that too is a process!
Include the above strategies to your daily lifestyle and see the wonders take place!