50 Weight Loss Tips - Day #1 - Lifestyle Changes to Promote Weight Loss

On Day 1 of 50 Weight Loss Tips we look at what dieting really is.

You’ve probably read Garfield say “Diet is DIE with a T”.  He’s right.  It is.  So why think of it as a diet?  It’s not, really.

It’s more about LIFESTYLE CHANGES.

Consider this - your breakfast consists of fast food at around 1,000 calories.  Lunch is fast food, at minimum 1,200 calories, and dinner is around 2,000 calories.   You snack throughout the day - add atleast 1,000 calories.  For the day you’ve eaten 5,200 calories.

If you weight 300 lbs now, and you want to come down to 200lbs, and assuming that you will add enough exercise to qualify yourself as moderately active this is how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight:

200 x 16 = 3,200 calories required to be eaten to get down to 200lbs.

Source: http://www.momscape.com/articles/how-many-calories-to-lose-weight.htm

So how will you cut down 2,000 calories?  Dieting?  Nope, because it is not going to work.  You are going to need to make some serious lifestyle changes.

You CAN NOT continue to eat out.  You must learn to cook at home, and make nutritious meals.  Your choices for snacks can’t be cake, cookies, chips or pop.  You need to eat healthy snacks that will promote weight loss.

By making lifestyle changes, you are changing your habits and putting yourself onto a long-term, successful track to lose weight and maintain that weight loss.

Lifestyle changes means making time to eat well, to exercise and to get sleep.

Lack of Sleep Increases Overeating

Researchers from several separate studies 1 have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two specific hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full.

Source: http://www.thedietchannel.com/Weight-Loss-and-Sleep.htm

The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep

Leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of “checks and balances” system to control feelings of hunger and fullness, explains Michael Breus, PhD, a faculty member of the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and director of The Sleep Disorders Centers of Southeastern Lung Care in Atlanta. Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full.

So what’s the connection to sleep? “When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food,” Breus tells WebMD.

Source: http://www.webmd.com/solutions/sc/link-sleep-weight-loss/sleep-to-get-thin

What Other Lifestyle Changes Can You Make?  8 Easy Tips!

  1. You need to be aware of what you are eating, and you need to count calories.  I don’t mean go NUTS, but be aware that a BIG bag of chips probably has as many calories in it as breakfast and lunch combined (if not more).  http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2002/102_fat.html
  2. Drink plenty of water (and keep coffee, bottled beverages, and alcohol to a minimum level).
  3. Eat small meals more frequently. Have healthy snacks readily available so that you don’t get that hungry that you have to buy junk from a vending machine.
  4. Sit down and eat properly.  Very important, eating on the run will not make you feel satisfied and sub-consciously you will feel that you have not eaten anything.
  5. Eat all food groups in each meal. Remember the food pyramid?
  6. Eat vegetables with each meal.  Vegetables are great filler foods, and many contain the all important fibre to keep you regular.  Vegetables also contain many essential vitamins and other valuable nutrients that your body needs.
  7. Eat whole grains, your body needs fibre.
  8. Get active!  Exercise.  Watercise is great.  Walking is easy and cheap.  Bicycling can also be a lot of fun.  Whatever you decide, just do it and do it regularly.

Lifestyle changes are easy to make.  You look at what you’re doing now, and work on one area at a time.  Start with exercise and getting active, as this is one of the easiest and as you progress and do more and more each day you will not feel like stopping.

Exerise can be the easiest thing to add to your day.  If you work, take a short break to walk a bit and stretch - go to the cooler for water.  Get up and walk to the printer to get a document.  At lunch, go out for a walk - or to even get fresh air.

At home - work around the house; or if that’s not your thing - go outside for a walk.

Start easy - 15-30 minutes daily until you can get to 1 hour per day.

As your activity increases, your hunger will decrease naturally — this is when you start tackling your eating habits.  Again, you can start small - cut back on high calorie lunches, and instead buy a salad for lunch along with a soup and crackers.  For dinner, add vegetables to your meal and cut back on gravies and sauces that add alot of hidden calories and fat to your meal.

For your snacks, slip in some carrots and celery with a light dip to keep things lively.

Alternate between different types of snacks, fruit one day, veggies the next.  Why not try baked PITA?  Simply cut pita bread into bite sized chunks, add some seasoning for taste and bake.  You can even try light margarines that are pre-flavoured.

Try some exotic fruits, or make a fruit salad with exotic fruits like mango, papaya, kiwi and even passion fruit.  There are so many types of fruits out there that you can keep things different from day-to-day.

There are many things that you can do to make a BIG impact to your life.  What have you done?  What will you try to do?  I encourage your participation to help you lose weight and to motivate other readers to do the same!

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Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

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