5 Hints for Losing Weight

I’ve been on a diet now for about 4 months and have done quite well. My weight loss has been slow, but effective. After following advice from a health professional and reading up on making losing weight successful in the long term, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a few things that need addressing and being mindful over.

Here they are:

1. Don’t weigh yourself every week. In fact once a week is maybe too much. The reason for this is because normal weight loss doesn’t follow a downward line on a chart, like we suppose it does. For instance, if we were losing a couple of pounds a week, water retention, hormones and fibre intake, or lack of, can make your weight fluctuate, by spiking up and down day after day. So instead of seeing the line slowly going down on a chart, it kind of Zig Zags up and down day after day (but still slowly descending). This is why, to weigh yourself everyday can be very off putting. You could lose a pound one day, and put on two the day after. If you weigh yourself once a month, you should see more of a significant loss. I hope that makes sense.
2. If you lose 1 kg, and it doesn’t seem much. Go into your kitchen cupboard and pick up a 1 kg bag of sugar, flour or similar. It’s surprising how heavy it feels and will no doubt give you the incentive to continue with your weight loss journey. Pineapples are a good object to use. Random I know!
3. Limit as much as possible your sugar intake. My partner advised me to do this and it’s quite surprising how much sugar is hidden in food stuffs, which is actually all that your body needs. Adding sugar to recipes, tea and coffee is not good, because it’s just empty calories, which makes you gain weight. So if you can cut out as much processed food as you can, it really helps. My partner is no longer on a weight loss plan, but he got into the habit of eating on the 16/8 fasting plan which really worked for him. He now only eats one meal a day, usually a big dinner in the evening and that’s enough for him. He’s maintaining his weight now. I’ll write a post on fasting in the near future.
4. When you feel peckish in the evenings, don’t reach for the biscuit tin. Eat bananas and fruit to fill you up. Eggs are good and 0% fat natural yoghurt with some pumpkin seeds added.
5. Drink water. Sometimes we may feel hungry yet it could be that we are just thirsty. Water also fills you up. I’m not a good advocate for drinking water, as I find it hard going. Yet, because I’ve made myself  more aware  of it recently, I feel it does quell my hunger pangs. My skin is in better condition too.

An adequate and healthy weight loss, according to the NHS website is around 1 to 2 lbs a week. I hope this advice helps x