Top 10 Tips for Healthy Weight Loss

Somehow over the years weight loss has come to seem like this “mystical” thing. You need the right diet, the right miracle pills and supplements, the right exercises and a deep understanding of the “secret” to losing weight.

The truth is that losing weight is not as difficult or magical as most of us make it out to be.

In fact, it boils down to one fairly simple concept - and here it is: If you burn more calories each day than you take in, you’ll lose weight. Pretty simple, right? It really is.

It took me a long time to grasp this. I always thought that losing weight had to be complicated or time consuming. I associated it with feeling hungry and being miserable. I certainly didn’t think it could be easy. After all, if losing weight was easy I never would have allowed my weight to creep up well over 200 lbs. right?

It wasn’t until I wrapped my head around the idea that losing weight didn’t have to be as hard as I was making it that I started seeing results. Once I got the concept that all I had to do was make simple changes toward a healthier lifestyle I started to lose weight very quickly.

That’s not to say that I didn’t struggle with parts of it or feel frustrated. However, by learning to change my habits in a gradual way, I was able to stick with it, not give up, and eventually was able to reach my goal of losing 100 lbs. Not only that, but I’ve kept it off for over 8 years now.

So, I’ve decided to put together a list of my top weight loss tips. These are the things that worked for me and that helped me to change the way that I viewed dieting and exercise. Hopefully they will help you, too, so that you can reach your goals. Alrighty, then…here goes:

1. Don’t Do Anything Extreme

Extreme diets, extreme exercise programs, extreme diet pills…in my mind they are all a recipe for failure. Why?

Well, first off, for the most part any weight you lose will be temporary. Most of the weight that you lose on extreme diet programs such as fasts or crash diets is water weight which is really easy to gain back. While it may seem like you are getting results you really aren’t.

Next, extreme diets are very bad for your metabolism. When you don’t eat enough calories your body goes into “starvation mode” and your metabolism starts to slow down since your body thinks you are starving to death. The slower your metabolism the harder it is to lose weight and the easier it is to gain it back. That’s why many of us wind up yo-yo dieting for years.

Finally, extreme programs are difficult (if not impossible) to stick with. Depriving yourself of food, forcing yourself to do extremely difficult workouts, or taking pills that leave you feeling shaky or that do damage to your health are all things that you aren’t going to stick with for the long term. That means that by choosing to do these things you are setting yourself up to fail.

2. Decide if you Need a Diet or Not

Everyone is different when it comes to losing weight. Some people like to do things on their own, while others benefit from the structure of a diet. Think about your personality and how you function best. Do you like planning meals on your own and feel confident that you can make smarter food choices? Or, do you prefer to have a structured diet menu to follow that tells you exactly what to eat and when to eat it?

Either way is fine. Just know yourself and your habits, and then decide whether you want to follow a diet or do it on your own. If you decide you want to try a diet you can check out the diet reviews section to see what all is out there.

My only warning is that whichever option you choose, take the time to learn how to eat in a healthy way. Most diets don’t teach you how to eat so when you go off the diet you can easily fall back into old patterns. While you are on the diet learn about healthy eating and come up with a plan for how you can implement healthy changes into your regular menu when you go off the diet.

The same goes for if you are planning your own meals without the aid of a diet plan. Take the time to get educated on what you should be eating and then plan your meals accordingly.

Remember, your goal isn’t just to lose weight. It’s to lose weight and keep it off and the only way to do that is to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle and change your bad habits to good.

3. Practice Kaizen

Say what? Kaizen? Well, kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that applies particularly well to losing weight.

Essentially, it is the process of making small, continual improvements. Over time these small improvements add up and become big improvements.

How can you apply kaizen to weight loss? Well, quite simply, just choose one small thing that you would like to change. For instance, maybe you want to swap your morning donut for a healthier breakfast each day. Focus just on that one small thing and each day choose a healthier option for breakfast until it becomes a habit.

When you have mastered that, choose another small thing and work on it until it is a habit. Before long, with continuous small changes you will have changed all of your bad habits to good and will be living a healthier lifestyle.

There are a lot of advantages to approaching weight loss this way.

First, since the changes are so small they seem much more manageable than trying to change everything at once. What sound easier - losing 100 lbs. or swapping a cup of yogurt and an orange for your donut each morning?

Second, by taking this approach you are actually changing your habits. What that means is that you are making healthy living a habitual way of living so you will be able to keep it up for years to come without feeling deprived.

Try making a list of all the things you would like to change, being very specific about each one. For instance, instead of “exercise more” choose “walk 15 minutes each day”. Then choose one thing off your list and start doing it. Keep it up until it has become a habit. Once you have mastered that, move on to another thing on your list.

4. Build Some Muscle

If you are like most people you might focus all of your attention on doing cardiovascular exercise like running, walking, biking or aerobics. While cardio certainly is important, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to start building some muscle as well.

Why? Well, the more lean muscle you have in your body the faster your metabolism will run. When your metabolism runs faster it means that you burn more calories all the time - even while you are just sitting around watching TV or sleeping. What that means is that it will be a lot easier for you to lose weight and a lot easier to keep it off.

Add some strength training to your workout. Lift weights if you want, or do exercises like squats, lunges or pushups to build muscle. Remember, too, always check with a doctor before starting a new exercise program to make sure that you are up for it.

5. Start from Where You Are Now

You are wherever you are as far as your current weight and fitness level, and all you can do is start from exactly where you are work from there.

What that means is that you need to plan your diet and exercise based on your current abilities.

For example, if you are 100 lbs. overweight and haven’t exercised in years, you aren’t going to be able to jump in and do huge workouts right off the bat. Instead, you may need to start with smaller workouts and build up to larger ones over time.

In my mind, you’ve got to start wherever you are, no matter what your current abilities or habits, and then keep pushing yourself to progress.

So you can only do a 5 minute workout right now? Great. Do that 5 minutes and stick with it. Before long you can move that up to an 8 minute workout, then a 10 minute and eventually a 20 minute workout.

Just do the best you can at your current ability and keep pushing yourself to grow. Challenge yourself. Build yourself up gradually to the place where you want to be.

Know that each small step that you take toward becoming healthier is getting you closer to being the person you want to be. Don’t get discouraged if you feel like things are moving slowly. With consistent effort you will reach your goals.

6. Make Easy Changes First

It’s so easy to make small changes that make a huge difference. Cutting calories or adding exercise doesn’t have to be miserable or difficult. For some ideas check out 10 Easy Ways to Cut 100 Calories or Exercise for the Person Who Hates to Exercise.

Find painless changes you can make in your life and stick with them.

7. Don’t Judge Your Progress by the Numbers on the Scale

Weighing yourself is one of the worst ways to gauge how well you are doing. Muscle weighs more than fat, so as you get into better shape and add muscle to your body you can be losing inches but not seeing that reflected in your weight.

I’d recommend using a measuring tape to judge your progress instead. To find out how check out Your Smartest Weight Loss Investment - A Measuring Tape

8. Get Rid of Your Fat Clothes

As you start losing weight, don’t hang onto your fat clothes. Why? Well, it’s like telling yourself that you plan to gain the weight back. Or, if you are waiting to buy new clothes until you reach your “perfect size” it’s like telling yourself that what you’ve done so far isn’t good enough. Not only that, but in the meantime you schlepp around in baggy clothes that make you look dumpy and unattractive.

Dress the body you have right now. Always look your best. For more on this, check out the article Get Rid of Your Fat Clothes.

9. Find Ways to Stay Motivated

Start a weight loss journal to keep yourself on track. Workout with a friend. Join an online support group. Take “before” photos and use them to gauge your progress. Pretend-shop for all the cute clothes you’ll be able to wear when you’ve reached your goal.

Make a list of all the reasons that you want to lose weight (to feel great, have more energy, be able to play with your kids, be able to wear stylish clothing, to look good naked, to be healthier…whatever you want) and hang it up where you can see it regularly. Each time you read your list really visualize in your mind how good it will feel to be able to have and do all the things on your list.

Celebrate your successes! Find ways to reward yourself when you reach one of your goals - no matter how small. Try to brainstorm ways to reward yourself without food.

It is important that you acknowledge all the good work that you are doing and all the progress that you are making. It will help to keep you motivated and on track.

10. Allow Yourself to Screw Up

Binged on ice cream after a bad day at work? Skipped your workout for a whole week? So what. Get over it. Forgive yourself and move on. No one is perfect. No matter how far off the bandwagon you’ve fallen, you can always get right back on.

Don’t let screw ups or mistakes derail you from your overall goal. Understand that you are learning a new way of living, and without doubt you are going to mess up on occasion. Just pick yourself up, dust off and get back to it. Beating yourself up doesn’t help you to reach your goals. Be kind and gentle with yourself. Realize that you are only human and that you are allowed to make mistakes.

I hope these tips help you to find your way to your ideal weight and reach your goals. Thanks for reading!