You Have to Change Your Life Style to Lose Weight. Otherwise It Will Never Happen!

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“Successful weight loss takes programming, not willpower.”

Phil McGraw

Losing weight is a big challenge. It needs discipline, dedication, determination and time. You will need all these four items in order to be successful—meaning, you do need to change your life style to lose weight. Sometimes it is even a bigger challenge not knowing how to start. This article is here to put things together for you and give you a nice start up with baby steps.

1. Don’t do trial & error with yourself to lose weight

Well, don’t go like “I will try to lose weight” or “I will start dieting and see how it goes.” There is no gray area. You either want to lose weight or you don’t. You are either dedicated to lose weight or you are not. You either WILL lose weight or… you won’t. If you try to lose weight, you will give it up. You will fail. You know why? Because you didn’t start it up as a dedicated person. You didn’t say “I want to lose weight and I will lose weight.” Put your best foot and give yourself a good chance.

Be a loser on this one, but on the winning side. 😊

2. Don’t expect a miracle too soon

Weight loss does not happen overnight. Understand that this is a set of planning and programming that needs time. Don’t jump onto scale every single day. It should be once a week or once in ten days. Depending on your metabolism, if you are losing a pound (or half a kilo) in a week to ten days you are on the right track. 

3. Sleep, sleep, sleep

Without getting enough sleep, you may actually gain weight instead of losing weight. Here is why:

4. Don’t skip breakfast

As cliché as it sounds, this is a must if you want to lose weight. I don’t care if you don’t feel hungry when you get up or if you don’t have time for breakfast; you must have your breakfast in the mornings, period. See, this is what changing life style means. You have to adopt what it takes and you have to adjust your routine. You don’t feel hungry in the morning? Fine. Pack your breakfast and take it with you. Find a place with healthy breakfast options on the way to school or work and grab a bite for breakfast. You don’t have time for breakfast in the mornings? Okay, here is a solution. Prepare your breakfast (something healthy that won’t need time to be cooked) from the night before and just grab it from the fridge in the morning. Oats with milk or wheat bread and cheese will do it. As long as you eat something. You just need to get up 10 minutes earlier. The point is, those are just excuses. Do it right. Play by the rules. Focus on the big prize.

5. Cut sugar out completely

Seriously, this is another fact that you need to adopt as a part of your life style. Sugar messes with your insulin level which makes you fat. How? Take a look at the video:

6. Eat less, but more frequently

Make sure your body never goes to starvation mode because then it will give the wrong signal to the brain and store more fat to protect itself. Instead, satisfy your hunger with small snacks twice or three times a day to keep your metabolism up and running all day along.

7. Switch to healthier snack options and say goodbye to the vending machine

All supermarkets have bag size/purse size options of healthy snacks. Get some hummus, oats, skim milk, cheese sticks, almonds or apples and keep them around during the day conveniently. Save your diet, your body and a trip to the vending machine (and your money!). ;-)

8. Move around more and make it a habit

How? Very easy steps. Park further and walk more. When you are at work use the restroom that is far way, not the one closer to you. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go to your co-worker’s desk instead of sending them an email. This way you will have to leave your desk and move around. If you take public transportation, get off one or two stops earlier and walk home. Even at home don’t use the remote, just get up and change the channel yourself. 

Start small because it adds up. Eventually you will be moving more than usual, which leads to burning calories. Every single step is important. Just stay determined. 

9. Exercise, even though you don’t have time for it

There is always a chance to squeeze a 10-minute workout in a day. I know you may not be able to do it every single day. But aim like twice or three times a week. It is much better if you can hit the gym, but I don’t want to be the person, who is assuming you have got all the time in the world, to tell you that you should hit the gym. We all know that the gym is the best option along with a diet to lose weight. But I also know that life is busy and it is not easy for everyone to go to the gym on a regular basis. Don’t feel guilty for this. There are other options. Search YouTube for quick workouts. There are really good trainers on YouTube that will get you started to work out for 10 minutes with no equipment. It is better than nothing. I put a video as an example down here. See what I mean.

PS: She is my favorite trainer on YouTube. ;-)

10. Don’t eat anything before bed

Metabolism slows down at night. You should stop eating at least two hours before bed time. Some experts suggest that it should be three hours, but I know it may not be possible if you work long hours and/or have a long commute. Use your judgement and do your best.

What if you get hungry late at night? A little plain yogurt will work well. This is pretty much the best option. I wouldn’t recommend eating fruit late at night because almost all of them contain sugar. If yogurt doesn’t work for you go by one medium size green apple.

11. Keep an eye on your portions and track down your activity

Have you ever heard of "pyramid style of eating?"

Just like in the picture, breakfast should be the strongest meal of the day. Lunch should be moderate while dinner is supposed to be the lightest meal of the day. As we get closer to bed time, we need to reduce the amount of food intake because of slow metabolism at night.

 

Track down your activity. It will help you see how you have been doing. Write down your meals, what you ate and what time, your workouts and any info that might be helpful. If something goes wrong, like you stop losing weight and cannot figure out why, you can always take a look at your notes and see where the problem is (like cheating without noticing).

12. Have a free day once in every ten days

Don’t make yourself miserable. Studies show that people who go too strict on themselves tend to give up and fail more easily because of their cravings. We are not made of stones. Enjoy yourself every ten days and eat what you want, but don’t overdo it so that you won’t regret later. You want french fries? Go with the medium size. Ice cream? A little moderate portion is okay before dinner. Chips? Sure, but not the large bag. Stay on the humble side. That is all. 

Once you start losing weight, you won’t want to mess it up anyways. It is such a great satisfaction that will make you want to go one step more. 😊

If you need help with weight gain after quitting smoking, check out my article, How to Deal with Weight Gain after Quitting Smoking.

Tell us your story. Leave a comment and let us know what is going on. 

My blog has no boundaries. I share any information I find and topics on daily life. Stay tuned for more. See you next time.

DISCLAIMER: I am simply sharing the information that I found on the Internet for my own personal purposes. I am not an expert on this topic.