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Obesity and overweight are serious challenges that people worldwide are battling. While the common perception is that people should lose weight to look pretty, there’s more to it. Healthcare professionals suggest that losing weight is important to ensure that people are healthy and have a long life. Every year over 2.8 million people die from diseases relating to obesity which is a cause of concern. This number has nearly tripled since 1975, resulting from lifestyle changes, eating habits, and increased fast-food chains. Until a few decades ago, obesity was seen as a problem that affects those from the high-income group alone.
But recent data suggests that obesity and overweight problems have surpassed the socio-economic barriers and now affect even the low- and middle-income population, which is alarming. If you think you do not stand the risk of turning overweight, think again. A few additional pounds today could continue to increase in the years to come, and you could become overweight in a few decades. It would be too late to act at that point if you do not embrace a healthy lifestyle immediately. So, how can you lose weight the right way? Here are a few expert-approved tips to guide you in your weight loss journey the right way!
Portion Control
The best way to lose weight is to control what you eat and how much you eat. Everyone has a different level of appetite, and that impacts the quantity they eat. Unfortunately, when weight loss comes up, most people take the diet and starvation route to deprive themselves of nutrients and cut down on all the foods they enjoy. This increases their cravings and could lead to binge eating on cheat days. Besides, depriving your body of certain foods could cause nutrition deficiency too.
The best and the only way to avoid this while staying healthy is to reduce the food you consume. If portion control seems difficult, you could try appetite suppressant pills. Asking your doctor for recommendations on the best appetite suppressant pills could help you find the pill that suits your body and helps you reduce your calorie intake. Then, once you have your portion in control, you could start your weight loss journey with ease.
Reduce Carbs and Sugar
The easiest way to reduce weight is to cut down on carbohydrates, starch, and sugar intake. You could replace the carbs with whole grains, which reduces your hunger and helps you consume fewer calories. Also, keep in mind there are many diet supplements around. When you switch to a low-carb diet, your body burns stored fat for energy instead of carbs. Reducing the calories you consume is also an efficient way to monitor and control weight.
It would help if you eliminated sugary drinks, bread, and potatoes from your diet. Instead, it would help if you switched to carbonated water, which would help you feel fuller and reduce the quantity of food you consume. In addition, it helps you stay hydrated and promotes weight loss.
Exercise
Exercising will not just help you stay healthy and in shape but would also increase your metabolism. This would help you burn a lot of calories and speed up your weight loss process. You could start with simple cardio exercises like walking, running, cycling, etc., before moving to weight lifting and other high-intensity workouts.
Set achievable exercise goals and start small. If you strain yourself out on day one, you will most likely skip working out for the next few days. Instead, start small, try to walk around 10,000 steps a day, or move your body around for 60 minutes in the entire day. Increase it gradually from there to high intensity and calorie-burning activities by adding ten minutes after every ten days until you reach your ideal weight.
Get Ample Sleep
This might seem absurd and irrelevant. But scientific research suggests that there is a strong connection between the quality of sleep and weight loss. Sleep deprivation is a major cause of weight loss. Make sure you get ample healthy sleep. If you are on a diet and don’t get ample sleep, you might end up overeating and gain weight rather than losing. When you get ample sleep for two weeks with the right diet, your fat loss would be up by 55% than weight loss with just diet. Giving your body seven to nine hours of sleep is essential if you wish to prevent obesity.
Switch to a Smaller Plate
It could be difficult to cut down on your food quantity without feeling hungry later. However, you could achieve it by tricking your brain into believing that you are having a large meal by switching to a smaller plate. As a small plate fills up faster, you would end up reducing the quantity you eat. You could also try dividing your meals into several small meals throughout the day rather than three large meals. Finally, make it a point always to eat slowly. It takes the stomach around twenty minutes to tell your brain that it’s feeling full, so chew your food and eat it as slowly as you can, and you would feel full.
Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is important for weight loss. Water increases the body’s metabolism by 25 to 30 percent and helps in burning more calories. You could also make it a habit to drink half a liter of water before every meal. This would significantly reduce your calorie consumption, and you would lose more weight than those who drink less water. It would help if you also made it a habit to drink water rather than sugary drinks with your meals. This would reduce fat build-up in the body while also helping you cut down your calorie consumption.