Did you know diet and exercise in isolation don’t give you the desired results! To see a difference in your health an amalgamation of both is crucial. However specific goals call for more or less of each thing.
Here are some tips regarding food and exercise that will help you keep weight off for good.
1. Have Breakfast Every day
Not missing out on the most important meal of the day can help you stick to your weight loss goals. People who have breakfast every day have healthier habits like eating more micronutrients and fiber. They are also more active during the day.
A study found that 78% of 2959 people maintained their weight loss for a year just because of the habit of not missing breakfast any day.
2. Lifting Weights
One of the common side effects of losing weight is reduced muscle mass. On your journey to lose fat you do not want to end up being unhealthy. This becomes a vicious paradox since not having enough muscle mass can limit your body’s potential to keep the weight off. Losing muscle definitely reduces your metabolism, which means you end up burning lesser calories through the day.
When you incorporate weight lifting into your workout routine, like strength training, you can prevent the loss of muscle, which helps you be able to preserve and even improve your metabolism. When you lift weight after you have reached your dream weight, you are better able to stick to it. It is recommended that you do strength training at least twice every week along with your usual exercise regime.
3. Consuming Protein in Your Daily Diet
Eating protein helps you maintain your weight by making you feel full and reducing your appetite. An optimal protein level is needed to synthesize hormones vital for regulating the weight and inducing satiety. Protein is also good at decreasing hormones that make you excessively hungry.
If your ‘appetite’ hormones are balanced, you can automatically lower the number of calories that you eat in a day. Remember, calorie counting is crucial in weight loss maintenance.
The advantages of protein do not stop there. It requires a great volume of energy to break down. On top of that eating proteins regularly increases the calories that you burn in a day. Based on some research studies, protein’s influence on appetite and metabolism are the most prominent ones.
4. Check How Much Carbs You Eat
You need to know exactly how much carbohydrates you consume daily. Maintaining your weight becomes easier when you pay attention to the number and the type of carbs that you eat. Eating a lot of refined carbohydrates like white bread, fruit juices, and pasta can hinder your weight loss journey. Processed foods lack natural fiber and promote obesity and weight gain. People who follow low-carb diets are less likely to eat more calories than what they burn.
5. Become More Active
A 2012 study in Diabetologia showed that the more you sit, the higher is the risk of heart disease. When we sit for a longer time, the enzymes in our postural muscles shift. This, in turn, changes the way our body metabolizes lipids and glucose. Remember that a sedentary lifestyle leads to higher levels of glucose and bad cholesterol.
There are plenty of ways you can cut down on sitting time during the day. You can take coffee breaks, get up to move around. If you are having a discussion with a colleague at work, you don’t have to sit. You can even check out exercises for stretching your muscles while you sit at your desk. Set a time for these so that you don’t forget.
6. Weekends Are Not for Cheating
Most people eat healthy throughout the week and leave the weekends for cheat days. When you treat the weekend as a total relaxing period where you eat everything scrumptious that you can think of, you end up binging on food, which topples all your hard work and discipline during the week. The worse part about this is that this kind of practice leads to weight gain. Research has proven that when an individual sticks to a consistent eating pattern they are better able to sustain their shape in the long run.
7. Drink Lots of Water
The reason staying hydrated is an important part of maintaining weight is because it promotes fullness. It is an excellent trick to keep your calorie intake in check.
It was found in a study that people who drank water before they had a meal went through 13% calorie intake reduction than those who never drank water before meals. On top of staying hydrated helps the body burn calories throughout the day.