Everyone knows that in order to live a healthier lifestyle, you need to eat a well-balanced and nutritious diet and do regular exercise, but it can be incredibly difficult to do this in daily life when you have other priorities, like your family, your job, and your hobbies that take over. When you have little time to take care of yourself, you tend to choose more convenient meals that aren’t the healthiest options, and when you combine that will minimal exercise, it will inevitably lead to weight gain.
Weight gain and staying at a heavy weight can lead to serious health problems, so it is essential that you acknowledge that you need to change up your lifestyle and habits and that you actually do something about it. Acknowledgement is always the beginning of any journey.
What weight loss options are there?
There are so many different diet options out there; it can be just as much of a challenge to find the one that works for you. It can be downright overwhelming to choose between no carb or low carb, low calorie, more vigorous exercise, or even intermittent fasting. To help find the right one for you, this article will break down some of your options.
- Plant-Based Diets
Vegetarian and vegan diets are very popular options for weight loss.
Meat, particularly red meat and processed meat, has high concentrations of saturated fat, which can cause cholesterol levels to rise in the blood, which can eventually lead to heart disease. By choosing to follow a plant-based diet and cutting out the amount of meat you eat, you will be reducing your fat intake. Reducing your fat intake will lead to weight loss because fat, as we all know, is what causes weight gain.
A vegetarian diet that simply cuts out meat would be a great option for weight loss, but vegan diets take it a step further by cutting out all animal-based products as well, such as dairy and eggs. Dairy and eggs have high concentrations of fat, but eggs also have a good source of protein, so it depends on what works for you and what your lifestyle is like.
Both of these versions focus on eating vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains, which are all nutritious food groups. By focusing on the more nutritional and healthier options and restricting your consumption of fatty meats, vegetarian and vegan diets make a great path for weight loss.
- Low-Carb Diets
The most common low-carb diet you have probably heard of is someone you know deciding to cut out bread, but other options are also very popular, including:
- Ketogenic (keto) diet
- Low-carb, High-fat (LCHF) diet
- Atkins diet
All of these diets have one thing in common: they reduce carbohydrate intake, and instead, you prioritise protein and fat. Protein is especially vital in a low-carb diet plan because it can conserve muscle mass, raise your metabolism (which is good for weight loss) and reduce your hunger pangs. Carbs are typically very filling foods, so by cutting them out, you would generally feel hunger more often, but protein helps to counter this, so you won’t end up cheating on your diet.
For weight loss, low-carb diets are very effective since they are great at burning fat in the belly and are typically more efficient than low-fat diets. They can also reduce high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.
- Meal Replacement Diets
Another common and efficient way to lose weight is to replace your meals with nutritional shakes, also known as a meal replacement diet. One shake will replace one full nutritious meal and will typically contain lots of protein, vitamins, fibre and other essentials you need for a healthy diet.
When you live a full-on and active life, with a career, family and many other responsibilities, it can be challenging to find the time to prepare and cook healthy, balanced meals, which is what leads you to convenience food in the first place. Meal replacement diets are a great alternative for very busy people. The shakes are generally quick to make, and they can help you to avoid the temptation of turning to unhealthy junk and convenience food. One of the biggest factors that lead to people being unable to maintain a healthy diet is the fact that they don’t have the time to cook healthier meals. Meal replacement diets help to overcome this hurdle.
Depending on the shakes you make, you may be getting more nutrients than a traditional diet. Most other diets rely on cutting out other foods, which means you can be missing on essential nutrients. Meal shakes, however, are usually fortified with everything you need for a balanced diet and often contain vitamins and minerals you couldn’t find elsewhere.
Meal shakes are an extremely convenient way and effective way to lose weight.
How do you keep to a diet plan?
On the path to a healthier weight, many people will hit bumps in the road and end up cheating on their diet, but how can you avoid this? The temptation to have a quick snack, whether it’s biscuits or a packet of crisps, will crop up often, especially if you have lived with your previous diet for a long time. It can be difficult to break eating habits because your body has grown used to the types of food you give it, and it will start to crave them after you restrict them from your diet.
- Snack Healthily
When you crave a specific type of food, it’s not your body tricking you. It has been designed to tell you what it needs. When you start craving something sugary and sweet, don’t head straight for the chocolates; think more about what it actually means. There are natural sugars that are healthier for you, and this is what your body is telling you it needs.
Fruits contain lots of natural sugars that will satiate a sweet craving well enough. Grab yourself a bowl of strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, whatever you fancy, and soon you won’t feel that need for bad sweet treats as much anymore.
- Make it a Routine
A mistake that many people trying to lose weight make is returning to their previous, unhealthy diet after they have made progress. Doing so will immediately put all of your hard work to waste. Instead of thinking of the diet plan as a temporary solution, you need to think of it as a stepping stone.
You can alter your diet plan however you like once you reach a healthy weight, within reason, but you should still focus on eating more fruit, vegetables and protein rather than saturated fats and sugars. Make preparing healthier meals a part of your everyday routine so that it starts to feel natural to you. If you go for a meal replacement diet, while you won’t want to drink shakes for the rest of your life, you can still incorporate them into the daily routine and have a few a week when you reach your goal.
A well-balanced diet should be a part of a healthy lifestyle rather than a temporary fix. Once you make your nutritional and healthy diet a normal part of your life, it won’t feel like hard work anymore, and keeping a steady, healthy weight will feel effortless.
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Weight loss is different for every individual since everyone’s body works differently. You may have to try out a variety of diets to find the one that works for you, but it is worth investing the time into your body and your health.
