5 Easy Tips to Lose Weight and Keep it Off
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One of the biggest struggles in weight loss is keeping it off. Especially for women.
It is hard enough to lose weight, but research shows that most people who lose a significant amount of weight tend to put it back on within a matter of a few years.
Some put on even more than they lost – and in the end are more overweight than when they began.
That was certainly the case for me.
When I hit my highest weight, I was already well into a cycle of weight loss and weight regain. I’d lost and gained….and with every gain I gained even more than before.
But that changed a few years ago!
One question I am frequently asked by people is how I have managed to lose 40 pounds and keep it off.
Having resolved some of the inner stuff that was keeping me bound to comfort eating, I began to systematically employ new disciplines in my life.
I am a firm believer that if you try to lose weight too quickly, or use methods that cannot become lifestyle habits, you will not be successful in the long run.
Here are 5 easy tips I’ve found to lose weight and keep it off!
These are part of my everyday lifestyle now!
1. Reduce stress
I know this is probably not in very many diet programs, but stress affects the body in so many ways.
In December, we will take a deep dive into stress, how it affects our body, and ways we can begin reducing our stress load.
One way it affects the body is by weight gain.
Not only does stress often affect the way we approach food:
- Comfort eating
- Eating too quickly
- Eating too much
- Craving foods that cause us to gain weight
…it also affects the way our bodies metabolize food.
Check out this book that helped me to reduce my stress and adrenaline output:
This was not an easy thing for me to do because my stress was two-fold:
- I am a perfectionist and expect far more of myself than what was reasonable and
- I have a habit of over-committing myself and was forced to excuse myself from most of those commitments.
Once I began to reduce my stress, I was able to finally breathe again….and focus on getting healthy!
2. Vitamins and supplements
Sadly, our modern diet lacks the vital nutrients we need to keep our bodies running healthily.
Furthermore, what the FDA recommends for a proper daily dose of vitamins is often barely enough to keep our bodies running at its bare minimum.
Even when we eat fruits and veggies, we are not getting nearly enough nutrients to supply our bodies with what they needs, so good quality supplements are needed on a daily basis to give our bodies good solid support.
I take:
- Vitamin C as ascorbic acid,
- A multi-vitamin,
- B-complex
- Vitamin D in the fall and winter
You should determine what your body’s needs are and create your own vitamin regimen.
Often times a multi-vitamin isn’t enough and with many vitamins, our bodies will simply eliminate the excess when we’ve taken too much.
Do your research before taking extra vitamins.
3. Clean, whole-food, low-carbohydrate eating
For most of us, our diet consists largely of grains and unhealthy carbohydrates (as opposed to healthy carbs founds in vegetables).
Is it any wonder that we are a society that is run-down, sick, fatigued, and on far too much medication?
Benjamin Franklin wisely and famously said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Many modern diseases, such as
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure, and
- Cancer
could be prevented in many cases by maintaining a healthy diet.
To lose weight and keep it off, it is necessary to completely eliminate processed, packaged, sugar-laden foods with whole foods that are farm-fresh, organic, and grain-free.
Choose healthy fats over processed oils.
- Ditch supposedly “healthy” margarine
- Ditch seed and vegetable oils and shortening
- Replace with butter, lard, avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil.
Eat probiotic-rich food on a regular basis: yogurt (not flavored), kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee, and other fermented foods.
Also, avoid packaged “diet” foods. Even packaged diet products that say “keto” on them.
99% of the time, these are heavily processed foods with chemicals and artificial ingredients. Your body was created to digest foods that God created – not man-made chemically-laden, and heavily processed ingredients.
4. Exercise
I know, I know….this is the one where we all groan.
Me too.
But a sedentary lifestyle is very hard on your heart!
What initially helped me to up my physical activity was a Fitbit. The competition available with the Fitbit spurred me to action!
From there, I moved on to HIIT (High Impact Interval Training).
It is not necessary at all to exercise longer than 20 minutes a few times a week. Any more than that and you can potentially raise cortisol levels and increase stress in your body…and we’re back at #1.
HIIT is great because it revvs your metabolism and burns more calories longer and helps to use up those glycogen stores.
I have been doing Metabolic Prime for my HIIT program.
I love it because the creator built the program on a balance of “give” and “rest”. He doesn’t require you to give like a beast from start to finish, but rather encourages rest as a part of his program.
5. Sleep
As much as our bodies need activity, it also needs good rest.
By resting our bodies we rejuvenate our organs and empower them to work better at keeping our bodies a well-oiled machine.
Also, our brain works better and our reaction times are much sharper.
Studies prove that a sleep-deprived driver has slower reactions than a drunk driver, thereby making him a more dangerous driver.
Also, sleep deprivation prevents our body from detoxing fully, as God intended and created our bodies to do while sleeping.
Sleep deprivation is a chronic problem in our society.
Our over-taxed schedules demand that we sleep less and work more. Sleep is considered a waste of time and those who promote 8-9 hours of sleep plus an afternoon cat nap are considered spoiled and lazy.
In reality they are smart and effective, because a well-rested body makes for a more effective worker!
Not only that, a rested body has a higher metabolism because it is operating at its optimum, and a higher metabolism burns calories faster.
What is your normal wake-up time?
Count back no less than 8 hours and you now have your bed time.
Also, set aside time during the day to lay down. You don’t have to sleep, but close your eyes and rest….without a book or device….or the TV blaring.
Turn on some soft, restful music to help your body relax and give yourself at least 15 minutes to let your body unwind.
I am admittedly better at some of these than others.
But before my weight loss I was only an advocate for one or two of them. When I realized that all 5 needed to be present for me to recover from Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome, I also realized that all 5 were needed for weight loss.
This is the only body we have. Let’s be good stewards of what God has given us….of all 3 parts! Body, soul and spirit!
More Articles on Weight Loss:
Why Do You Want to Lose Weight?
5 Easy Tips to Lose Weight and Keep it Off
Weight Loss Starts From the Inside Out
4 Tools I’ve Used to Lose Weight
16 Ways Stay-at-Home Moms Can Get More Steps
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