Whether you want to lose 10 or 75 pounds, changing the way you eat for the better and including exercise into your life are both necessary. When you use diets that are not enjoyable and soon after give them up, the weight will come back. You don't need that sort of permanent struggle. Continue reading to learn about simple changes you can make in your life that will make weight loss attainable over the long term and for good.
Don't completely deprive yourself of your favorite foods. Some people beat themselves up for having a treat, and that's not necessary or a good idea. It is not the end of the world to indulge on rare occasions. While it is true that you need to eat a diet primarily made up of healthy foods, completely restricting yourself is not good for you. You'll find yourself craving these foods over time, which causes you to give up and eat these foods far too often. Rewarding yourself on occasion with a decadent birthday dessert or your grandmother's comforting apple is a good thing for you mentally.
Cut back on drinks that are sweetened with sugar. While it may not seem so, the calories in soft drinks, juices and teas that are sweetened with sugar do add pounds. It has been shown that people who cut back on sugary drinks do lose weight over time.
You should also know that tea and most soft drinks are diuretics. Diuretics dehydrate you, which causes you to drink more. If you reach for more sugary drinks to try to quench your thirst, you're setting yourself up for a continuous cycle. Keep a pitcher of water with added fruit or cucumber slices for a refreshing treat instead.
Keep a food journal. Many people think they know what they're putting into their mouths daily, but they often don't. Keeping track can be an eye-opening experience. Record all food, drinks and calories of both in your journal. For fresh food items, visit a website like http://www.fitday.com to easily look up these amounts on their website. Note the times of day and night that you eat too.
You will notice important patterns in your journal in just a couple of weeks. You may notice you need to adjust the times that you eat so that you're not skipping breakfast and overeating at lunch time. You may need to space out your meals better in general or curb eating before bedtime. Don't give up the journal until you learn what your patterns are, and make permanent changes to the way you eat for the better.
Get serious with exercise. You don't need to run a marathon, but you do need to take responsibility to live a more active life. Exercise feels like a chore to many people, but that just means there's a need to look outside of the box. Find ways to make exercise more enjoyable or include quick bursts of activity throughout the day. Walking can be more fun if you use headphones to listen to your favorite tunes, audiobooks or even count the types of birds or flowers you see while walking. If you don't like long bouts of exercise, do stretches and sit-ups between TV commercials or during chores.
Look at everything you do that affects your weight, and think of ways to make the weight loss sustainable over the long term. While the weight may not fall off as quickly as it does with extreme diets, these simple replacements are something that you can do easily throughout your lifetime. Losing weight does not need to be frustrating!
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