First off, I hope you're aiming to make life-long changes to your lifestyle. "Temporary dieting" wrecks the metabolism and does not work long term.
Just had to get that out of the way. :)
------
Take it from me who's lost a sizable amount of weight:
It's all about instilling the habits of eating and physical activity.
Frankly this IS the hardest part of bettering your life.
I'll divide the below into two sections, from shortest to longest:
------
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY:
*Pace yourself. Burnout causes A LOT of people to fall off the wagon. No more than 1hr a day is needed for workout days. Stop when you feel sharp pain (that is not soreness and is dangerous).
*Do something that you ENJOY doing. I hate cardio machines, so I don't use them. I walk, swim, or play bball for cardio. If you like it, you'll stick to it.
*Have complete rest days. Your body needs to recover if you want to see results.
EATING:
*i limit the amount of liquid calories I take in. If I get to a "high fructose corn syrup" vs "sugar substitute" dilemma, such as for energy drinks, I usually go for the sugar substitute.
*Frankly, plain water gets boring. At home when I need a "change up", I usually drink a mixture of 4-6 parts water and one part Kool-Aid or juice (depending on what it is). I add lemon, lime or grapefruit squeezed into my water, as well as the mixture described above.
*If I drink a can / bottle / cup of a sugary drink such as soda or Hawaiian Punch, I treat it as a sweet, not a beverage. I don't drink these WITH my meal. This strategy is quite effective for drinking less of this type of stuff.
*For my meals and snacks, protein is of UPMOST importance (c'mon; carbs and fat are EASY to get in your hands on). Every meal and snack must contain a solid amount of grams of protein. I don't use a precise formula, but eating grits without eggs, meat, a lot of milk, or a protein shake to drink is a no-no for me.
*My meals must ALWAYS have an "alkalizer" food to them (aka, non-grain plant food). Fruits, veggies, beans, legumes besides peanuts, solid amount of herbs and spices (a sprinkle doesn't count), or tea (either drank, or eaten like I do with green tea leaf) will do. This frankly is where most of your vitamins and numerous health benefits in your meals comes from.
*My personal saying; "Binge full, binge few". If you want ice cream, get the standard full-fat premium ice cream. If you crave chocolate, get a premium chocolate bar. Get some bomb-ass cheesecake if you want it. Or my favorite, bacon cheeseburger and fries dipped in ranch or 1000 dressing. Half-ass binging with reduced sugar/low fat "alternatives" doesn't extinguish the craving and it WILL consistently nag you. Plus you have to enjoy life a little! ;-)
*PORTION CONTROL! I'll be honest with you; I don't consider myself as "dieting" by any sense of the imagination. If you control how much you eat, and savor each bite, NO food is off limits. 8-)
stress level highly dictates the amount you'll lose or gain. if your stressed about your weight chances are you'll gain more, or itll be harder to get it off.
Life is weird like that..kinda like time...when you're not worried it goes by so fast then when you're looking at the clock it's like waiting for Christmas on Dec 26
lol stress too
Motivation is your word. You need motivation. Don't sweat about this too much and think it's hard to lose weight. Think of it as a game, and you have to win.
Opinion
2Opinion
as the other guy said, stressing about it hurts. try making the habits of losing weight, like working out and eating healthy, such a part of your normal life that you don't think anything different about doing them
lol, I'm the opposite. Right now I'm bulking and its reaaally hard for me to put on weight.
Losing weight on the other hand for me is like nothing.
I lose weight when a certain motivation takes away my appetite for a long time, I would kill to get that back!
You can also add your opinion below!
Most Helpful Opinions