20 tricks to help you lose weight

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

On the way to harmony, a huge number of temptations and difficulties await us. We create some problems for ourselves, sometimes our friends and acquaintances help us in this - not on purpose, of course.

If you follow at least some of these tips, weight loss will become inevitable.

Photo: 123RF / Sergei Kleshnev

1. Be realistic: set achievable goals and specific deadlines

Start by visiting a dietitian to help you determine your ideal weight, tell you about the right diet, and advise on the optimal exercise. Tune in to changes in weight that you can actually achieve, drop illusions.

2. Keep a food diary

Fortunately, now there are many good mobile applications for this. Make note of everything you put in your mouth in detail. This is a good way to keep track of your regular portions and honestly answer the question of what you are actually eating. In addition, if you notice that your progress this week is not as significant as last week, you can easily determine what went wrong.

3. Write a shopping list when you go to the grocery store

Sly marketers do their best to make you collect more in your shopping cart. Prove that you are able to resist bright packages, overpower yourself and do not deviate from the saving route: visit the vegetable department, meat, fish, dairy, buy cereals, cereals, dried fruits - and no frills, especially from the checkout!

4. If you spin around at work like a squirrel in a wheel from morning to evening, stock up on healthy food in advance

This way you can avoid the temptation to buy something harmful near the office. Instead of a heavy sausage-sandwich snack with coffee from a coffee machine, try, for example, dried fruits, nuts - they will easily fit in your desk drawer.

If the office has a refrigerator, eat fruits, yoghurts, hard-boiled eggs at home.

5. Arrange the food correctly

When you are hungry, most often you eat the first thing that catches your eye. For example, cookies lying in plain sight instead of fruit and vegetables pushed further away. If you live alone or if your family does not mind, try to completely get rid of high-calorie temptations.

Photo: 123RF / Nataliya Arzamasova

6. Seek support

Some people manage to cope with excess weight alone, but it is easier and more comfortable to do it in a company. You don't have to join any local weight loss organization. But, quite possibly, one of your friends or relatives also thought about their weight. Websites with free online help, or chatting with unfortunate friends on specialized forums can also be helpful.

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7. Record the milestones of your success

Make written serifs on your way to your ideal weight. Recording results increases motivation and maintains interest. Take stock at the end of each week, write in your diary reports not only about the kilograms that have gone, but also about your health, about what you are going to focus on in the near future. Describe specific recipes that have brought success closer.

8. Change the cooking process

Maybe your favorite recipes need a little tweaking? For example, many dishes will not lose their taste at all if turkey or chicken meat is used in them instead of ground beef or pork. Do you like cheese? Give preference to lean varieties. And in general, train your body to soups, stews and salads of grated vegetables, cauliflower and zucchini.

9. Do not try to lose fat accumulated over the years in one fell swoop

This is impossible and will only undermine your faith in yourself. On the contrary, take small steps to success: for example, tune in to losing 3-5 kilograms to begin with. When the result is achieved - again aim to get rid of a little weight. It's much easier and more positive this way.

Photo: 123 RF / Richard Semik

10. Be more active during the day

Do you already train? It's great and healthy, but if you speed up your pace of life a little more, calories will be burned instantly, and there will simply be no time for boredom-related snacks.

The hand automatically reached out in search of chips? Better wash the dishes! Do you watch a movie on TV? At least during advertising, get up, stretch, wander around the room, make a couple of circles around the sofa.

11. Learn to determine the amount of food the body needs "by eye"

For example, a standard serving of fruit should not exceed the size of a tennis ball. A serving of vegetables, half boiled rice or pasta should fit into a large pear-shaped incandescent bulb. About one hundred grams of meat is the size of a deck of cards. The same mass of cheese is similar in size to two large batteries.

12. Drink water as often and as much as possible

Firstly, it instantly dulls the feeling of hunger, and secondly, it removes toxins from the body. The optimal amount of fluid you need per day is about two liters. Drink even more in hot weather or during intense exercise.

13. When ordering lunch in a restaurant or cafe, ask about the portion size

In some food service outlets, standard portions are on average twice as large as what an average person can eat at a time. There are two ways out of this situation: to share such a complex lunch for two, or immediately ask the waiter to wrap half of the ordered "take-away".

Photo: 123 RF / Joana Lopes

14. Politely refuse gifts

For example, a colleague in the office for the simplicity of his soul and with all his heart presents you with a whole slide of homemade cookies, knowing that you are crazy about him. Thank you. If you really want to or not get rid of it, keep one cookie for yourself. Hand out the rest.

15. Know when to say, "Enough!"

From the moment when the stomach is full and sent a signal to the brain, it takes about 20 minutes to receive this signal.

Eat slowly, chew food for a long time, often put your fork aside and listen to what your body tells you. This will help you avoid overeating.

16. The main thing is attitude to the situation

If you still did not restrain yourself, succumbed to temptation, and feverishly seize stress with a tremendous amount of high-calorie food, while simultaneously engaging in self-flagellation and labeling yourself as a failure, just let yourself calm down. Gluttony is akin to alcohol intoxication. Yes, there will be a heavy remorse hangover. But then - everything is in your hands: either aggravate and rush along an incline, adding a centner per week, or consider what happened as a misunderstanding, a small manifestation of weakness and, "having gotten stronger in battle", even more confidently and persistently go towards achieving the goal with your head held high.

17. "Burn the bridges"

Rather, their oversized robes. You urgently need to get rid of the old wardrobe after you lose weight. No step back! No regrets! No worries and alterations! Old clothes "attract pounds" on a psychological level. Cut it on your nose: put it on and turn into a pumpkin at midnight! Give it to the poor, demolish it, cut it into rags, burn it at the stake!

Photo: 123RF / Luana Teuti

18. Create a new look

To consolidate the positive changes that are happening to you, experiment with makeup, hair. Is your size smaller? Choose clothes that emphasize your curves and waist. Clothing style and makeup will help you to look at yourself in a new way and tune in to future victories over excess weight.

19. Do not stop working on yourself when you achieve what you want

Weight loss is not a result, it is a process. Your next task is even more important: not to lose what you have achieved. Therefore, if the numbers on the scales "went up" - go back to your trusted friend, the diary, where you recorded all your "ups and downs", he will tell you what to do, what to get rid of, remind you of important things and give food for thought. And you will again fill it with "new knowledge" and share your future victories.

20. Sometimes you will need to act like the Greek sages and "carry everything with you"

For example, at friendly gatherings or spontaneous meetings. You do not need to rely on the tastes of the owners, it is better to grab something healthy, fat-free and dietary, of your own preparation, so that you can have a snack yourself and treat others. The same goes for going to the movies: you don't want to break loose and fill your stomach with popcorn, washed down with soda, do you?

Finally, train yourself to accept compliments with sincerity and dignity. You deserve it. You should not tell the interlocutor how many kilograms you have left to lose to the ideal. Sometimes it's better to remain a mystery …