10 Ways to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

16 April, 2021  |  Vib - vib

It’s possible to lose weight quickly if you are committed to the cause. However, as soon as most people buckle down, they face the peculiar issue of regaining kilos just after losing them. Even if they take dietary supplements for weight loss, like Orlistat, they can’t keep the momentum going. Don’t worry, iQ Doctor can help.

The fact of the matter is, you can’t keep taking supplements forever, so you need to come up with ways to make sure that the weight you lose stays lost. Exercise is an ideal way to remain healthy and hearty.

The most important way to ensure that you don’t gain weight again after losing it is to make permanent changes in your lifestyle. It’s even possible to avoid gaining weight without having to stay on a diet for the rest of your life. The following are ten of the best lifestyle changes you can make to make sure that you don’t gain back the weight you worked so hard to lose. 

1. Prefer to Eat Grains

If you’ve chosen to replace whole-grain foods with smaller portions of refined grain foods, like cookies, cakes, bread and pretzels, you’ll be adding the extra fibre your body needs after losing weight. This will effectively satiate your appetite and help you feel fuller for longer.

2. Be Aware Of Your Liquid Consumption

You should try to be aware of how many calories you take in from liquids, not just from what you eat. Sweetened drinks contain many calories, and they can quickly add to your total caloric intake if you don’t drink them sparingly. While Sweetened beverages can provide you with a sugar rush, they do not provide any form of nutrition whatsoever.

Try to satisfy your thirst for liquids by mostly drinking water or small portions of fruit juice.

3. Don’t Eat After Midnight

You should set a time for yourself after which you won’t eat any more food at night. Feeling hungry at night is normal, but it will interfere with the healthy digestion of food while sleeping. If you want to eat something sweet before sleeping, have a small portion of dessert and then brush your teeth. Brushing your teeth will make it less likely for you to give in to the late-night munchies once you’ve prepared yourself to go to bed.

4. Slightly Decrease Your Normal Food Portion Sizes

Even if you don’t care about dieting for the rest of your life, decreasing your regular portion sizes of whatever you eat will go a long way towards making sure that you don’t gain weight. Reducing your average portion sizes by just 10% to 20% will make a big difference.

Whenever you eat out, keep in mind that restaurants’ normal portions are more than what is needed for an average person.

You can make a permanent change at home by putting away your old plates and bowls and replacing them with smaller ones. This will ensure that you’re aware of your smaller portion sizes from then on.

5. Increase Your Produce Intake

Try to get into the habit of eating more produce than you’ve been used to so far. By increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables which are low in calories, you will feel less hungry. The temptation to eat more high-calorie foods will decrease.

We suggest eating less meat than vegetables. You can also try starting your lunch and dinner with vegetables, followed by beef or other high-calorie foods.

Change your grocery shopping list by increasing the ratio of vegetables you get and less of other types of food. Stock your kitchen with lots of vegetables and fruits and make sure that you include them in every meal. This will have the added benefit of enriching your diet with minerals, fibres and vitamins that are good for your overall health.

6. Breakfast Is Substantial

Breakfast might very well be the most important meal of the day. People who eat breakfast perform better at studies and work when compared to people who skip it. People who skip breakfast tend to have higher BMIs than people who eat breakfast, due to their compulsion to snack throughout the day. Almost all weight loss meal plans focus on the importance of breakfast.

A good idea for a nutritious breakfast is a bowl of whole-grain cereal, with small servings of fruit and low-fat dairy.

7. Become More Physically Active

Ideally, it would help if you had a regular workout routine that you follow consistently. If you’re not willing to follow any exercise programs for weight loss, then the best way to get more exercise without consciously exercising is to walk as much as you can every day. If you don’t exercise, get a pedometer and increase the amount you walk each day until you’re walking 10,000 steps per day.

Throughout your day, try to find as many opportunities to add in the extra steps that you need. For example, you can walk around in your room by pacing back and forth while you’re talking on the phone. If you have a dog, go for long walks with it.

By keeping track of your steps on a pedometer, you will consciously maintain your average of walking at least 10,000 steps in a single day.

8. Resist Culinary Temptations

It doesn’t matter how strong your willpower is. You will inevitably come across many temptations in the years ahead of you. You can easily give in and go back to eating lots of foods rich in fats and calories. That will make you regain all the weight you lost and probably gain even more.

This is why you should try to control your environment and remove any chances of coming across temptations in your home. Stock your kitchen full of healthy foods, with more grains and produce than other types of food.

Stay away from restaurants with “all you can eat” options as those are a significant source of temptation for people trying to change for the better.

When you go out for social-dining, you should eat a small snack beforehand to have better control on your appetite when you get there. Doing this will make it easier to avoid eating food rich in calories and fats.

9. Stock Your Kitchen With Light Foods

Use the low-fat versions of products in your kitchen as often as possible.

For example, always get the low-fat type of mayonnaise, dairy products, salad dressings and other similar products. Instead of mayonnaise, start using hummus or salsa as your preferred dip. Change the recipes of your sandwiches to have lighter foods and dressings.

10. Add Extra Protein in Every Snack and Meal

From now on, start adding some source of low-fat or lean proteins to every meal you eat. Examples of this are low-fat yoghurt, a small portion of nuts, peanut butter, lean meats, beans or eggs. It is best to eat frequent and small snacks and meals after every 3 or 4 hours throughout the day. That keeps your blood sugar at a stable level and helps you avoid the temptation to eat more food.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you should have a good idea by now of what strategies you’ll need to adopt and what lifestyle changes you’ll need to make. Whether you plan to keep exercising regularly or walking your dog; or just eating more vegetables, you can easily manage to keep weight loss permanent.

The advice given in this article is just a general guide to keep your weight loss permanent. You can mix and match the tips above to get the best combination of habits that you can adopt to keep yourself from gaining any weight. With a little determination and willpower, you can lose weight and keep it off.