Simple Tips to Lose Weight (slowly and safely)
Weight loss should be slow and safe, not done through crash diets. The ‘weight loss industry’ is full of diet pills, magazines with ‘meal plans’ and gadgets sold on teleshopping channels. Far simpler is to learn about good nutrition and natural exercise, and empower yourself!
To lose weight, you simply need to:
- Eat a sensible balanced diet (three meals a day in proper portions, and include plenty of plant-based protein, to help fill you up with less carbs. Try some simple healthy recipes.
- Take regular exercise (this can be simple as walking 30 minutes to 1 hour daily, or with add-on strength-training which can be done using bodyweight – use Lucy Wyndham-Read’s online free videos).
- Give up or drastically reduce alcohol intake. Boozy piles on the pounds, especially beer and wine.
If you do the combined above, you’ll naturally drop the weight at a sensible and safe pace, hopefully not to return again. There’s nothing wrong with a being a little ‘curvy’, it’s actually the hidden visceral belly fat that’s dangerous, and linked to heart disease and other serious health issues.
People at risk are women with waists over 35 inches or men with waists over 40 inches. Divide your waist measurement by your height (if your waist is more than half your height, it’s time to lose the visceral fat, which is not the same as ‘pear-shaped women’ with wider hips.
Drink Plenty of Water
Drink plenty of filtered tap water (this helps to avoid eating when you’re not really hungry, and also keeps a healthy metabolism). There’s no ‘set rule’ on how much to drink, but for most adults, look at filling a 750ml reusable water bottle twice each day.
Sensible Portion Sizes (and less snacks)
Don’t ‘do diets’. Make proper meals that fill your plate, piled high with veggies. If you eat proper food that you enjoy, you’ll likely enjoy it more and eat slower (it takes longer to eat a veggie Sunday roast with all the trimmings, than to wolf down a McDonald’s cheeseburger).
French women (who we know always stay slim) would never dream of eating a coffee-shop style huge muffin. Make your own foods, and avoid ‘super-size portions’.
This includes big smoothies and coffees with syrups and cream. All of these add ‘hidden extra calories’ that can pile weight on.
On the continent, petrol stations don’t sell bags of crisps or chocolate bars. They sell petrol. French and Italian people eat fresh fruit for dessert, and save pastries and cakes for a weekend treat from the patisserie. It’s a different culture, but a far healthier one. That still allows for enjoying sweet treats.
Get Enough Quality Sleep
We’ve all been there, when a night of insomnia results in raiding the fridge all day, in order to keep eating to stay awake. Proper quality sleep can help you deal with ‘hunger hormones’, aim for seven to nine hours a night.
One thing that packs on calories is alcohol, and booze can also make you wake up in the early hours, so giving it up (or cutting down) can drastically help weight problems, as a double-whammy solution
Be Kind and Compassionate to Yourself!
Forget those who ‘fat-shame’. There’s a healthy notion today to love yourself, no matter what your size. But if your being overweight is causing you health problems, then lose weight, but do it for yourself, nobody else (apart from those who don’t want to lose you).
Celebrate small wins, and use the money previously spent on fast food or chocolate bars on little treats: perhaps a facial at the beautician, or pack the money saved away for nice organic clothes or even a little holiday. Self-care is not the same as obsessive self-love. If you feel good, you can help others.
