Crash diets are effective… for maybe a week. Until you consume that first sip of water or eat your first real meal after crash dieting, you feel bloated and guilty and as if you just wasted the past two weeks.
It’s hard to flip your lifestyle upside down, especially if you’re new to a health kick. Luckily, there are some simple ways that can help long-term weight loss and increase your health over long periods of time. The best part? You don’t need to change much of your daily routine.
Although these tricks may not melt the pounds in less than two weeks, they’ll kick start your metabolism and train your body to seek healthier foods.
1. Eat foods that burn fat:
- Honey
- Eggs
- Dark chocolate
- Salmon
The list goes on! The more fat burning foods you consume, the better off you’ll be in the long run.
2. Drink a glass or two of water before and after each meal.
This will not only help you to cause you to eat less, but it will make you feel more full. Water has zero calories and will help move everything you eat more quickly through your system, as well. You’ll feel less bloated, less hungry, and be consuming less calories. Hint: Add lemon for fat-burning effects and some more flavor!
3. Record what you eat.
People who record what they eat religiously tend to eat less. I mean, who wants to write “2 chocolate cupcakes” into their handy dandy food notebook? Not many. You’ll be more inclined to want to prove to yourself how healthy you’re eating by writing it all down. Do this for a few weeks and see if it works for you!
4. Don’t consume the calories you burned.
Just because you had an hour grueling workout, don’t eat those calories back. This completely disregards all weight loss efforts. It’s common knowledge that you must burn more than you consume.
5. Walk for 45 minutes a day.
Whether this is in addition to another workout, or the only workout you perform during the day, research shows that it takes more than 30 minutes a day to burn fat and increase weight loss. The average 30 merely just prevents it. Go above and beyond!
6. Downsize your plates.
Literally. Buy plates that are smaller and fit less. You’ll start making portions that fit the size of that plate instead of a larger one. This will trick your mind into thinking that it’s full because you ate the full helping of whatever you made. Get plates that are around 7-9 inches wide, the typical salad plates. Serve your main meals on these and I promise it will make a difference.
7. Incorporate vegetables into your meals.
Make a veggie stir fry, or sneak vegetables into your rice during dinner. If you hate the idea of just eating vegetables, make the recipes interesting. Make vegetable soup with low-fat broth. Especially around the holidays, this will provide the same “comfort food” effect without the added calories.
8. Black coffee.
True coffee addicts laugh at cream and sugar, but for others, it’s a necessity. Start decreasing the amount of sugar and cream you put into your coffee. If you can’t drink just plain black coffee, opt for a dash of skim or almond milk to sweeten it up. Even artificial sweeteners, in small amounts, are better than real sugar.
By getting in the routine by changing bad habits, you can slowly achieve long-term weight loss. Changing bad habits will encourage a healthy lifestyle over time. Forget crash dieting.
How do you stay healthy?
Photo: Thinkstock
My mum taught me this one- always park in the back of the parking lot wherever you go. I walk an extra 15 km a year parking in the back at work and I can’t imagine how much more by parking in the back at the mall, grocery store, etc.
http://bettylivin.com/2013/12/10/building-healthy-habits/
While I agree with most of these points, I do NOT really like the way # 1 is written. You make it sounds like people can go crazy and eat all the chocolate and honey they want, when this is simply not the case. Honey is essentially straight sugar, and sugar is not healthy to consume a lot of. Also, you did not verify the type of chocolate – people should choose dark, dark chocolate with no added sugar in order to reap the benefits chocolate has. People who are not educated in nutrition could see this and think, “oh okay, I guess Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar is a fat burning food then” and then go and eat 5 of them… Later wondering why they gained 5 pounds in two weeks –
Eat balanced meals and stay active. There’s no secret to staying healthy. One you forgot: get enough sleep! Sleep is so important to decreasing stress and maintaing a healthy weight.