Five Tips to Help Weight Loss & Maintain Your Diet
Written by Joseph Smith
5 Tips to help with Dieting and Weight Loss
As everyone knows dieting is tough, the whole premise of remaining in a calorie deficit state means restricting your daily caloric intake to hit a specific weight target. I'll share more on this in another post.
Trying to lose weight is difficult enough and no matter how slowly you take things you will reach a stumbling block where your hunger levels & cravings will reach breaking point. Making it extremely hard to stay on track, often this is the point where many people fail to reach their goals.
Here are 5 small things you can do to help you stay on track & hopefully hit your weight loss goal.
Satisfy your sweet tooth cravings
Eat your carbs around the time you train / exercise
Stay Full
Stay full by drinking plenty of water (Avg males 4-6 litres per day, avg females 3-4 litres per day) & eating plenty of leafy green vegetables. The calories in green vegetables are so minimal I personally do not track them on my diet plan as the impact on the calorie deficit is so minimal. Not to say you shouldn't, that's just me.
Satisfy your sweet tooth cravings
I do this by drinking zero calorie & zero sugar squashes. This will also enable you to hit your hydration goals for the day. With zero calorie fizzy drinks I encourage limiting them to no more than one can every other day, that's due to the way fizzy drinks can affect digestion. Always remember, squashes are the les detrimental option.
Eat your carbs around the time you train / exercise
Your body utilises carbs way more efficiently after exercise. If you are having a big bowl of oats / cereal for breakfast and will be sitting at a desk all day with minimal movement the oats will just sit in your stomach all day. Swap the carbs at breakfast for a higher protein breakfast with veggies (an egg white omelette with vegetables is a great alternative) and use the carbs pre/intra/post your training session/daily exercise, this can also improve your performance.
Sleep: Quality over quantity
Ensure you are getting good quality sleep. It’s not just about the hours you spend in bed it’s the quality of sleep that matters as this will allow your body to reset for the next day. Avoid eating your last meal or having caffeine to late, I like to allow at least 2-3 hours between my last meal and going to sleep. Also try and get into a routine of going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day.
Get your steps in
Like many others I have found myself working at home for almost a year now. By not traveling to work and being at the office my daily step count has decreased dramatically. It’s the small amount of steps to the coffee machine or colleague’s desk that all add up. Try and get 10-15 minute walks in every couple of hours. Not only does this have a key benefit in getting your body moving it also has a great mental benefit as a blog from Ben Oofana recently reminded me stagnant body can lead to a stagnant mind. I like to go for a 10 minute walk after every meal as this also aids digestion. Other things you can do are park further away from your required destination, take the stairs not the lift or use a smaller water bottle so you have to get up more regularly to walk to fill it up. Using accessories like fitness trackers are great ways motivate you to hit your walking or step goals. 10,000 steps a day is a great goal to try and achieve.
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