Dieting Tips: How to Lose Weight Safely?

We live in a world where fitness is regarded as the highlight of everybody’s life. People are often on the lookout for methods to get in the best shape possible in the shortest span of time. However, they also want to balance this fitness regimen with their work-life and their overall health.

Many brands and famous companies in the fitness industry use this dilemma to their advantage. They offer various quick methods and shortcuts to achieving a “Greek God body” without any effort at all. This comes in the form of diet pills, various fasting processes, and other unorthodox dieting techniques. However, this is all a harmful misrepresentation of what fitness is about and completely ignores the disciplinary aspect of it. Moreover, it negatively impacts the health and life of individuals who fall victim to this type of false marketing. 

So the question now becomes “How do I lose weight in the safest way possible?

There are plenty of tried and tested methods to cut down on weight gradually without causing harm to your body. Doctors and nutritionists worldwide, from their years of experience, have devised a simple widespread technique to stay in good health. But it takes quite a bit of time and requires a lot of determination, motivation, and consistency to see lasting benefits.

Before we move on to the brass tacks of this technique, you must first realize that losing weight and building an aesthetic body is the bigger picture that involves starting with small steps today. Certified fitness personnel such as doctors, trainers, and nutritionists worldwide suggest that the ideal way to lose weight is no more than 0.5 to 1 kg in a week. This method aims to implement it in your daily lifestyle and maintain it for a consistent period of time. 

Read here: How to gain weight safely in a week

Now that we understand the prerequisites of losing weight in a healthy fashion, let us look at how you can begin your much-awaited weight loss journey:

1. Devise a game plan:

The first thing you need to do is chart out a strategy or plan to stick to every day. This involves both a menu for your daily diet and a regimen for your daily workout. The main reason for these two things being done simultaneously is so that you can keep track of your total calories and how they change every day.

The core principle that dictates how much weight you lose is the net amount of calories that your body receives in a day. Eating food gives you calories while working out burns calories from the body. Your goal every day in order to lose weight is to make sure that you burn more calories than you eat. 

Having said that, there  are also some things that you should keep in mind when accounting for your calories:

  • You can safely regulate your macronutrients (i.e. proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) without much concern. Simply make sure that your diet is rich in protein, moderate in carbs, and relatively low in fat.
  • However, you must keep in mind that your micronutrients are an essential part of your diet that dictates your overall body health. Ensure that you understand your body’s daily requirements in terms of these micronutrients and have plenty of supplements to support your health, especially in case of specific nutrient deficiencies or other kinds of metabolic disorders. 

Overall, the ultimate goal is to remain in something called a calorie deficit. This can be calculated using various online applications. Your total amount of calories required in a day will give a baseline to calculate your required calories to lose weight. The thumb rule is to consume 500 calories less than your daily requirement.

You can achieve a calorie deficit healthily in a variety of ways:

  1. Reduce the size of your portions while eating.
  2. Adjust your daily calories according to your weight.
  3. Read the food labels as strictly as you can to keep track of what you eat.
  4. Drink plenty of water to keep your hunger at bay (the amount varies according to your body weight).

To maintain excellent nutrition, you’ll need to prioritize good-for-you meals like vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and lean protein, regardless of the method you utilize. It’s a good idea to work with a nutritionist to develop a plan that addresses these requirements adequately.

2. Keep yourself accountable:

After setting up a standard plan for your meals and your workout every day, you must make sure that you keep track of everything you have set out to do. Use a logbook, a digital tracker, or a fitness application in order to keep yourself accountable for your lifestyle from day to day. This also gives you a clear picture of your goals with your weight loss and how efficiently your methods work to achieve them. 

3. Get rid of temptation:

It is essential not to waste any calories on junk food. These include all kinds of processed foods, oily foods, and packaged goods. These are often devoid of any proper nutrition and will unnecessarily add extra calories to your daily intake. Moreover, they stay for longer in the body in the form of fat and are much harder to get rid of than natural, organic foods. So, make sure you look through your kitchen cupboards and get rid of all such tempting (but unhealthy!) delicacies.

4. Ramp up your protein intake:

A high-protein diet is an underappreciated influencer of weight loss. The body does not as easily digest proteins as carbohydrates and simple sugars such as rice, wheat, and so on.  As a result, your body will generate more heat to digest protein-rich foods, thereby consuming more calories.

Moreover, according to an analysis of existing data on high-protein diets, they are an effective method for avoiding or treating obesity. The findings demonstrated that higher-protein diets, including 25–30 grams of protein per meal, improved body weight management, appetite, cardiometabolic risk factors, or all of these health outcomes.

More vegetables and beans should be consumed to increase your overall protein intake. All of these foods given below are high in protein and low in fat:

  1. Peas, beans, and lentils
  2. Low-fat cottage cheese
  3. Tofu

Read here: Vitamin rich foods

5. Regulate sugar intake:

Sugar is not only a problem for people attempting to lose weight, but it is also is one of the major culprits of many health problems around the world. According to studies, men aged 19 and above consume around 19 teaspoons of added sugar each day on average. In the same age bracket, women consume around one-fourth of teaspoons of added sugar each day.

Fructose, which the liver breaks down and converts to fat, accounts for a large portion of the sugar consumed. The liver converts sugar into fat and then releases fat cells into the bloodstream, which can lead to weight gain.

6. Have black coffee:

If sugar and fat are not added to coffee, it may have some beneficial health effects. According to the authors of a review article, coffee is known to boost the body’s glucose and lipid metabolism. According to the same study, coffee drinking was linked to a lower incidence of liver illness and diabetes. ?” 

7. Keep yourself hydrated:

Water is the most beneficial fluid to consume throughout the day. It is calorie-free and has countless health benefits. Primarily, water aids in the increase of a person’s metabolism when consumed regularly. An average adult is generally advised to drink at least 4-5 liters of water per day. It is also beneficial to consume less food by drinking water before a meal. Finally, substituting water for sugary beverages such as sodas and colas can help people cut down on the total number of calories they eat during the day.

8. Don’t drink your calories:

Excess sugar is commonly found in fruit juices, sodas, energy, and sports drinks, all of which can contribute to weight gain and make it more challenging to lose weight. It is important to be mindful of the nature of the calories that you consume. Although you should always prefer eating solid foods to manage daily calories, water, herbal tea, or sparkling water with lemon can be substituted for at least one of these beverages each day to avoid overconsumption.

9. Try short cycles of fasting:

Fasting for short periods of time may aid in weight loss. Intermittent fasting or alternate-day fasting, according to a study, can help a person lose weight and keep it off. However, fasting should be avoided by children, teenagers, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with underlying health problems.

10. Maintain a meal journal to track calories:

Calorie counting is a valuable tool for avoiding overeating or undereating. You can keep track of how many calories you’ve consumed by counting calories from all the foods you’ve consumed throughout the day. This knowledge can help you make healthier dietary decisions. These food logs can also help guarantee that you obtain enough of each nutritious food group, such as carbs, proteins, and micros, according to your daily requirements.

11. Reduce your carbohydrate intake:

Diets that are low in simple carbs can help you lose weight by decreasing the quantity of fast-digesting foods you consume. Whole carbs, fiber, excellent fats, and lean proteins are all important components of a healthy low-carbohydrate diet. Rather than restricting all carbohydrates for a short time, this should be a long-term dietary change. According to research, restricting refined carbs also has the benefit of lowering bad cholesterol levels and reducing risk factors for metabolic conditions.

12. Incorporate steady training into your day:

Many people do not exercise on a regular basis and may work in sedentary positions. It is imperative to incorporate the training regimen or an exercise routine to your everyday life in order to facilitate calorie burning. A regular exercise routine should include both aerobic (cardio) and resistance training exercises, such as running or walking. Resistance exercise creates lean muscle mass, while cardio helps the body burn calories faster. Muscle mass can help you burn more calories even when you are resting!

Conclusion:

If you want to lose weight healthily and naturally, you should focus on establishing long-term lifestyle adjustments rather than relying on quick fixes. You must concentrate on making regular improvements to your lifestyle as stable as possible. If the strategies mentioned in this article seem complicated to you, you can always consult a certified nutritionist to build a personalized diet plan and a fitness trainer to guide your training routine. 

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