Obesity can cause a variety of health problems including diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. If you are looking to lose weight, it is best to make sustainable lifestyle and diet changes to lose weight over time so that you can take the weight off safely and keep it off.
However, these lifestyle and diet changes do not need to be complex. Three tips to lose weight simply and sustainably include:
- Drink Lots of Water: Increasing water consumption can be extremely beneficial to those that are looking to lose weight or even just looking to live a healthier lifestyle. Studies have shown that those who drink water before consuming a meal are more likely to consume fewer calories. They have also shown that drinking water can be metabolism-boosting and can help you burn more calories. Additionally, it is best to avoid “empty calories” such as those you consume by drinking calorie-laden drinks such as sweetened tea, soda, or alcohol, which can add up quickly in extra calories but do not offer much nutrition.
- Use Portion Control: Consuming too much of any food, even healthy options, can lead you to gain weight. Controlling your portions and measuring what you eat can be useful as it encourages you to be aware of what you are eating and eat less long-term. You can also use tricks such as using smaller plates when serving your meals, which has been shown to help people lose weight by eating fewer calories.
- Exercise Regularly: Exercise is crucial for peak physical health, and exercise can be critical for weight loss as well. The most sustainable way to add exercise to your lifestyle is to slowly increase the duration, frequency, and intensity. If you are not ready to add an intense fitness routine to your life, you can add lower-impact activities such as walking a dog, parking further from the store, or performing physical chores such as cleaning or raking leaves to slowly increase your activity levels over time.
Although losing weight is hard, the health benefits are numerous. Through simple lifestyle and diet changes, long-term weight loss is possible.