You are not fat. You only have fat. Before you even begin to attack a weight-loss plan, it pays to remember this. Losing weight isn't about blame or shame; it's simply another achievement to accomplish. As long as you act in a smart, reasonable way, you'll ultimately get where you want to be. The obvious truth is that slimming down isn't fun, but it doesn't have to be hell.
To help you reach your goal weight and maintain it, these 5 simple tenets have been proven to deliver incredible results:
1. There's a Right Way to Exercise
Working out burns calories and fat and boosts your metabolism by building muscle. But those trying to lose weight are notorious for overestimating the number of calories they burn and underestimating the amount they take in. Unfortunately, your system is biologically programmed to hold on to extra pounds, says Louis Aronne, M.D., a professor of metabolic research and the director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. That means when you start exercising, your body senses the deficit and ramps up its hunger signals, according to a review of weight-loss studies. If you're not diligent, you'll eat everything you burn and then some.
Cardio gets all the exercise glory, but strength and interval training are the real heroes. They help you build lean muscle, which in turn increases your metabolism and calorie-burning ability. Every week, strength-train two to three days. For the best results, also do three to five cardio sessions that burn 250 to 400 calories each.
2. Don't Make A Big Deal Of Mild Hunger
Some women have a hard time losing weight because of hunger anxiety. To them, being hungry is bad—something to be avoided at all costs—so they carry snacks with them and eat when they don't need to, Alpert explains. Others eat because they're stressed out or bored. While you never want to get to the point of being ravenous (that's when bingeing is likely to happen), a hunger pang, a craving, or the fact that it's 3:00 p.m. should not send you racing for the vending machine or obsessing about the energy bar in your purse. Ideally, you should put off ating until your stomach is growling and it's difficult to concentrate, Alpert says.
When you feel the urge to eat, use the HALT method, Bazilian suggests. Ask yourself, Am I really hungry? Or am I angry or anxious, lonely or bored, or tired? If you're still not certain, try the apple test. "If you're truly hungry, an apple should seem delicious; if it doesn't, something else is going on," says Robin Frutchey, a behavioral therapist at Johns Hopkins University Weight Management Center. In that case, give yourself a pep talk instead of a snack. "If hunger isn't the problem, food isn't the solution,". There are a lot of other ways to deal with boredom or anxiety—like going for a walk, hitting the gym, or texting a friend—and those things have zero negative consequences.
3. Not All Calories Are Created Equal
The mechanics of weight loss are pretty simple: Take in fewer calories than you use for energy. But the kind of food you eat makes all the difference. "A calorie is not just a calorie," Dr. Aronne says. Processed food that's high in saturated fat and refined starch or sugar can cause inflammation that disrupts the hormone signals that tell your brain you're full, he explains. The result: You eat a lot more. Plus, studies show that junk food can be addictive; the more you eat it, the more you need to get the same feel-good effects. One handful of potato chips won't cut it any longer, so you keep eating and eating.
Clean up your diet. Swap in whole, unprocessed foods, including vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats that will fill you up and give you the biggest nutritional bang for your calorie buck. In a few weeks, as your brain starts receiving regular hunger and fullness signals once again, you'll notice that you feel less hungry overall and naturally start cutting back on the amount you eat.
4. Too Much Stress and Too Little Sleep Are Your Enemies
When you're tired and frazzled, your body cranks up the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that can cause carb cravings, Frutchey says. Not getting enough sleep also boosts your levels of ghrelin, a hormone associated with hunger, while suppressing leptin, a hormone that signals fullness and satiety. People on a diet who slept only five and a half hours a night for two weeks lost 55 percent less fat and were hungrier than those who slept eight and a half hours, according to a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Prioritize sleep, aiming for seven hours or more a night, which research shows helps lower stress. And make sure you're getting quality zzz's. If a snoring spouse or a fidgety cat wakes you up frequently throughout the night, you may end up getting the equivalent of just four hours of sleep, according to a study from Tel Aviv University. Keep pets out of the bedroom, and use a white-noise app to drown out snoring.
5. Think About Your Diet Not For What It Is: "Just A Diet", But As A Lifestyle
Thinking of a diet as something you're on and suffering through only for the short term doesn't work, to shed weight and keep it off, you need to make permanent changes to the way you eat. It's OK to indulge occasionally, of course, but if you cut calories temporarily and then revert to your old way of eating, you'll gain back the weight quicker than you can say yo-yo.
Research shows that one of the best predictors of long-term weight loss is how many pounds you drop in the first month, says John Apolzan, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Ingestive Behavior Lab at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center. It makes sense: Immediate results are motivating. For that reason, nutritionists often suggest being stricter for the first two weeks of your new eating strategy to build momentum. Cut out added sugar and alcohol and avoid unrefined carbs. "After that, ease small amounts of those foods back into your diet for a plan you can live with for the long term," says Wendy Bazilian, R.D.N., a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist in San Diego and a coauthor of The SuperFoodsRx Diet. "Figure out how you can reincorporate them in a way that's healthy and maintainable," adds Brooke Alpert, R.D.N., a nutritionist and a coauthor of The Sugar Detox. "Establish specific goals, such as setting a maximum number of drinks you'll have a week or limiting pizza to one slice." Schedule one weekly indulgence to look forward to, and give yourself one spontaneous splurge to use whenever you really want it, Bazilian suggests.
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