10 Lifestyle Changes Needed For Effective Weight Loss

There are a lot of people who are looking for the perfect diet in order to attain effective weight loss. The sad truth is, most dieters fail. This is because a period of weeks or months spent on a reduced calorie diet is often followed by a return to your old bad habits. To keep the weight off, you need to make permanent lifestyle changes. A few proven strategies:

Attain Effective Weight Loss By Making Daily Workouts a Habit

By some estimates, you can develop a habit in as little as three weeks. The key is consistency. Schedule your workout at the same time every day. If you miss a day or two, get right back into the routine instead of giving up.

You can not have effective weight loss without including resistance training in your workouts. This adds lean, toned muscles to your body and also increases your metabolism. You will be able to lose more weight, and keep it off, in the long run. Strong muscles also enable you to move more efficiently as well as prevent injuries. Your workouts should also include cardio. Cardio workouts strengthens the heart and blood vessels, and increases your endurance.

While you are working out, remember to rest no more than 30 seconds between strengthening exercises. This will dramatically result in greater calorie burn than resting longer than 30 seconds between exercises.

Cultivate a Physically Active Lifestyle To Attain Effective Weight Loss

Walk to the corner store instead of driving. Swap the drive-through for parking and walking. Choose parking spaces far away from your destination and walk. Swap sedentary hobbies like gaming for active ones like skateboarding or gardening. By making your everyday life more active, you will burn more calories, stay fit, and greatly improve your chances for effective weight loss.

Get Effective Weight Loss By Cooking More at Home

Twenty-eight percent of Americans say that they don't know how to cook. If you are living on a diet of convenience food and take out, it's much harder to eat a wide variety of healthy foods. Learn how to cook and shop for fresh food regularly to take control of your diet.

Avoid Late-Night Snacks

Eating late-night snacks does not contribute to effective weight loss. You should finish your last meal at least three hours before bedtime. While you are asleep, your metabolism decreases, and your body changes from burning fat to storing fat, which can result in weight gain and fluctuations in your sleep cycle. Plus, you may have to get up and urinate more. If you have to eat late, consume foods that are low in calories and high in whole grains.

Always Eat A Healthy Breakfast

One of the biggest factor in attaining effective weight loss is eating breakfast everyday. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast gives you the necessary fuel to energize your day. In a recent study, individuals who made breakfast their largest meal of the day lost an average of 18 pounds over a period of three months. The other people involved in the study ate meals with the exact number of calories per day, but consumed the majority of calories at supper.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Why is drinking a sufficient amount of water daily necessary for effective weight loss? Simply stated, water reduces the appetite and increases the body's capability to burn stored fat. Research has verified that insufficient water intake causes fat deposits to increase throughout the body, while sufficient amounts of water can actually decrease fat deposits.

This occurs because when you don't drink enough water, the kidneys cannot function properly. Hence, the liver has to step up and carry on some of the functions of the kidneys. One of the liver's main functions is to chemically break down stored fat into energy for the body to use. But when the liver has to carry on some of the functions of the kidneys, it is not able to metabolize as much fat. Hence, less fat is burned, resulting in more weight gained. It is recommended that the average individual drink from 8 - 12 glasses of water a day. Increase this amount if you are a very active person.

Learn to Love Healthy Foods

If you are used to eating high-fat, salty, processed foods, a whole foods diet will taste strange to you at first. Learn a variety of healthful ways to prepare fresh foods. Instead of drowning broccoli in melted cheese or butter, toss it in olive oil before roasting it. Choose lemon juice, hot sauce and spices to add flavor instead of reaching for salt. And, cut out the soda. Just removing highly sweetened drinks from your diet will help you adjust your tastes to prefer natural and healthy foods. You should eat every three to four hours throughout the day - 3 basic meals and 2 or more healthy snacks (fruit, nuts, dark chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter and crackers, etc.). This will keep your metabolism up, resulting in more calories burned, help to keep your appetite in check, and result in more effective weight loss.

Schedule A Rewards Day

Increase your motivation to workout regularly and eat healthy meals by rewarding yourself at least once a week. This reward can be your favorite dessert, a weekend getaway, or attending a great play or musical.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep loss can result in weight gain. So, try to get six to eight hours of sleep a night. The weight gain is caused by the hormone, ghrelin, which increases whenever there is sleep loss. This hormone, along with others, stimulates the brain to crave more for fattening foods like French fries, chocolate chip cookies and other sweets.

Eat Mindfully

When we absent-mindedly snack on chips or cookies because we are anxious, bored or unhappy, we can take in hundreds of empty calories. When you sit down to eat, make the food the center of your attention. Savor each bite. Do not eat while watching TV or working. By engaging in mindful eating, you will find that you are more satisfied and eat less.

When it comes to effective weight loss, the most important point to remember is that long-term success will only come when you decide to adopt lifestyle changes that will result in you making the best choices related to healthy eating and regular exercise. These choices will ultimately determine the quality of the rest of your life.


Go now to http://www.fitnessandhealthmatters.com for more news and the latest trends on fitness, health, weight loss, and nutrition.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Spann