How to Lose Weight Sustainably

The reason so many diets fail is because they are exactly that, a diet, a short-term solution which often is not sustainable over the long term. It is common to rebound from a diet and put the weight, which was so difficult to shed, right back on. Rather than look to diet, try and make positive lifestyle changes instead. You may not see results as quickly as you would with an extreme diet plan, but slow and steady wins the race. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Adjusting your portion size can be a great place to start, which is easily done by using smaller plates. Similarly, meal prepping for the week can help with portion control. If you are making food when you’re hungry, you’re more likely to overeat or dish up a larger portion.

Keep healthy snacks at the ready, so rather than reaching for a packet of crisps when you’re hungry on the go, you have a nutritious option to hand. Keeping a food diary can be a great way to hold yourself accountable as we often forget about the calories we consume through snacking. If you do tend to get hungry before mealtimes, and snack, drinking water before a meal helps to prevent overeating. Drinking water can also boost metabolism by 24-30% over a period of 1 to 1.5 hours.

Intermittent fasting is known to be an effective weight loss tool, which follows the practice of consuming all your meals within an allotted eating time, to maximise fat burning results during fasting. There is a great article which you can read here, explaining the benefits, contrasting the approach against Keto. While keto may be too restrictive for some, cutting back on carbohydrates is an effective weight loss strategy as refined carbohydrates can spike blood sugar rapidly, leading to hunger, cravings, and increased food intake.

Another simple tool to help you maintain a healthy diet is sleep! You’ve probably been told this a million times, but when you’re tired your body craves more sugar for energy to burn, and it’s harder for us to make healthy choices.

There really is no hard and fast tool to weight loss, if you want to maintain that weight loss. Try to reframe your thinking, we’ve been conditioned to think of certain foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ when really that isn’t the case and only fosters negative feelings of guilt when we opt for said ‘bad’ food. Do not get disheartened if you don’t see immediate results, as living a healthier life doesn’t just have physical benefits but a multitude of benefits for your mental health.