Is there such a thing as permanent, easy and natural weight loss? I believe there is. I believe that permanent weight loss is not only possible but inevitable when we make just a few small and simple changes and stick with them. If you are ready to stop overcomplicating weight loss and are ready to make it easy for yourself if you are ready to stop trying to lose weight and are ready to lose weight permanently and move on with your life then read on.
1. NOURISH, DON’T PUNISH
If you want to lose weight permanently think nutrition, not restriction. Nourish yourself – I know that for myself if I am not getting the nutrients I need, I feel constantly hungry and I am hungry for things that are not good for me.
For years I struggled with just a few extra pounds of weight and tried many diets and exercise, I eventually thought that I was just always going to have that extra fat around my thighs and stomach until I started a diet that had nothing to do with weight loss but focused only on creating health. It was then that I realized that maybe I was not so much weak-willed but just malnourished!
You see I had been gradually improving my diet but I still had a strong dislike for anything raw, especially fruit, and so without realizing it I was depriving myself of some key nutrients and digestive aiding enzymes and this lack of nutrients was causing me to experience cravings for sweet foods like chocolate to give me an instant hit of energy. By introducing nutrient-dense spirulina along with vitamin, mineral, and enzyme-laden raw fruit and vegetable juices I had found the key (for me) to permanent weight loss.
To this day and that is 20+ years on, I still enjoy my daily juice, and I can honestly say that I no longer experience food cravings and although I have nothing against chocolate, I almost never eat it or any of the sugar and fat-laden foods that I used to find irresistible.
Now you don’t have to have juice and spirulina (although I highly recommend it), you just need to make sure that you are consuming some raw fruit and dark green leafy vegetables and/or spirulina. Of course, smoothies are another easy way to get your daily dose of raw foods. How you do it does not matter, just make a point of upping your raw food intake and get some dark green goodness in there too and you will be ensuring that your body is getting a shot of easily digested goodness every time you do, and hopefully, you will have the same fantastic results I did!
2. CREATE MORE ORDER AND ROUTINE
I recommend creating a clear written routine that works for you – not someone else’s idea of what works – to keep you focused on what you want and make it easier for you to say on track.
Make sure that you are eating regularly (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), remember that regular eating keeps your metabolism fired up and aiding weight loss, whereas skipping meals slows your metabolism making it more difficult to lose weight.
Creating a routine also helps you to avoid the possibility of binge eating, by ensuring that you eat before you are too hungry, and making it easier for you to stop eating before you are too full.
You will notice, that there are times of the day where you feel more positive about your weight and these are the best times to plan your meals, the food that you will buy, what exercise you will do, and any other routines that will support you in your weight loss goals.
Resist the urge to overdo, as when you are feeling positive it can be tempting to create routines that later seem unachievable, this is just another form of self-sabotage that needs to be avoided. Be realistic in your plans, make everything as simple and easy as possible so that you will have no reason, later on, to avoid following through.
Make sure you have plenty of your favourite healthy foods on hand as much of the time as possible. Plan your meals in advance or at least have a variety of quick, easy, healthy options that you can go to in a hurry so that you won’t be so easily tempted by less healthy fast food options. Take advantage of online shopping to make your life easier, and to make it easier to make good choices.
Have healthy snacks on hand at all times and eat these if you need to.
While I don’t like to snack myself, it is better to have a snack than let your appetite get out of control. Fresh fruit and vegetables are the best options as they won’t interfere with your next meal, bananas are good if you need something that will last a bit longer and nuts and seeds are also good at keeping you satisfied.
3. SLEEP AND REST MORE
Your body produces hormones that help you to sense when you are full and when you need food, these hormones are affected by sleep. Being chronically tired can hamper your weight loss efforts by triggering false feelings of hunger when it may be that all you really need is a rest.
Your change in diet and routine will temporarily increase your need for rest and sleep as your mind and body adjust to the changes. Allowing yourself more time to rest, relax and sleep will make that adjustment phase quicker and easier. Remember that this approach to weight loss is not a quick fix, but a long-term solution that requires a calmer, steadier attitude. You’ve got plenty of time to get this right, take a rest when you need to.
4. CHANGE YOUR FOCUS
Do you love and appreciate your body the way it is?
If you don’t, you are making it harder for yourself to lose weight. So how do you love what you don’t love? Don’t focus on it – focus around it, or completely ignore it.
Take your weight out of the equation. If you are going to think about your body and have goals for it then think more in terms of improving health, strength, stamina, and vitality.
If you can find nothing about your body that feels good when you think it then just get off the subject altogether and focus on other aspects of your life that are more pleasing to you.
This is another reason why a written routine works so well, as once you have it in place you no longer need to spend time focusing on food. If you spend a large part of your time focused on what you will eat, when you will eat, how much you will eat, you become obsessed with food and your weight and your problem just gets bigger. Try to forget about your weight, I know that is not easy but it can be done. Get your attention onto something interesting, something that will just blast out those thoughts about weight and fill you with positive emotion. Avoid all images, conversations, writing, anything that has you focused on overweight, underweight, healthy weight, any weight at all. Don’t think about it unless you really have to. Hide the scales, I got rid of mine years ago and I don’t miss them, and don’t spend any time criticizing yourself in the mirror. Just do what you need to do and get on with your life. You may think that you need to try hard to lose weight, but you don’t, your body will find its perfect balance and you can trust that it will happen far quicker and easier without your negative focus.
5. REDUCE YOUR INTAKE
Without even changing what you eat and without the need for an extreme reduction in your food intake you will absolutely lose weight if you simply reduce the amount you consume at any one time.
When I talk about portion control, I mean just reducing what you eat by a small amount, up to a third, but no more than that because if you reduce your intake by too much your body tends to go into defense mode, thinking that it might be facing starvation and can slow your metabolism – not what you want! So just go easy with it, eat enough to satisfy you but no more, and remember that if you leave your plate while you’re feeling still slightly hungry, within 5 – 15 minutes you will feel full. This approach requires less self discipline and pays off big-time over time you move easily towards your ideal weight without starving yourself.
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