Maybe your doctor recommended it or maybe you’ve tried to shed a few pounds after the holidays. At one time or another, you’ve probably tried to lose some weight, so you’re likely quite familiar with both the challenges and triumphs that accompany any weight loss program.
If you’ve tried multiple diets or popular approaches to weight loss with little success, fret not. Here are four effective ways to trim down your waistline.
1. Invest in a Lifestyle Plan
They say the most effective way to lose weight is to change your lifestyle, but it can be hard to know where to begin to break some of the habits that caused you to pack on a few extra pounds. This is where lifestyle plans come in.
Lifestyle weight loss diet plans, like the Thrive Experience, focus on healthy, sustainable changes that affect your diet, energy levels and exercise habits using supplements, ongoing peer or trainer support and specific directives to help you achieve weight loss success.
2. Go Meatless
Vegetarian or vegan diets are effective for weight loss because of their emphasis on nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables. With their rise in popularity, it’s easier than ever to adopt a meatless diet due to the availability of recipes designed for both home chefs and busy families who want to eat healthier by focusing on plant-based meals.
Take caution, however, to maintain your focus on nutritional foods, as many vegan or vegetarian diets can rely too heavily on processed meat or cheese alternatives, as well as excess carbohydrate consumption through pastas and breads. Keep a lot of veggies and fruits on your plate to maximize your efforts.
3. Download Tracking Apps
To keep your eye on your calorie intake, exercise habits, sleep schedules or other personal health-related statistics, there’s an app for that. Most people don’t realize just how many calories they are consuming in a day, or food within relatively unhealthy food groups, and either over or underestimate how much they’re eating. Apps that help you track every bite, and make recommendations on what you should be eating and how much, take the guesswork out of dieting and nutrition.
Health-related apps work when you stay on top of tracking, so make sure to log all of your bites and every step to get a clearer picture of what your habits actually look like. From there, you can see where you should focus your efforts and what to cut back on.
4. Focus on Macros
Rather than focusing on staying underneath a daily calorie limit, weight loss is possible by focusing on what you’re eating instead of how much. Diets that focus on macros set up limits for your daily carbohydrate, fat and protein intake, so your meals are based around hitting those goals and not exceeding any thresholds for any measurement.
There are online calculators to determine what your macros should be in order to lose weight, but it’s wise to check in with a specialist or nutritionist to ensure you’re getting everything you need nutritionally. Macros can also help your efforts in the gym, as protein intake can be elevated to build lean muscle.
5. Try Fasting
Intermittent fasting has taken the weight loss world by storm. This popular method of weight loss focuses on both an eating window and a fasting window. By extending the amount of time between meals, studies show you tend to eat less during the week, and fasting can even reduce some inflammation and other health issues.
Most people will choose to fast for sixteen to eighteen hours, eating during an eight or six hour window. This usually involves skipping breakfast or dinner and eating only the other two meals, only consuming water or black coffee during fasting periods.
Weight loss is notably hard, but it can be made easier with a little help and commitment to a program. By sticking to whatever method you choose, you can drop pant sizes and feel like a healthy, lively version of yourself, knowing all that hard work paid off.
