7 ways to lose excess weight beyond diet and exercise
Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight will tell you, we find what we lose, especially when it comes to unwanted pounds. This article discusses the essential and fundamental behavioral changes required of anyone looking for a happy, healthy and permanent solution to weight loss.
1. Choose different
You have all the resources within you to change your life. Your focus and commitment will be the sole determinants of what you can do, be or have. Consciously choosing differently makes a lot of sense. Even smart people sometimes act in a puzzling way, for example when they expect a different result from input that doesn’t change. This being the case, the question becomes: Why doesn’t one change focus? Losing weight like anything else in life is about choice. You can choose today and then continue to choose every day to change your clothes.
Choose a different tip: you are in control. It’s your choice. Although right now you feel like a ‘slave’ to food, which can lead you to believe that your ideal body is unattainable or a ‘lost battle’; instead, you can choose to imagine that the battle can be won. Once you have done this, have a pencil and paper ready to write, immediately after you have asked yourself the following question: “How will I lose x kg in x weeks?” Be specific and realistic with your question (aim for around 1kg per week). Commit to writing down at least 20 different ways or things you can do to achieve your goal. This is significant as it has been scientifically proven that the last 5 are often our best ideas! And this approach works for more than just losing weight.
2. Improve your self-image
How you see yourself will shape your reality. The good news is that you can change your reality by choosing to see yourself differently. We often carry such negative views of ourselves. Before you can change your perception of yourself, learn to accept yourself as you are right now, no matter what. Be grateful for what you have. Given that you are reading these words, you most likely possess a well-functioning body (slight blemishes aside), you have been blessed!
One of the keys to permanent weight loss is to look like you want to be. It is very common for the person who sheds 20kg to put it back on because on the outside there has been a transformation, but on the inside it is still occupied by the old 20kg heavier self.
Choose a different tip: take five minutes every day to entertain your imagination. Imagine daily how you will look at your ideal weight (from all angles) this is not a static image, really daydream. Feel how you will feel within yourself, how you will interact with others as a result of your changed self, etc. See it all in detail. Scientific research shows that such practices help change your ‘body thinking’, having the power to positively influence your food and lifestyle choices towards better eating and increased physical activity, as well as improving your own physiology .
3. Change your internal dialogue
I’m slimmer every day is your new mantra. When you used to affirm to yourself, “I’m fat”, “I’m ugly”, “I’m gross”, “I hate my body”, guess what you’re getting more of? FAT, UGLY, DISGUSTING! Which is NOT what you want most, right? We get more from what we put into. What better opportunity to choose differently!
Choose a different tip: Counter every negative thought with “I’m getting thinner every day.” This statement is true regardless of what your scale is currently telling you and when you begin to believe it, you consciously and subconsciously begin to act on it.
4. Reduce STRESS
Stress most often affects our ability to care about what we eat, as well as our desire to plan healthy eating. We tend to use food to comfort ourselves, ‘stuffing’ feelings, emotions and insecurities with every bite. This is one side of how stress keeps you fat. The other, of course, is the physiological impact that stress hormones have on blood sugar and insulin levels, making things like food cravings, unbalanced appetite, fluid retention, and homework almost impossible. impossible to lose fat under such circumstances are a direct consequence of the stress response.
Choose a different tip: try this right now. Wherever you are, sit comfortably and focus solely on what you are about to do. Take a deep, slow breath. Let the air expand your belly, until it expands completely. Once this is done, hold your breath and slowly count to 5. Then gently exhale completely. Repeat this breathing process 5 times. Once you’re done, you’ll feel completely relaxed and full of energy. Practice throughout your day. You can even enhance this exercise by simultaneously seeing in your mind that the stress melts away with each breath, to be replaced by your ideal situation or circumstance: the more you focus on what you want (followed by positive action), the sooner it will be. yours. !
5. Find a hobby
What better way to de-stress than to do something you really enjoy! A healthy hobby can do a lot for you. It can serve as an alternative to emotional or compulsive eating because you have something else to fall back on when you feel vulnerable. Suddenly you have a better option to ‘distract’ your mind. Use it! Take a different tip: find something you really enjoy and start doing it. It can be anything from pottery painting or dance lessons to reading and origami. A surprising benefit of engaging in a hobby activity is that you develop skills that are transferable to many other areas of your life. The bottom line: HAVE FUN!
6. Make getting a good night’s sleep a priority.
Clear your mind. As a society we let our lives be driven by our own and others’ deadlines, worries, anxieties, insecurities. Our mistaken and often negative thoughts gain momentum in the playing field of our mind: the result is that we do not sleep or sleep poorly and this has a negative impact on all other aspects of our lives. The big news? All that is required for positive change is a change in perception. Here’s a good place to start: Deadlines can be postponed, for those who can’t other opportunities may arise; for everything else, which usually revolves around worry, the following is a great reminder: “There’s no need to worry. Why worry about something you can’t change?”
If you can’t change it, there’s no reason to worry about it. Similarly, why worry about something you can change (or control)? If you can change it, there is no reason to worry about it. Now that you’ve eliminated all the things you could possibly worry about, there’s no reason to worry.” How true is this… And if you’re sitting around thinking, “This is ridiculous, it can’t be that simple. “You are a smart person, I dare you to think again. This change in attitude will be the best investment you can make for your life, health and well-being!
Choose a different tip: first, plan your schedule making sure to block out 8 hours to ensure you have time to get enough sleep; this is the priority, everything else is really secondary. Then take a new perspective, realize that you are a different person and now go to bed with a new attitude; now you know that there is no reason to worry and you start implementing this practice immediately. Avoid stimulants in the afternoon and evening (eg coffee, tea, colas, energy drinks, chocolate, sugar) this will help you have a restful sleep.
7. Stop watching TV
No time for anything? Do you want to earn at least another 3 hours in your week? An article published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association reports that in 1997 an adult man spent approximately 29 hours a week watching television and an adult woman spent 34 hours a week. Although it is a scientifically proven fact that television viewing is a major predisposing factor for weight gain and obesity, little attention is paid to this problem.
The results of a 6-year follow-up study of television viewing are clear: Each 2-hour increase in daily television viewing was associated with a 23% increase in obesity and a 14% increase in diabetes risk. Sitting in front of the television watching fast food commercials makes you want to eat more of those seemingly appetizing foods. It also causes you to ignore your body’s satiety (fullness) signals when you’re eating, leading to increased calorie intake and inactivity all at once!
Choose a different tip: Turn off the TV! Much of the time you spend in front of the TV is watching things you didn’t really want to see in the first place. So to avoid wasting your precious time, pull out the TV Guide on Sunday and bookmark only the shows you really want to watch; follow the plan: watch them and then turn off the TV. You’ll find much better ways to use the time you’ll save, who knows, maybe you’ll even be inspired to go for a walk.
Before you can change who you are, in other words how you look, you need to change who you are. This means a change in how you choose to see and feel about yourself and a change in how you do things. This internal change, in turn, triggers other changes within you and in your external habits, which transform to be more in line with your inherited desire for yourself: a healthy body and a healthy weight. You’ll find it easier to eat nutritious foods, as well as a more active lifestyle and exercise will simply become part of what you do, without much thought. Soon, your external situation will reflect your new internal reality, when this happens, you will no longer have to worry about excess or fluctuating weight: you are at home.