Long post but maybe this will help someone. If anyone has additional suggestions, would love to hear them? Hit me up in the comments! Progress pic.
Please bear in mind that I am still learning myself and have failed with this many times.
As a general rule across different types of diets, whatever you do must be sustainable and you cannot ever revert to your old lifestyle if you want to keep the weight off.
Track what and how much you eat / Learn what a proper portion looks like for each food group and keep your portions small. You need to burn more calories than you consume, it is that simple.
Limit refined sugar/processed food and prioritise foods that promote satiety, fill half your plate with fruit and vegetables. You DON'T need to cut out food groups.
Only eat when you are truly physically hungry. Stop eating when you are satisfied, not full. Satisfied: When you can easily go for a brisk walk after eating or do a yoga pose or two without feeling uncomfortable.
Eat slowly, focus only on eating without distractions so that you can comply with your body's satiety cues
Plan your meals and do meal prep if possible
Limit eating out and prepare your own meals where you can.
When eating out, go for healthy options (my default is steak and salad), don't use sauces or eat deep fried options, critically judge portions sizes at restaurants because they are typically two to three times the size they should be.
Don't drink your calories
Learn to identify all or nothing thinking, the 'start Monday' or the 'first of the month mentality'
Don't label foods as good or bad (food has no morality)
Beware of the impact of environment on your eating - you will eat whatever is in front of you so don't keep unhealthy options around
Figure out what triggers you to eat when not hungry - emotions, situations, habits etc and start working on those areas. You can write many books just about this one aspect.
Identify and change mindsets that are leading to overeating - the idea that you have to clean your plate, not being willing to say no and not having healthy boundaries with other people, giving yourself free reign to eat as a source of comfort because you are dealing with difficult things, saying you can't control yourself around this or that food, pretending that once doesn't make a difference or that calories don't count on certain occassions.
Regain is so common that you will be a complete anomaly if you don't experience it at least partly. Try not to let it destroy you emotionally because that might set you back years (speaking from experience here).
Hold yourself accountable to staying at your healthy weight - either by weighing often, measuring, monitoring clothes fit etc. Have a weight limit which acts as a trigger to recommit to these principles.
Find forms of exercise that you enjoy and do it consistently as often as you can
Separate diet and exercise from each other - do not allow yourself to eat because you have exercised
Learn to see exercise as something good that you do for yourself to promote health and not a punishment
What you think plays a major role in how you perceive your lifestyle and whether it will stick. If you are framing your choices with negativity and a self pity, you won't keep going for long. These are things like if you are forever sulking because you "can't have" this or that, telling yourself that losing weight is so incredibly hard, that other people can eat whatever they want without gaining weight (likely NOT true), insisting that you are being deprived when you are leading a lifestyle where you are nourishing your body with proper nutrition.
Many people seek enjoyment and comfort from food because their actual lives are challenging and not fulfilling. If you are one of these people, you need to address this issue to keep the weight off.
Be careful of relying on motivation to stick to a new lifestyle, learn how to make and keep a commitment, look into making a healthy lifestyle a part of your identity etc. These are much better ways to get new habits to stick.
The idea is not to use discipline at all times to lose weight and keep it off. You actually have limited amounts of discipline, so structure your life, habits and emotional health in a way that you won't have to white knuckle it.
You need to enjoy your lifestyle, otherwise you will never keep it up. For this reason, your goal weight should be the weight you can reach while living the healthiest life you can actually enjoy.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2FlP3nw
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